Das Projekt "Vermicomposting of brown water sludge using the Rottebehälter system as a component of ecological sanitation with urine diverting flush toilets" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Institut für Abwasserwirtschaft und Gewässerschutz B-2 durchgeführt. A research project has been initiated at the Hamburg University of Technology under the supervision of Prof Ralf Otterpohl, director of the institute of municipal and industrial wastewater management. This project has brought together the vermicomposting and the Rottebehälter technology, where worms has been applied to fresh brown water sludge in a pilot plant connected to the toilets in the university building. Flush toilets are in use with the system, for most ecosan applications urine sorting would be implemented. The disadvantages over dry systems is the water consumption and the pathogenic filtrate from the filter-units. However, there are very many situations around the world where dry systems are either not technically feasible, not accepted or difficult because of wet anal cleaning. It will be a good idea to combine with low-flush toilets. Originally Rottebehälter are meant to replace septic tanks and they are a good alternative avoiding methane emittions and poducing a much more usable material. With this system the water level loses 1,5 to 2 meters, making application more feasible in ground with a good gradient. Worm application will help to get to real composting over the idle phase, rather than the usual pre-composting. The first results with the collected still very wet blackwater were extremely successfull, the the worms have converted the the material into a moist earth-like material over a 3 months period without any additives. One or two further month will produce an excellent humus provided it will not become too dry. Temperatures should not be too low, the TUHH lab plant on technical scale opearates above 17 degree C. Different species are being currently researched in different temperatures. The combination of these two technologies has a very good potential to be applied in rural and peri-urban areas in both high and low income countries. Worms can also improve the performance of dry earth toilets and help sanitising.
Das Projekt "WTZ-Indonesia: An Investigation of General Circulation in the Malacca Strait and the Andaman Sea" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Universität Hamburg, Zentrum für Meeres- und Klimaforschung, Institut für Meereskunde (IfM) durchgeführt. A bilateral scientific-technological cooperation (WTZ) with the Universitas Syiah Kuala, Darussalam - Banda Aceh, Sumatra / Indonesia. The focus of the project is the description and analysis of the physical aspects of the system Malacca Strait / Andaman Sea, namely the circulation, the mass transport and the interaction between both regions. In this project the well-established approach of numerical modelling will be employed. For initializing and for providing the models with boundary values, data sets will be used which are already available. The German partner will contribute to this task with personnel and instrumentation. The modelling will be performed on two scales. The larger scale will investigate the general circulation (summer and winter monsoon, long-term variability and flushing times of mass transport). The smaller scale will study fronts (tidal induced, density induced, variations of fronts in time and space).
Das Projekt "Sustainable sanitation system for low-income densely populated urban areas in Indonesia (Case study: Kali Rungkut Sub-District, Surabaya, East Java)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Technische Universität Hamburg-Harburg, Institut für Abwasserwirtschaft und Gewässerschutz B-2 durchgeführt. Waterborne sewage system has proven to be inappropriate to solve sanitation needs in developing countries. Approximately 90 percentt of city sewage in developing countries today is discharged untreated, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas (Winblad, 1997). With increasing population density and the resultant groundwater pollution, conventional decentralized disposal systems such as latrines and seepage pits are not viable alternatives either. Many cities are short of water and subject to critical environmental degradation (Niemczynowicz, 1996). Conventional sanitation technologies based on flush toilets, sewers, treatment and discharge cannot solve the problems in urban areas anymore. A sustainable sanitation and wastewater management system is urgently needed in order to address these issues. Ecological sanitation (Ecosan) is proposed as an alternative system to solve the following problems: lack of sanitation and water body contamination by pathogens from human waste. Ecosan does not only provide sanitation facilities for the people, but also seeks to protect public health, prevents water pollution and at the same time returns valuable nutrients to the soil so that it also helps to ensure food security and contributes to the objectives of sustainable development. The objective of this research is to search for a sustainable sanitation and human waste management system that is appropriate to be applied in poor income people living in densely populated urban areas in Indonesia. As Ecological Sanitation has not been applied in Indonesia before, this dissertation also aims to investigate its effectiveness and community acceptance in Indonesia. Two other existing systems are also studied as the comparison, which are the conventional septic tank system and the decentralized wastewater system (Dewats). All of these sanitation systems are assessed based on three sustainability criteria: economical, environmental and social.