IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON MSc

EXAMINATION 20XX
ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

This paper also forms part of the relevant examination for the
Diploma of Imperial College

CIVE70050 – Environmental Management in Developing Countries

Day: May 20XX Duration: 1h

Answer TWO questions

All questions carry equal marks

Please answer each question in a SEPARATE answer book

© 20XX Imperial College London

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CIVE70050 – EE
1. Answer all parts of this question

(a) You are newly employed as a technical officer by an international non-governmental

organisation (NGO) and have been deployed to work in the field in rural water supply.
Outline what considerations you will take into account and steps you will take to
ensure sustainable provision of clean water to rural communities.

[10 marks]

(b) You have been asked to advise on a sanitation solution for a community that currently
is without any toilets and is practicing open defecation. Explain what steps you would
take in addressing this task. Include in your answer how you would decide on whether
onsite or offsite sanitation is the best option for the community and which type of
toilets to advise.
[10 marks]

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CIVE70050 – EE
2. Answer all parts of this question

(a) You work in a senior position in a medium sized municipality in the developing world.
This municipality has a relatively prosperous centre but is surrounded by large
communities of slum dwellings. The city has been trying to progressively improve
these communities with better infrastructure, in particular the provision of water and
sanitation. Progress, however, has been slow. They now want to appoint a consultant
to help them with this and you have the task of appointing that consultant. List five
skills or experiences you would want to see from the consultant and against each
skill/experience write one sentence explaining your reason for including the
skill/experience.
[10 marks]

(b) You work for an international aid agency and have been sent to assist a team
establishing a refugee camp. The camp is on the outskirts of a city in Sub Saharan Africa
and is to house a large number of refugees moving out of small rural communities as
a result of famine. They have no experience of water supply or sanitation systems. The
refugee camp is being managed by a group of experienced personnel from your aid
agency. The general provision is for areas of tents to accommodate individual families
and communal large tents for providing food. You are to provide the necessary
experience to manage water and sanitation on the site. There is provision for piping
drinking water in from the city suburbs but everything else has to be provided onsite.
List the different physical facilities you would plan for and indicate how they would be
set out. Explain what else would be needed for the facilities to operate effectively.

[10 marks]

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3. Answer all parts of this question

There is currently much public and political attention on plastics in the ocean. Consensus is
growing that the dominant source is unmanaged or mismanaged municipal solid waste in low-
and middle-income countries. The Mayor of a major coastal city in a tropical country with
gross national income per capita of US$2,000 per day has had approaches from numerous
international agencies, NGOs and private companies, all offering different ‘solutions’. At the
last census in 2005, the city population was 3 million, but it has been growing rapidly since
then. The city currently collects wastes from around 50% of the population. It operates two
large uncontrolled dumpsites, one of which is always on fire. There is an active informal
sector, but the city has no information on their activities. Budgets are very limited, and the
municipal works department has recently lost its only experienced solid waste professional.
At national level, the government is working with a variety of partners to develop a new
environment ministry and regulatory agency, a framework law on solid waste management
and a national strategy to tackle both municipal solid wastes and plastics wastes, but progress
is slow. Through the local university, the Mayor has approached Imperial College for
independent advice.

(a) Please provide the Mayor with five priority recommendations on how to address the
challenge of improving solid waste management in her city. Please provide a short
explanation and justification for each. Which of the five is your top priority and why?

[10 marks]

(b) A number of private companies are proposing mass-burn incineration with electricity
generation as the solution. Please discuss what you consider to be five key criteria
which need to be considered in making the decision about this proposal. How would
you recommend the Mayor to respond to these proposals?

[10 marks]

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CIVE70050 – EE