iPHEE

 
Institute  for  Public  Health  and    
Environmental  Engineering  

   
International training courses  
 

Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for  

Small and Rural Communities  

19 – 21 October 2015, Tunja Colombia
 

 
Introduction  
About 2 billion people living in small and rural communities do not have access
  to sanitation facilities. In addition, nearly 75 per cent of all wastewater produced
around the world is discharged to a watercourse without treatment, which
creates a detrimental knock-on effect in environmental, public health and  
development indicators. The lack of local expertise in technologies currently
available for on-site sanitation and wastewater treatment and reuse has been  
identified as one of the limiting factors impeding those communities to climb up
 
to the top of the sanitation ladder, with the use of sustainable engineering
solutions.  
For those reasons, this training course has been built up on the research
undertaken by our Institute for Public Health and Environmental Engineering  
(iPHEE) at Leeds, which is renowned worldwide for its pioneering work in
developing countries. The institute undertakes research in all aspects of the  
built environment in which the presence of pathogens and valuable resources
 
influences design, including water supply, wastewater treatment and reuse,
solid waste management and airborne transmission of disease.  
In particular, this training course provides a broad ranging overview of elements
of low-cost sanitation, natural wastewater treatment systems and wastewater  
reuse. It also includes the design approaches for ventilated improved pit
 
latrines; pour-flush toilets; septic tanks; low-cost sewerage; waste stabilization
ponds; rock filters and constructed wetlands. Major natural wastewater  
treatment processes are covered in detail with the aim to deliver a
comprehensive approach to public health engineering solutions in low-income  
countries and peri-urban areas, with emphasis on resource recovery.
This training course is for engineering students, academics, consultants,  
professionals working in international development and public health
Dr Miller Alonso Camargo-Valero  
engineering workers. It will provide you with an in-depth understanding of how
Lecturer in Water and
  to deliver effective modern sanitation and public health interventions in small
Environmental Engineering
M.A.Camargo-Valero@leeds.ac.uk
and urban communities in low-income and transitional economies.
 International training courses
Wastewater Treatment and Reuse for Small and Rural Communities
 

Programme  
Day 1 Biochemical cycles: water, carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus. Public health engineering and
waterborne diseases. Low-cost sanitation facilities: Introduction to on-site and off-site sanitation;
ventilated improved pit latrines; pour-flush toilets; septic tanks; low-cost (settled and simplified)
sewerage; sanitation economics (7 hours)

Day 2 Water pollution control: surface water quality control and modelling. Low-cost wastewater
treatment systems: Introduction to Natural Wastewater Treatment (NWT) systems; wastewater
quality, flows and loads; overview of waste stabilization ponds (WSP); Anaerobic ponds; UASBs
and high-rate anaerobic WSPs; Facultative ponds; High rate algal ponds; Maturation ponds;
Physical design and O&M of WSPs; Rock filters; Constructed wetlands (7 hours)

Day 3 Wastewater reuse and discharge: Wastewater reuse and health; quantitative microbial risk
analysis (QMRA); Effluent quality; Guidelines for wastewater reuse in agriculture; Rural, urban and
peri-urban wastewater irrigation; Suitable NWT technologies to meet effluent quality standards for
restricted and unrestricted irrigation (7 hours).

Reading  material:  
Feachem  R,  Bradley  D,  Garelick  H,  Mara  D  D  (1983).  Sanitation  and  Disease:  Health  Aspects  of  Excreta  and  
Wastewater  Management.  John  Wiley  &  Sons.  
http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cen6ddm/Sanitation&Disease.html  
Mara  D  D  (2004).  Domestic  Wastewater  Treatment  in  Developing  Countries.  London:  Earthscan,  2004  
http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cen6ddm/Books/DWWTDC.pdf  
Mara  D  D  (2011).  Natural  Wastewater  Treatment.  AquaEnviro,  Weakfield  (UK).  
http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cen6ddm/NWT.html  
Tilley  E  et  al.  (2008).  Compendium  of  Sanitation  Systems  and  Technologies.  Swiss  Federal  Institute  of  Aquatic  
Science  and  Technology  (Eawag).  Dübendorf,  Switzerland.  
http://www.eawag.ch/forschung/sandec/publikationen/sesp/dl/compendium_high.pdf  
 

Dr Miller Alonso Camargo Valero is a Lecturer in Water and Environmental Engineering at the
School of Civil Engineering, University of Leeds (UK). He holds a BEng(Hons) degree in
Chemical Engineering (1996) and an MSc(Eng) degree in Environmental Engineering (1998),
both from the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, and a PhD in Civil Engineering from
the University of Leeds (2009). His early career as an academic at Universidad Nacional de
Colombia (Assistant Professor, 1997-2010) enabled him to develop a deep knowledge in water
and wastewater engineering by undertaking both research and teaching activities, and working as
an environmental engineering consultant in multi-disciplinary projects and contracts to the
government and private sector in Colombia. In Colombia, he dedicated his research work to study
the formation and control of disinfection by-products control in water supply systems. In the UK,
Miller Alonso's research work has been dedicated to study nitrogen transformation pathways and
water removal mechanisms both in wastewater treatment systems (PhD at Leeds) and in natural
@leeds environments (Postdoctoral position at Queen Mary, University of London; 2008-2009); airborne
pathogen transport and control in indoor environments (Postdoctoral position at the University of
Leeds; 2009-2011); and to develop alga-based technologies to retrofit existing assets in the UK water industry to tackle CO2
emissions, nutrient control/recovery and renewable energy generation (School of Civil Engineering at Leeds; 2011- present).