Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers

(1)

Field Guide to

Environmental Engineering

for Development Workers

(2)

Other Titles of Interest

Advances in Water and Wastewater Treatment, edited by Rao Y. Surampalli and K. D. Tyagi. (ASCE Committee Report, 2004). Describes the application of innovative tech-nologies for water and wastewater treatment with an emphasis on the scientiﬁ c principles for pollutant or pathogen removal. (ISBN 0-7844-0741-X)

Appropriative Rights Model Water Code, edited by Joseph W. Dellapenna. (ASCE Com-mittee Report, 2007). Presents a legal framework that balances management of water with social, economic, political, and administrative concerns. (ISBN 978-0-7844-0887-2) Climate Variations, Climate Change, and Water Resources Engineering, by Jurgen D. Garbrecht and Thomas C. Piechota. (ASCE Committee Reports, 2006). Highlights cur-rent knowledge about climate variations and change and their impact on water resources systems. (ISBN 978-0-7844-0824-7)

Sharing Water in Times of Scarcity: Guidelines and Procedures in the Development of Effective Agreements to Share Water Across Political Boundaries, edited by Stephen E. Draper. (ASCE Committee Report, 2006). Offers narrative guidelines and procedures for formulating a water sharing agreement. (ISBN 0-7844-0846-7)

Sustainable Engineering: An Introduction, by the Committee on Sustainability of the Technical Activities Committee. (ASCE Committee Report, 2004). Provides a broad, fun-damental understanding of sustainability principles and their application to engineering work. (ISBN 0-7844-0750-9)

(3)

Field Guide to

Environmental Engineering

for Development Workers

Water, Sanitation, and Indoor Air

James R. Mihelcic, Ph.D.

Lauren M. Fry

Elizabeth A. Myre

Linda D. Phillips, P.E.

Brian D. Barkdoll, Ph.D., P.E.

(4)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Field guide to environmental engineering for development workers : water, sanitation, and indoor air / James R. Mihelcic ... [et al.].

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7844-0985-5

1. Sanitary engineering--Developing countries. 2. Water-supply--Developing countries. 3. Indoor air quality--Developing countries. I. Mihelcic, James R.

TD127.F54 2009 628.09172’4--dc22

2009022603 Published by American Society of Civil Engineers 1801 Alexander Bell Drive

Reston, Virginia 20191 www.pubs.asce.org

Any statements expressed in these materials are those of the individual authors and do not neces-sarily represent the views of ASCE, which takes no responsibility for any statement made herein. No reference made in this publication to any speciﬁ c method, product, process, or service constitutes or implies an endorsement, recommendation, or warranty thereof by ASCE. The materials are for gen-eral information only and do not represent a standard of ASCE, nor are they intended as a reference in purchase speciﬁ cations, contracts, regulations, statutes, or any other legal document.

ASCE makes no representation or warranty of any kind, whether express or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, suitability, or utility of any information, apparatus, product, or process discussed in this publication, and assumes no liability therefor. This information should not be used without ﬁ rst securing competent advice with respect to its suitability for any general or speciﬁ c application. Anyone utilizing this information assumes all liability arising from such use, including but not limited to infringement of any patent or patents.

ASCE and American Society of Civil Engineers—Registered in U.S. Patent and Trademark Ofﬁ ce. Photocopies and reprints. You can obtain instant permission to photocopy ASCE publications by using ASCE’s online permission service (http://pubs.asce.org/permissions/requests/). Requests for 100 copies or more should be submitted to the Reprints Department, Publications Division, ASCE (address above); e-mail: [email protected]. A reprint order form can be found at http://pubs. asce.org/support/reprints/.

The cover shows the construction of a 10,000-gallon, reinforced brick water storage tank built for the Los Chaguites community in southern Honduras. The system serves 150 homes and consists of a catchment structure feeding the storage tank, 5,400 m of conduction line, two break pressure tanks, and 1,000 m of distribution piping. Watercolor batik on Japanese rice paper by Linda D. Phillips.

ISBN 978-0-7844-0985-5

Manufactured in the United States of America. 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5

(5)

v

Foreword

Peace falls under the general umbrella of many things: freedom, democracy, human rights, the alleviation of suffering, and the improvement of environmental quality and health. Yet it is global health that connects us all.

Global health can be found in a small child in Mali learning to wash her hands to prevent the spread of diarrheal disease. It appears in the work of a community erecting a water storage tank in the mountains of western Honduras or village members pouring concrete slabs used for latrines in Timor-Leste. Global health is also present in groups of women constructing more efﬁ cient cooking stoves in Asia that not only reduce indoor air pollution but also make better use of scarce tree resources.

From these seemingly simple beginnings, global health broadens its reach to affect the prosperity and stability of whole nations—whether empowering communities to bet-ter educate and provide for themselves, stopping a rapid outbreak of illness, preventing famine, or eliminating socially and economically devastating diseases.

Having access to the basic needs of water, sanitation, hygiene, and shelter are issues of human rights, not just issues of development and engineering. Providing these basic rights in a sustainable manner is critical if we are to improve the health among poor people afﬂ icted with disease, people who are often isolated, forgotten, ignored, and with-out hope.

If you examine engineering closely, it is about solving problems. Engineering is also tied to eradicating poverty and disease, just as much as it is tied to planning, design, and construction. One key, though, is to provide engineers and others with resources so they understand the beneﬁ cial use of appropriate technology. This type of technology is developed and deployed with ongoing input from local communities to accommodate economic, social, environmental, and cultural conditions unique to each locale. Such an approach holds greater promise of fostering healthy communities and reducing gender inequalities.

One principle of the Carter Center is that people can improve their lives when provided with the necessary skills, knowledge, and access to resources. What is special about this book is that it provides all of these so that people can improve the lives of their families, their communities, and their countries.

I am proud to see that much of the knowledge in this book was created by those who served in the U.S. Peace Corps as water-sanitation engineers. Many do not know that my mother also served in the Peace Corps as a health volunteer. Like the child in Mali, she has been an inspiration to me. Only after global health is improved will we all be con-nected in a world of peace and equality.

President Jimmy Carter

vii

(8)

This page intentionally left blank

(9)

ix

Preface

Welcome to our vision, a world where all have access to sanitation, potable water, and safe indoor air; where all children are able to learn in well built classrooms; where families no longer suffer from disease, starvation, and poverty; where renewable energy has replaced fossil fuels—and engineers are part of the solution.

For over a decade, Linda Phillips and I have directed undergraduate and graduate programs that allowed hundreds of engineering students to come to a robust understand-ing of their discipline and its relationship to social needs, the environment, and civic responsibility. In the process, students created knowledge as they applied and researched appropriate technological solutions to a wide variety of global challenges with the added constraints of the world’s many economic, social, and environmental limitations.

Interestingly, both programs grew independently, but both were born in the late 1990s. During those early years, Linda and I had little idea of what the other was doing until one day, when I was on sabbatical and Linda was back in her ofﬁ ce, we connected through several e-mails and realized the characteristics that were similar to both programs. Looking back on the past, we both clearly see how things that developed at the grassroots level ﬁ t into larger issues of eliminating poverty, improving global health, stemming the tide of environmental destruction, reforming engineering education, and attracting new students to our discipline.

As an educator and engineer, I have a personal and professional goal to nurture and educate young people to value and implement our fi eld guide’s vision of a just and better world. Unfortunately, few have the in-country experience to implement our collective vision of a better world. As you are probably aware, women and children unfairly bear the greatest burden of environmental risk associated with poor water and sanitation and polluted indoor air environments. The information contained in this book fi ts with global efforts to build capacity to solve these global problems of poverty, shelter, justice, gender inequalities, health, water supply, sewerage, solid waste, and indoor air. This book inte-grates design and construction of appropriate technology with critically important issues of health, project management, and community participation. We also included detailed chapters on the use of common engineering materials and, importantly, on proper con-struction techniques that will be encountered in the fi eld.

Our ﬁ eld guide shows an engineer how to apply professional skills they have learned to serve humanity. The book is concise and, thanks to Linda Phillips’s multiple talents as an engineer and artist, it is beautifully illustrated. One goal we have is that this book allow students, engineering professionals, development workers, government ofﬁ cials, and com-munities to evaluate, design, size, plan, construct, operate, and maintain technology that is culturally, economically, and geographically appropriate. We are in debt to many others around the world who have developed similar materials, especially those focused in great detail on a particular topic. Accordingly, at the end of each chapter we provide readers with more focused readings so they can expand their understanding of a particular topic.

(10)

x Preface

The book is also designed such that non-engineers can use the book’s information to solve problems in a sustainable manner.

I am especially grateful for the long and mutually benefi cial partnership I have had with the Peace Corps through the extensive committed support provided by the Master’s International program. This partnership allows students at over 60 universities to incor-porate 11 weeks of training and 2 years of service in the Peace Corps with a graduate degree program that is in a scarce skill area (see http://www.peacecorps.gov/masters). The Master’s International program fi ts with the vision of President John F. Kennedy, who in 1961 established the Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. The Peace Corps mission has three simple goals, all which fi t into our vision of engineering educa-tion and service:

1. Helping the people of interested countries in meeting their need for trained men and women.

2. Helping promote a better understanding of Americans on the part of the peoples served.

3. Helping promote a better understanding of other peoples on the part of Americans.

I am also very thankful to the ﬁ nancial and professional support provided to me by the University of South Florida through the State of Florida 21st Century World Class Scholar Program and the Dr. Kiran C. Patel Center for Global Solutions. The Patel Center’s mission is to promote and support nonpartisan, independent applied research that leads to the discovery, dissemination, and application of new knowledge about the sources of and solutions to problems of global concern. In addition to research pro-grams, the Center supports educational programs for training current and future leaders and educators and for expanding public awareness about global concerns (see http:// www.patelcenter.usf.edu).

A large amount of the knowledge presented in this book was generated by engi-neering students who are graduates of a Master’s International program in civil and envi-ronmental engineering that I founded and of the International Capstone Design course that Linda Phillips and Dennis Magolan founded. Their contribution and the change they have effected on me and other engineering faculty through their Peace Corps service, undergraduate and graduate education and research, overseas internships, and profes-sional service has been invaluable.

I thank Betsy Kulamer and the staff at ASCE Press, who embraced this book’s con-cept and vision at an early stage, and Tony Marjoram, who is head of engineering sciences at UNESCO, for his support of this project. Special thanks go to the dedicated staff of the Peace Corps and the hundreds of communities we have partnered with, for their support, efforts, and passion for effective and just change.

I especially thank again the many students who have taken the leap of faith with me. Thanks also to Karen. You have all enriched my life. Some have called what we do “doing the right thing.” I would emphasize, it is about doing the right thing, the right way.

James R. Mihelcic Tampa, Florida

(11)

xi

Contributors

Lead Authors

James R. Mihelcic, Ph.D., BCEEM Civil & Environmental Engineering Patel Center for Global Solutions University of South Florida Lauren M. Fry

Civil & Environmental Engineering Michigan Technological University Elizabeth A. Myre

International Water and Sanitation Program Manager Linda D. Phillips, P.E., P.M.P, C.D.T.

Civil & Environmental Engineering Patel Center for Global Solutions University of South Florida

Brian D. Barkdoll, Ph.D., P.E., D.WRE, F.ASCE Civil & Environmental Engineering

Michigan Technological University

Illustrations by:

Linda D. Phillips, P.E., P.M.P, C.D.T. Civil & Environmental Engineering Patel Center for Global Solutions University of South Florida

This book is based on the collective knowledge, contributions, and authorship of many individuals, most of whom are returned Peace Corps volunteers (RPCV) who were part of the Master’s International program, some of whom participated in Interna-tional Capstone Design (ICD), and others who have worked in the developing world for other education, research, and service programs. This book is special because of their vision, their commitment to service, their willingness to share information with others, and especially their important contributions to this effort. These other authors and contributors are:

(12)

xii Contributors Dennis J. Magolan, P.E. Erlande Omisca Maya A. Trotz, Ph.D. Qiong Zhang, Ph.D.

Civil & Environmental Engineering Patel Center for Global Solutions University of South Florida

Blair Orr,1_{Ph.D. (RPCV, Lesotho, Somalia)}

John S. Gierke,2_{Ph.D., P.E.}

David W. Watkins Jr.,3_Ph.D.

Kurt G. Paterson,3_{Ph.D., P.E.}

Thomas Van Dam,3_{Ph.D., P.E. (RPCV, Tanzania)} 1_{School of Forestry & Environmental Science} 2_{Geological Engineering & Sciences}

3_{Civil & Environmental Engineering}

Michigan Technological University

Except for Marilyn M. Phillips (International Capstone Design on-site coordinator), the following contributors are all environmental and civil engineering students from Michi-gan Technological University. They are all either returned Peace Corps volunteers and graduates of the Master’s International program in civil and environmental engineering, participants in International Capstone Design, and/or engaged in other campus sustain-ability efforts.

Brooke Tyndell Ahrens (RPCV, Mali) Jonathan E. Annis (RPCV, Madagascar) Matthew D. Babcock (RPCV, Panama) Joshua R. Cowden, Ph.D.

James Dumpert (RPCV, Ghana)

Valerie J. Fuchs (EWB project, Honduras)

Christopher G. Gilbertson (EWB project, Guatemala) Stephen P. Good (RPCV, Dominican Republic) Meghan E. Housewright (RPCV, Mali) Jason N. Huart (RPCV, Honduras) Daniel M. Hurtado (RPCV, Panama) Milagros JeanCharles (RPCV, Mali) Josephine Kaiser (RPCV, Panama) Paul M. Kennedy (RPCV, Kenya) Kraig Lothe (RPCV, Nepal, Honduras) Jennifer R. McConville (RPCV, Mali) Jessica A. Mehl (RPCV, Panama)

Matthew A. Niskanen (RPCV, Dominican Republic) Daniel Nover (RPCV, Phillipines)

Emily L. Owens (RPCV, East Timor, Palau)

(13)

Contributors xiii Marilyn M. Phillips (ICD on-site coordinator, Bolivia, Dominican Republic)

Marc F. Plotkin (ICD, Bolivia)

Jennifer L. Post (RPCV, Uzbekistan, Jamaica)

Nathan Reents (RPCV, Honduras, and NGO, Bolivia, Thailand) Ryan W. Schweitzer (RPCV, Dominican Republic)

John D. Simpson (RPCV, Honduras) Kelly L. Stanforth (RPCV, Jamaica) Ed Stewart (RPCV, Jamaica)

Lyle J. Stone (RPCV, Dominican Republic) Ryu Suzuki (RPCV, Panama)

Eric Tawney (RPCV, Vanuatu) Alexis M. Troschinetz

Glenn A. Vorhes (RPCV, Dominican Republic)

Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers

Field Guide to

Environmental Engineering

for Development Workers

Other Titles of Interest

Field Guide to

Environmental Engineering

for Development Workers

Water, Sanitation, and Indoor Air

James R. Mihelcic, Ph.D.

Lauren M. Fry

Elizabeth A. Myre

Linda D. Phillips, P.E.

Brian D. Barkdoll, Ph.D., P.E.

Contents

Introduction

Community Approaches to Project Design

and Management

Basics of Construction

Water Supply and Treatment

Wastewater Treatment

Solid Waste

Air Quality

Appendix

Foreword

This page intentionally left blank

Preface

Contributors