Online course (C4)

Sanitation technology

The UN Sustainable Development Goals have highlighted that at current rates, by 2030 more than 2.8 billion people will lack safely managed sanitation and they will mostly rely on non-sewered, onsite sanitation solutions. This course follows the holistic CWIS approach focusing on both sewered and non-sewered sanitation provision. You will conceptualise and critically assess technological options in sanitation. To do so, interesting videos, presentations and reading materials have been prepared for you by internationally renowned experts in sanitation technology. By the end of the course, you will have a comprehensive understanding of the technical fundamentals of the technological components of the sanitation infrastructure and their role in a wider CWIS context, and you will be equipped with the knowledge and skills you need to apply them effectively in your own work.

Introduction video

Course information

Objectives
After completion of the course you will be able to:
- Describe the most common approaches in urban drainage and sewerage
- Explain the main processes applied occurring in sewage and sludge treatment
- Discuss the state-of-the-art of the sanitation chain components: toilet interface; storage; emptying, transport, treatment, and reuse;
- Critically discuss the inputs and outputs of common sanitation technologies;
- Create a complete and sustainable sanitation chain for a variety of situations and to make informed choices.
Syllabus
This course covers the following topics:
- Sanitation technology selection
- Urban drainage and sewerage
- Biological nutrient removal from sewage
- Waste activated sludge treatment
- Introduction to sanitation value chain
- Design of latrines
- Innovative latrines workshop
- Design of drying beds
- Faecal sludge Q&Q
- Sanitation for informal settlements
- Emptying and transport
- Design of primary DEWATS process
- Anaerobic digestion of faecal sludge
- Waste stabilization ponds
- Constructed wetlands
- Source separation and treatment
Delivery method

Each course in this series consists of video lectures, presentation slides, reading materials, exercises, and assignments. In principle, each video presentation has its own complementary presentation slides. Some parts of the course also include exercises and/or assignments. Please note that this course is free, open access, and does not include guidance, exams, assessment, or certificate. As a rule of thumb, if you spend 8 hours per week following this course, you should be able to complete the curriculum within 22 weeks.

Instructions on how to use the course materials are available here.
Organization

Each course has its own coding system. The code of this course is C 4. Each course consists of units. Each unit has a unique code, for example, U 4.1. In the section ‘Unit 4.1 videos │ …” you can find and watch all video-recorded lectures that belong to this unit. Similarly, in the section ‘Unit 4.1 course materials│ …” you can download all materials that make this unit (e.g. high-resolution videos, presentation slides, reading materials, exercises, assignments, etc) as a single compressed file (in zip format). Some files may be of considerable size, so you need to assure that your computer has sufficient bandwidth and capacity for downloading.

Unit 4.1 videos │ Sewer-based sanitation

Here you can watch all video-recorded lectures of this unit.

Water and Wastewater Treatment Technologies Appropriate for Reuse - WAWTTAR

U 4.1.1

1 of 17

Urban drainage and sewerage

U 4.1.2

2 of 17

Introduction to pre-treatment of sewage and faecal sludge

U 4.1.3.1

3 of 17

Excess flow management

U 4.1.3.2

4 of 17

Preliminary sewage treatment

U 4.1.3.3

5 of 17

Pumping stations

U 4.1.3.4

6 of 17

Screens

U 4.1.3.5

7 of 17

Sand traps

U 4.1.3.6

8 of 17

Primary settling tanks

U 4.1.3.7

9 of 17

Preliminary faecal sludge/septage treatment

U 4.1.3.8

10 of 17

Organic matter removal

U 4.1.4.1

11 of 17

Nitrification

U 4.1.4.2

12 of 17

Biological denitrification

U 4.1.4.3

13 of 17

Enhanced biological phosphorus removal

U 4.1.4.4

14 of 17

Waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment - part 1

U 4.1.5.1

15 of 17

Waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment - part 2

U 4.1.5.2

16 of 17

Waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment - part 3

U 4.1.5.3

17 of 17

Unit 4.1 course materials │ Sewer-based sanitation

In this section, you can download all the documents that make up this unit.

Unit 4.1 │Course materials (zip)

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(49,618.8 MB)

Unit 4.2 videos │ Introduction to sanitation value chain

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Introduction to sanitation value chain

U 4.2.1

1 of 1

Unit 4.2 course materials │Introduction to sanitation value chain

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Unit 4.2 │Course materials (zip)

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(248.9 MB)

Unit 4.3 videos │ Collection and containment

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Faecal sludge Q&Q

U 4.3.1

1 of 12

Toilets

U 4.3.1.1

2 of 12

Pit latrines - pit

U 4.3.1.2

3 of 12

Pit latrines - slabs and covers

U 4.3.1.3

4 of 12

Pit latrines - superstructure

U 4.3.1.4

5 of 12

Dual vault toilets

U 4.3.1.5

6 of 12

Septic tanks

U 4.3.1.6

7 of 12

Specialist latrines

U 4.3.1.7

8 of 12

eSOS Smart Toilet

U 4.3.3.1

9 of 12

Design Vision eSOS Smart Toilet

U 4.3.3.2

10 of 12

Experimental eSOS Smart Toilet

U 4.3.3.3

11 of 12

Nairobi eSOS Smart Toilet

U 4.3.3.4

12 of 12

Unit 4.3 course materials │ Collection and containment

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Unit 4.3 │Course materials (zip)

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(25,037.6 MB)

Unit 4.4 videos │ Emptying and transport

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Emptying and transport of faecal sludge

U 4.4.1

1 of 1

Unit 4.4 course materials │ Emptying and transport

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Unit 4.4 │ Course materials (zip)

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(815.6 MB)

Unit 4.5 videos │ Treatment

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Introduction to anaerobic treatment

U 4.5.1.1

1 of 48

Microbiology - part 1

U 4.5.1.2

2 of 48

Microbiology - part 2

U 4.5.1.3

3 of 48

COD balance

U 4.5.1.4

4 of 48

Environmental factors - part 1

U 4.5.1.5

5 of 48

Environmental factors - part 2

U 4.5.1.6

6 of 48

Environmental factors - part 3

U 4.5.1.7

7 of 48

Reactor technology - part 1

U 4.5.1.8

8 of 48

Reactor technology - part 2

U 4.5.1.9

9 of 48

Reactor technology - part 3

U 4.5.1.10

10 of 48

Reactor technology - part 4

U 4.5.1.11

11 of 48

Urine introduction

U 4.5.2.1

12 of 48

Environmental impact

U 4.5.2.2

13 of 48

Urine collection systems

U 4.5.2.3

14 of 48

Urine separation and storage

U 4.5.2.4

15 of 48

Nutrient recovery - phosphate

U 4.5.2.5

16 of 48

Nutrient recovery - nitrogen

U 4.5.2.6

17 of 48

Waste stabilisation ponds introduction

U 4.5.3.1

18 of 48

Anaerobic ponds

U 4.5.3.2

19 of 48

Anaerobic ponds example design

U 4.5.3.3

20 of 48

Facultative ponds process performance

U 4.5.3.4

21 of 48

Facultative ponds design approaches

U 4.5.3.5

22 of 48

Facultative ponds example design

U 4.5.3.6

23 of 48

Maturation ponds

U 4.5.3.7

24 of 48

Fate of nutrients

U 4.5.3.8

25 of 48

Introduction to wetlands

U 4.5.4.1

26 of 48

Classification of wetlands

U 4.5.4.2

27 of 48

Wetlands macrophyte

U 4.5.4.3

28 of 48

Wetlands processes

U 4.5.4.4

29 of 48

Horizontal-flow wetlands

U 4.5.4.5

30 of 48

Vertical-flow wetlands

U 4.5.4.6

31 of 48

Constructed wetlands design - the rule of thumb

U 4.5.4.7

32 of 48

Constructed wetlands design - regression equation

U 4.5.4.8

33 of 48

Constructed wetlands design - regression plug-flow

U 4.5.4.9

34 of 48

Constructed wetlands design - mass-loading charts

U 4.5.4.10

35 of 48

Constructed wetlands design - P-k-C

U 4.5.4.11

36 of 48

Design comparison horizontal-flow wetlands

U 4.5.4.12

37 of 48

Engineering design approach to drying beds

U 4.5.5.1

38 of 48

Unplanted drying beds

U 4.5.5.2

39 of 48

Unplanted drying beds examples

U 4.5.5.3

40 of 48

Planted drying beds

U 4.5.5.4

41 of 48

Planted drying beds exercise

U 4.5.5.5

42 of 48

Black soldier fly (BSF) larvae

U 4.5.6.1

43 of 48

Vermifiltration

U 4.5.6.2

44 of 48

Composting

U 4.5.6.3

45 of 48

Lime stabilization

U 4.5.6.4

46 of 48

On-site sanitation systems

U 4.5.6.5

47 of 48

Site evaluation

U 4.5.6.6

48 of 48

Unit 4.5 course materials │ Treatment

In this section, you can download all the documents that make up this unit.

Unit 4.5│ Course materials (zip)

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(50,408.0 MB)

Unit 4.6 videos │ Drainage for informal settlements

Here you can watch all video-recorded lectures of this unit.

Introduction to drainage for informal settlements

U 4.6.1.1

1 of 9

Flow pathing

U 4.6.1.2

2 of 9

Hydrology for slums

U 4.6.1.3

3 of 9

Hydraulics for slums

U 4.6.1.4

4 of 9

Stormwater drainage

U 4.6.1.5

5 of 9

Greywater

U 4.6.1.6

6 of 9

Alternative sewerage

U 4.6.1.7

7 of 9

Litter management

U 4.6.1.8

8 of 9

Slum drainage - Class exercise

U 4.6.1.9

9 of 9

Unit 4.6 course materials │ Drainage for informal settlements

In this section, you can download all the documents that make up this unit.

Unit 4.6 │ Course materials (zip)

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(10,235.7 MB)

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