RAPID: Assessing the Impact of Internal Refugees on Hospital Water and Wastewater Infrastructure and Its Implications for Future Sustainable Treatment Designs

University Of Maryland, College Park, College Park MD

Investigators

Abstract

Principal Investigator: Stephanie Lansing Proposal No: 1034836 This work takes advantage of pre-earthquake data, collected in 2008 by Dr. Lansing of the University of Maryland, on the wastewater treatment needs and energy infrastructure of the Partners in Health (PIH) medical complex in Cange, Haiti. The PIH hospital is one of the most well equipped hospitals in Haiti and has received a rapid influx of internal refugees. Using the 2008 data as a control, the post-earthquake change in water, wastewater, and energy needs will be quantified and a flexible and sustainable system for rapid expansion of the waste treatment and energy production capacity will be developed. Specifically, this project will (1) assess the wastewater and energy needs of critical medical infrastructure in a post earthquake environment through a follow-up survey and compare this data to pre-earthquake data in order to quantify the impact of internal refuges on wastewater and energy infrastructure, (2) create a sustainable design for meeting wastewater and energy demands in planned refugees communities by incorporating biodigesters for wastewater treatment, energy production, and liquid fertilizer creation and couple this appropriate treatment technology with agriculture and hydroponic systems, and (3) implement a flexible and adaptable biodigestion system for meeting increased energy and water demand in a surviving medical complex. The work will be done in consultation with a team of engineers, scientists, and students from the Univ. of Maryland, Clemson Univ., and private practice that have previous experience in Haiti and have developed an excellent rapport with the Haitian engineering, agriculturalist, and community outreach counterparts at the PIH facility. The funds requested will be used to pay salary and research assistants to collect and analyze hydrologic data, purchase metering equipment to quantify water and biogas flows, and international travel to and from Haiti. Literature has stressed the importance of assessing and prioritizing the immediate potable water and wastewater needs for maintaining the short-term public health of the post-disaster population, but despite the academic consensus for these types of assessments, the literature rarely quantifies the degree to which components of a country?s health infrastructure is stressed. Similarly, there is a paucity of research on how this infrastructure can be rebuilt quickly, affordably, and sustainably. This proposed research seeks to fill this need by quantifying the change in energy demand and wastewater quantity on the existing health care infrastructure in Haiti?s immediate post-earthquake environment and use this data to inform the design of an innovative biodigestion system that incorporates energy production, crop development, and water reuse in its treatment model. By designing for water treatment and energy production using an appropriate technology, a sustainable model for rebuilding Haitian communities devastated by the recent earthquake will be produced. The lessons learned from the design and implementation of this biodigester design in the Summer of 2010 can be used by NGOs and Haitian governmental agencies for designing refugee camps with landscapes that incorporate waste treatment through biodigesters, have hydroponic gardens connected to the effluent from water distribution points, and contain sustainable cropping areas near the biodigester facility to receive the fertilizer-rich effluent. In this model, waste is used as a resource for energy production, irrigation and fertilizer. Agriculture in Haiti has been devastated by soil erosion caused by the need for cooking charcoal. By taking a waste and creating energy in the form of biogas while providing nutrients and water for crop production, the designs presented will have a large impact on a country that has a unique opportunity to design the landscape in a way that integrates humans and the environment in a sustainable manner. This award is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).