The conventional approach to sanitation in urban areas, which consists of expensive sewer systems, wastewater treatment in centralized plants and effluent discharge to the surface water bodies is neither an affordable nor a sustainable solution for fast growing megacities like Lima.
Within the LiWa project, training and capacity building contributes to general awareness of the actual situation and developments in water management. It provides the advanced application of LiWa results and professional knowledge to students, specialists and stakeholders to ensure a sustainable water management coping the impacts of climate change within the following decades.
Therefore the identification of innovative sanitation technologies suitable for different representative quarters and in the education process of graduate students regarding these topics is aimed. An important objective is the gradual development of sustainable (resource and energy efficient) concepts together with stakeholders, decision makers and professionals.
Educational institutions, universities, and technical schools must contribute to the mainstreaming of the new sanitation paradigm by fully integrating the discourse and criteria for sustainability into their curricula. They should make clear that defining criteria for sustainable sanitation is a political act and influences what is the accepted, legitimate form of sanitation, including the impacts from sanitation to other sectors.
To ensure high quality training, several teaching materials are getting developed in co-operation with the Universidad Nacional de Ingenería (UNI). The contents of these LiWa modules are adapted to the specific needs in the project area of Greater Lima, which means that customised technical concepts for larger units in the center districts of Lima as well as more decentralised solutions for the peri-urban areas are covered.
LiWa uses Distant Learning Lectures (DLL) and Continuing Education Events (CEE) as tools for Training and Capacity Building. For DLL Training Material gets implemented into the e-LiWa Academy. LiWa uses this system for teaching at university and for further education beyond university. The advantage is the availability regardless of time and location as students and professionals need to be flexible in organizing their educational timetable in consideration of the fact that most of them have one or two full-time employments.
CEE`s are organized as International Workshop for professionals such as consultants, stakeholders, designers and others working with wastewater. Here LiWa applies modules and uses the contact to professionals to figure the specific needs of the different parties.
The following training modules are available in Spanish:
In cooperation with the German Association for Water, Wastewater and Waste (DWA), a guideline document on "Treatment steps for water reuse" has been translated into Spanish and is applied within LiWa capacity building:
Promotion of student exchange between Germany and Peru, thus fostering the links between both countries and further promoting the application of the results by emerging professionals, is an important task. In 2009, a student from Ostfalia/Suderburg prepared her master thesis on the detection of water losses in the drinking water system of the city of Huaraz/Peru. A master thesis on "Wastewater Re-use in Lima Metropolitana: A Concept for an Integrated and Sustainable Water and Wastewater Management" (German, pdf, 1,5 MB) has been completed in 2010 by a student of University of Emden/Germany.
The exchange activities are supported by the DAAD program „Study and research scholarships of today for the megacities of tomorrow“. During the summer term of 2009, a Peruvian student stayed at the Campus Suderburg to perform investigations in using aquatic plants for nutrient removal from waste water.
Since 2010 to 2013, two PhD students from China and Peru with a DAAD scholarship are working on their thesis in Suderburg, dealing with innovative methods of waste water treatment.
In 2011 an interdisciplinary Ostfalia team of four students traveled to Lima to work out a concepts for water supply, sanitation and hygiene for an underdeveloped settlement within a local project. In preparation to the 4 month stay the team has completed an intercultural training, language courses and workshops for team orientations. Bachelors theses worked out within this project are namely:
- “Water supply problematic of Lima Metropolitana with respect to social aspects”
- “Design of a wastewater treatment plant for the school “IE 6100 Santa Maria Reyna” in the area of Quebrada Verde, Lima, Peru” (German, pdf, 2,5 MB)
Furthermore OCS is planning a summer academy on water in Suderburg (SAWaSu) 2013 with mainly Peruvian and German participants. The topic “Protection and Sustainable Use of the Water Resource in Times of Global Change” aims the development of strategies to cope the impacts of climate and demography change in seminars and workshops.
The methodology and results developed within the LiWa project are fed into training courses, thus enabling the Peruvian partners to apply and to use the tools and methodologies developed in the LiWa project - even after the end of the project - for future planning and decision processes. In 2009 and 2010, training courses on macro- and micro-modelling applications were organised for the technical staff of SEDAPAL.
In 2011 an international course on aerobic treatment of domestic and industrial wastewater was held at the Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru in Lima. This event has been an advanced education seminar for professionals such as consultants, stakeholders, designers and others working with wastewater. This LiWa event has been organized by in cooperation with the Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru. Speakers were Prof. Mennerich (OCS), Dipl.-Ing. Ogasa (OCS), M.Sc. Yaya Beas (UNI-FIA) and Ing. León Suematsu.
The contents of LiWa-Modules have been applied in that course. Focal points among other things were: Peruvian/ German norms of wastewater treatment, nutrient removal, plant design operation and maintenance, practice in laboratory and sludge treatment. This seminar has been much asked. More than 40 participants from all over Peru and neighboring countries took part. An evaluation showed that this course was very successful.
From 22.02. through 01.03.2013, another international course „Curso Internacional Gestión y Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales Industriales” was held in co-operation with the Colegio de Ingenieros del Peru. Aprox. 45 professionals from Peru and neighboring countries attended the course. During the sessions, the main processes for treatment of industrial effluents were presented. Furthermore, special aspects and operational problems brought in by the participants were discussed.
Contact: Artur Mennerich, Ingeborg Joost; Ostfalia University of Applied Sciences
