Water & Wastewater Treatment

www.wwtonline.co.uk | WWT | APRIL 2015 | 25 sewers designer Joseph Bazalgette's 19th Century system, which had sewage outfalls on either side of river valleys to allow for city expansion. This method will enable Maputo to successfully manage surface water and ensure long-term sustainability. Water and wastewater professionals in the UK can both inform and learn from their counterparts in developing countries. All are grappling with the issues of customer behaviour change, improving water supply efficiency, and maximising use of the products of wastewater treatment. We want to help communities in the UK and abroad to work together to design sustainable solutions. WaterAid jointly organises the annual Society of Public Health Engineers (SoPHE) Young Engineers Award, which last year challenged water industry professionals around the country to find solutions for the flooding of decentralised wastewater treatment systems. Three young engineers from Yorkshire Water and URS won the 2014 award with their solution to making systems in a small town in Bangladesh more resilient to floods. The winners will visit Bangladesh this year to meet Government and community official representatives. They will see the situation first hand, discuss their ideas and gain an understanding of whether their design is feasible and what changes will need to be made before it can be implemented. Providing sustainable solutions to communities vulnerable to disasters such as flooding is at the heart of what we do. We know that, unless communities have sustainable services which are resilient to disasters, and have the knowledge and tools to practise good hygiene behaviours, we will not achieve our ambition: universal and lasting access to water, sanitation and hygiene by 2030. Learn more about WaterAid's Project Sahel (Water365) and how it is helping communities respond to volatile climates at wateraid.org/uk/ WWTwater365 Infrastructure focus To survive and then recover from such disasters, communities need strong water and sanitation infrastructure. WaterAid has been working in Malawi since 2000, helping to address the serious lack of facilities – 90% of people in the country do not have a safe place to go to the toilet. In the past few months we have helped communities to construct waterpoints and toilets, ensuring facilities meet the needs of women and girls and people with disabilities, and that key hygiene messages are spread. In the long term, we will help rehabilitate community and school water infrastructures and school sanitation facilities. Disasters such as floods are likely to become more common as climatic changes make extreme weather events more frequent. However, simply responding to disasters isn't enough; the deeper systemic issues, which extreme weather events exaggerate, need to be addressed. At WaterAid, we work hard to ensure sustainable water and sanitation services reach the most vulnerable people, and that we do not just provide short-term solutions. We help communities to monitor threats to their WASH services, and enable them to better manage their water and sanitation systems. Lagos, the largest city in Sub- Saharan Africa and fiŸh largest in the world, is populated by about 21 million people and growing fast. Two thirds of residents live in unplanned settlements. Not only is Lagos's water supply largely broken and polluted, and sanitation grossly inadequate, but residents are also at serious risk of flooding from storm surges and heavy rainfall, with little drainage infrastructure to help. Just a one metre rise in sea level would flood more than half the city. We have been working with Lagos authorities, utility providers and UK architects Sheppard Robson and AECOM to influence how water and sanitation services are planned there and in three other African cities – Kinshasa in Democratic Republic of Congo, Maputo in Mozambique and Lusaka in Zambia. We have focused on the poorest people and those most vulnerable to weather and climatic events, and are working with authorities and large donors to ensure communities and facilities are resilient and their specific needs addressed. In Lagos, for example, we have considered the special needs of 'floating settlements', looking at providing communal blocks and barges to remove waste. The 2.5 million inhabitants of Maputo, Mozambique, are at high risk from a rise in sea levels, and also from coastal erosion. As a consequence of severe flooding, Maputo has been plagued by cholera, with thousands of deaths registered since 1973. A recent cholera outbreak following the floods killed more than 40 people. Strong, sustainable infrastructure is necessary to combat the contamination of water which contributes to these deaths, but the city's current wastewater treatment plant and sewerage system was designed for just 90,000 people. WaterAid has been working with providers in the area to identify potential ways to improve the infrastructure. Looped systems When constructing any drainage or water supply layouts, the creation of looped systems helps to ensure that failure or maintenance of any section will not prevent the whole system from working. But this method is not effective in Maputo because of its river valleys and the headlands between them. We took inspiration from London's sanitation history, proposing a scaled-down version of • Innovations ● WaterAid has worked with local providers to identify infrastructure improvements and water authorities to improve planning ● Looped systems for drainage or water supply ensure that failure or maintenance of any section will not prevent the whole system from working ● The Young Engineers Award is challenging water industry professionals around the country to find solutions for the flooding of decentralised wastewater treatment systems

• Cover