Wastewater Development Research Articles

Ethics and ambiguity in wastewater development on the Placencia Peninsula, Belize

AbstractDevelopment projects present ambiguous ethical terrain for anthropologists to navigate. Particularly in relation to WaSH (Water, Sanitation, Hygiene) infrastructures which mediate human and environmental health. Our interdisciplinary team of anthropologists and engineers initially set out to design context‐sensitive on‐site wastewater treatment infrastructures for homes along Belize's Placencia Peninsula. The project's beginning coincided with the announcements of a government sponsored centralized wastewater infrastructure project and the construction of a cruise ship port on a nearby island, however. Soon the wastewater project's promises—economic opportunity, improved human and environmental health, modernization ‐ came crashing into its pratfalls—exacerbating existing inequalities, loss of livelihoods, and diminished local governance. Our team was left with uncertain decisions about how to engage with improving infrastructure, given the emerging community dynamics. By detailing the imperfect trade‐offs at play, we highlight ethical complexities inherent when communities’ development futures are at stake. Anthropology's fraught history includes legacies of unintended harms from entanglement in others’ inequities. However, avoiding involvement out of excessive caution risks leaving marginalized voices unheard and extant problems unresolved. This case immersed our team in the inherent optimism and ethical experimentation which underlie development contexts. Our analysis adopts the structure from Whiteford and Trotters’ (2008) “Ethical‐Problem Solving Guide” to reveal the layered tensions that underly critical WaSH infrastructures.

Urban wastewater development in Central and Eastern Europe

In the early nineties the region of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE, more than 1 million km² and 100 million inhabitants) went through fundamental political, economic and social changes which eventually led to the European integration process. This positively influenced urban water and wastewater management , which had an unbalanced structure and rather low level of development. The paper outlines first the 1990 situation (water supply, sewerage and wastewater treatment (WWT)) and the infrastructure development of the last two decades, on the basis of a comprehensive data collection for six countries (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia). Austria serves as a reference basis. Alterations of some of the drivers such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product), water tariff, investment funding and legislation are studied in detail. Then, the paper focuses on WWT by analyzing data of 20 large plants. Influent and effluent quality is evaluated. Technology indicators are estimated and assessed. They include plant removal rates and violation ratios assuming the application of the Urban Wastewater Directive, primary clarifier removal rates, actual anoxic volume and sludge age in comparison with the recommendations of the ATV guideline, criteria of secondary settling tanks and energy consumption. Finally, nutrient removal rates and upgrading options are outlined.

Biological phosphorus removal at Stratford upon Avon, UK: the effect of influent wastewater characteristics on effluent phosphate

Severn Trent as part of their wastewater development strategy have built a full scale biological nutrient removal plant at Stratford-upon-Avon, where Mainstream and Sidestream Phostrip® processes are studied. The plant, designed to treat 5000 m3/d, was commissioned in November 1993 and whilst the Phostrip® plant has consistently achieved the target level of 1 mg/l P, the UCT plant is able to achieve this standard only with the addition of fermenter liquor containing sufficient concentrations of Short Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA). Enforced decommissioning of the sludge fermenter provided an interesting period of study when both the anaerobic phosphorus release and aerobic phosphorus uptake deteriorated as the concentration of combined phosphate in the polyP biomass fell steadily to a level of less than 3% phosphorus. Effluent performance was restored following subsequent recommissioning of the sludge fermenter and the authors conclude that the Stratford sewage, despite having a BOD:P ratio greater than 20 and considered a strong sewage, still required the addition of SCFA for consistent phosphorus removal. The authors conclude that SCFA addition to mainstream Enhanced Biological Phosphorus Removal Plants (EBPR) is required to maintain the poly P sludge in satisfactory condition to both release and uptake phosphorus and meet the UWWTD standard of 1 mg/l P.