Curriculum on Low-Cost Wastewater Treatment (in English and French)

Content - Summary

This document is available in English and French.

The overall objective of the project which involved Chinese, Vietnamese, Danish and Belgian universities was to contribute to the improvement of the heoretical capabilities in wastewater treatment in rapidly developing urban and rural areas of China and Vietnam, by means of exchanging and developing new concepts and methods of sustainable sanitation. The urbanisation process is proceeding rather rapidly in Asia, but the water supply and drainage systems in the urban and periurban centres remain poor and deficient, with no common facilities for wastewater treatment available. With the increasing pressure on water resources in the world, it is also envisioned that the development and large-scale implementation of low-cost sanitation methods will become crucial for resolving the needs of rapidly expanding cities and suburban areas.

The objective of the project was also to upgrade the skills of current and future Chinese and Vietnamese engineers in low-cost wastewater treatment, as those qualifications are highly demanded on the labour market nowadays. This can be explained by the fact that the human resources capable to work for improving environmental sanitation in China and Vietnam are currently insufficient and the needs in wastewater treatment engineers are expected to increase in the following years.

Another overall goal was to foster the exchange of ideas, concepts, and methods, which will greatly contribute to increase the awareness of European and Asian sanitation technologies in partner countries. Those technologies can later be used and developed by the different institutions involved in the action.

The specific objective of the project was to develop a teaching curriculum for new courses on low-cost wastewater treatment for MSc level students in Europe and Asia. The present course reviews the different low-cost treatment methods existing in the different partner countries and focuses on sharing the experience of processes developed and successfully applied by the partner institutions in their respective countries. Those processes usually use low-cost and light techniques to treat wastewater and reuse the treated wastewater for irrigation or to reduce the pathogens or pollutants. Through teaching and training of postgraduate students, the project raises awareness and strengthens the capacity of the involved professionals in alternative sanitation concepts and methods. The curriculum developed for the MSc level is also used in the European partner universities, which integrate the curriculum in their respective educational programmes.

Project title: Development of Teaching and Training Modules for Higher Education on Low-Cost Wastewater Treatment, Contract VN/Asia-Link/012 (113128) 2005-2008 (funded by the EU)

Bibliographic information

Xanthoulis, D. et al (2008). Curriculum on Low-Cost Wastewater Treatment (in English and French). Faculté Universitaire des Sciences Agronomiques de Gembloux, Belgium; EU project on Development of Teaching and Training Modules for Higher Education on Low-Cost Wastewater Treatment, Contract VN/Asia-Link/012

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