SuSanA - Forum

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (other than Arba Minch) - by: muench

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 22:53:59 +0000

Dear Eline,

Regarding the UDDT at the university campus in Adama, I made a couple of e-mail enquiries, but no success so far. I think the person would need to be called up or visited: Ato Tesfaye Bora, Head of General Service (contact details are given in the case study which I mentioned above). I suppose Adama is too far from where you are, otherwise you could pop by and pay a visit? But such an insolated pilot project won't help you much anyway.

About the Arborloos, yes I also read that they are very popular in Ehtiopia, e.g. see the work of CRS (Catholic Relief Services).
Two documents in the SuSanA library on Arborloos in Ethiopia:

Morgan, P. (2007). The Arborloo book for Ethiopia - How to make a simple pit toilet and grow trees and vegetables. Ecological Sanitation Research (EcoSanRes), Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI).
www.susana.org/lang-en/library?view=ccbk...mp;type=2&id=974

and
Hebert, P. (2010). Rapid assessment of CRS experience with Arborloos in East Africa. Catholic Relief Services (CRS) Baltimore, USA.
www.susana.org/lang-en/library?view=ccbk...p;type=2&id=1316

More on Arborloos in Africa, see all the different publications by Peter Morgan:
www.susana.org/library?search=arborloo

For rural areas with low-income households, Arborloos seem to be a very good option.
Are they widespread in any African countries? In Ethiopia and Zimbabwe perhaps?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (other than Arba Minch) - by: elinebakker

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 15:05:07 +0000

Thanks Elisabeth for moderating this feed, unfortunately we've had little response.

From the little bit more exploration on the subject that I've done here, it seems that the arborloos are a hugely successful ecosan intervention; and that the opportunity greywater reuse in greywater towers/keyhole garden is not yet maximised.

Do you know if the arborloos are popular around rural Africa?

Best,
Eline

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (other than Arba Minch) - by: elinebakker

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 13:56:26 +0000

Greetings Elisabeth,

From what I understand about the ROSA project is that it was an EU-funded project focusing on resource oriented sanitation concepts for peri-urban areas in Africa; selected pilot sites included Arba Minch, Nakuru (Kenya), Arusha (Tanzania) and Kitgum (Uganda), led by the Institute of Sanitary Engineering and Water Pollution Control, BOKU - University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Vienna. From what I understand, the CLARA project is the follow-up.

Through these projects, it seems that Arba Minch has become the hub of the ecosan discourse in Ethiopia. (Arba Minch University is also known as THE university for water management issues, perhaps there is some linkage there. Little side note: "Arba Minch" means "40 springs" in the local language).

As IRC is interested in the possible up-scaling, we essentially want to understand the success of (possibly ROSA derived) initiatives in different areas of the country. Hence we are trying to extend our knowledge beyond Arba Minch. (thank you for adjusting the title, Elisabeth).

The greywater tower is definately of interest to us. There is a somewhat similar initiative promoted by CRS; small backyard gardens called 'keyhole gardens' where the greywater is poured through a basket in the middle to allow the nutrients to flow through the compost into the soil...

The UDDTs at Adama University make for an interesting discussion, and I am curious to learn how this system is functioning now! Any up-to-date info on that?

Thank you for your communication Elisabeth on this subject!
~Eline

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (other than Arba Minch) - by: muench

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:51:06 +0000

Oh, sorry, I overlooked that (I have changed the topic of the thread now to make it clearer).
How about the Adama case study, is that interesting for you (or not because it is only UDDTs?).

I am wondering what makes Arba Minch so special in Ethiopia, is it maybe like Durban in South Africa, i.e. quite innovative compared to other towns in the country? Or is the university particularly good there?

Elisabeth

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (- Arba Minch) - by: elinebakker

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:16:55 +0000

Dear Elisabeth,

Thank you for your response. Yes, maybe I should have clarified again, but as the efforts in Arba Minch is VERY well documented, we are interested in all those projects and pilots that have had less visibility. (Hence the subject of this topic is "Ecosan in Ethiopia (minus Arba Minch)") ;p

Thanks.

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (- Arba Minch) - by: muench

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:13:01 +0000

Dear Cecile, thanks for pointing this out, I am curious to see the response by Janos (and I will move it to a different thread because it doesn't belong to this specific Ethiopia discussion).

Dear Eline, thanks for the clarification.
Have you already looked at the 6 SuSanA case studies form Ethiopia (which came out of the ROSA project in Arba Minch, except for one in Adama)?
See here:
susana.org/lang-en/case-studies?showby=y...l_0=0&country=68

Particularly the greywater tower idea could be of relevance for you? There is also the follow-on project from ROSA, called CLARA, taking place in Arba Minch. Sounds like a pretty important town for ecosan in Ethiopia... (check out the CLARA website: clara.boku.ac.at/)

Please let us know how things are progressing and post a link to the results in the end here on the forum?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Re: Eco-san in Ethiopia (- Arba Minch) - by: elinebakker

Wed, 06 Mar 2013 10:00:03 +0000

Greetings,

I am on short assignment for the International Water and Sanitation Center's (IRC)Ethiopia programme (www.irc.nl). IRC is looking at a number of case studies on multiple-use of water services, which essentially focuses on poverty reduction through access to water for both domestic and productive activities at different levels of scale (www.musgroup.net). As such, IRC is documenting cases of how MUS relates to livestock, traditional wells, community managed water sources, etc. in Ethiopia.

This particular assignment is unique (within the scope of the research) in that is exploring the productive reuse of grey and wastewater. One may argue that the reuse of grey or wastewater is productive by definition, but we are looking for additional practicalities and ecosan flagships this.

Essentially IRC is scoping EXISTING or completed country specific reuse projects/pilots for possible up-scaling in the future (in line with the MUS programme).

As for myself, I am a sanitation and hygiene expert based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. With a degree from Wageningen University, I approach sanitation from a closing the loop perspective. So I am very familiar with ecosan technologies and approaches, but their application in Ethiopia is what I am currently exploring.

Hope this is a sufficient description of the organisation, the research and the researcher. Again, any recommendations for pilots/projects/people in Ethiopia are very welcome.

Thank you,
Eline

Eco-san in Ethiopia (other than Arba Minch) - by: elinebakker

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 11:32:19 +0000

Greetings;

I am on assignment in Ethiopia to document examples of greywater and wastewater reuse e.g. ecosan at either household or community level (for possible upscaling in the future). These could be NGO based water projects with a reuse aspect. There are numerous well-documented pilot projects coming out of Arba Minch, and I am looking for examples beyond this.

Would you have any recommendations for people/organisations to get in touch with or places/projects to visit?

Thank you!
Eline

Re: Low cost alternatives to chlorinated wastewater for irrigation - by: fppirco

Fri, 16 Nov 2012 05:01:06 +0000

Dear Ivolat

Using of cholrine is the most cost effetive option has been known for water and waste water disinfection ,but I like draw your attention for [u]trihalomethanes [/u]hazard by products which produce when cholrine affects on orgaing matter presence in water
They carcenogen and with high retention in soil.
In 2008 thanks to BGR( Hannover) ,I visited brunshwich waste water treatment ,it was prefect water water tretament without using any disinfectant.
screening,floattion, sedmenation ,aeration aremethod they use in thier recycling and reusing perfect and success waste water treatment system I have seen.
About using UV it is not cost effective not perfect becuase need high budget and experinces shows biofilms formed on quartz UV lamp tube preventing reach UV radtion to waste water and turbidity and polloution rate are negative factors effect waste water disinfection.

Ozone othe option but it also has its problem including high expenses, maintance and othe issue may not be cost effetive and practical.

I am attaching a file about trihalomethanes byproducts.

Thank you and with best regards;

Mohammad Mojtabaei

www.fpp.ir
Telfax:00985117629569
P.O Box:91865-358
Mashhad,Iran

Re: Low cost alternatives to chlorinated wastewater for irrigation - by: Florian

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 12:13:15 +0000

Hi,
the most effective low-cost treatment for reducing microbial contamination of municipal wastewater is by waste stabilisation ponds (lagoons). If you already have a pond treatment system, adding maturation ponds would further improve the hygienic quality of effluent. Maturation ponds are shallow ponds that allow good penetration of sunlight (UV) and that add more retention time to the whole pond system.
Disadvantages are high land requirement and water loss by evaporation, which may be an issue in your dry climate.

However also these ponds don't achieve absolute disinfection. So if you absolutely want to irrigate high-risk crops (strawberries and cucumber are crops that will be eaten raw and that are likley to come in direct contact with irrigation water) pond treatment may not be enough. Disinfection by chlorine or UV, preceeded by filtration or other treatments may be the only way then. This may not be economic any more.

A better option may be to consider different crops (not to be eaten raw, or not coming into direct contact with irrigation water).

Best, Florian

Re: Low cost alternatives to chlorinated wastewater for irrigation - by: lvolat

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:32:40 +0000

Thank you for your replies.

Mr Mughal,
We do have a proper wastewater treatment plant, very similar to the one you described. It has been running since 2000.
I am interested to know more about the sand filtration system. What kind of (quality)sand does it need to be and do you have any designs for such systems that I could take a look at?
Also it seems that the publication was not attached.

Regards,

Lillian

Re: Low cost alternatives to chlorinated wastewater for irrigation - by: F H Mughal

Wed, 14 Nov 2012 06:09:12 +0000

Dear Mr. Lillian,

I would advise you that, you must have a proper wastewater treatment plant. I would prefer aerated lagoons wastewater treatment plant (grit removal, primary sedimentation, aeration unit with cage rotors, final sedimentation tank, and sludge drying beds). If it is well-designed and you have adequate liquid retention times in all units, especially the aeration unit, you would be able to get a reasonably good quality treated effluent (BOD < 40 mg/l; SS < 50 mg/l - typically).

Now, if you want to chlorinate it, then, the best way to do it, is to add a slow sand filtration unit at the end of the plant, with a low filtration rate [(e/g, 2 liters/square meter per minute (0.05 gallons/minute/square foot)]. The effluent that you get will be, almost, (depending on the design and operation of the plant) equal to, as if you have chlorinated it. Do it and you will thank me for that - a low-cost alternative.

F H Mughal (Mr.)
Karachi, Pakistan
PS: I'm attaching a useful publication - Enjoy!

Re: Low cost alternatives to chlorinated wastewater for irrigation - by: JKMakowka

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 19:22:37 +0000

Also expensive, but a membrane bioreactor treatment plant would be an very efficient option too.

Alternatively... well if you can strictly avoid contact with the vegetables, it is not that necessary to desinfect the waste-water. Obviously this is difficult to do though; underground drip irrigation would probably work, but you would need to filter the wastewater to avoid clogging of the small pipes and drippers.

An low tech alternative that I think might be interesting to use with wastewater also (not sure if it has been done before) is buried clay pot irrigation. Just do a search on google for it. Basically you take an unglazed and thus slowly water permeable clay pot and bury it close to the roots of the plants. Then you fill it up with (waste) water and put a lid on it. The water then slowly percolated into the soil.
This method has been used in north Africa I think for a long time... however it has it's share of problems too, and you would still need to find a way to safely fill the pots with your wastewater and remove the accumulating sludge.

Low cost alternatives to chlorinated wastewater for irrigation - by: lvolat

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 14:28:34 +0000

Hello,

I am researching for a proposal to do a pilot project to use treated municipal wastewater to irrigate high water content crops such as tomatoes, cucumber and strawberries.
I am looking for information on low cost alternatives for wastewater treated with chlorine. The only alternative I have come across is Ultraviolet rays which is a costly method.

Thanks in advance for any help