Sanitary Engineering

Start next run: October 2009 (open for registration)
Duration: 18 Months
Location: UNESCO-IHE, Delft, the Netherlands

Participant Profile

This specialisation is designed for professionals interested in achieving and maintaining the environment and public health. It is particularly relevant to BSc-level engineers who are involved in (or wish to become involved in) the provision of sanitation services. Typical participants include civil, process and sanitary engineers, university faculty and researchers, and technical managers.

Learning Objectives

After successfully completing the Sanitary Engineering specialisation, graduates will be able to:

• Understand and explain the role of sanitation in the urban water cycle and its relation to public health and environment.
• Develop rational approaches towards sustainable wastewater management via pollution prevention, appropriate treatment, and resource recovery and re-use at both centralised and decentralised levels.
• Understand the relevant physical, chemical and biological processes and their mutual relationships within various sanitation components.
• Define and critically analyse, assess and evaluate various urban drainage and sewerage schemes, and wastewater, sludge and solid waste treatment process technologies.
• Analyse, synthesise, integrate, interpret, and discuss scientific and practical information in the context of preparing research and engineering projects including preparation of master plans, feasibility studies and preliminary designs.
• Apply modern tools for technology selection and to model sanitation components.
• Identify, develop and conduct independent research including desk studies, field work, and laboratory research.
• Contribute to the development of innovative approaches to the provision of adequate and sustainable sanitation services in developing countries and countries in transition.

Course Contents

The Sanitary Engineering Specialisation consists of a balanced mixture of academic and state-of-the-art practical knowledge, related to process design and engineering of sanitation facilities within the context of integrated urban water management (centralised or decentralised, on-site or off-site). The specialisation consists of seven modules, as follows:

• Process Technology covers water chemistry, water microbiology and process technology.
• Unit Operations deals with aeration, sedimentation and filtration.
• Urban Drainage and Sewerage covers six subjects: urban drainage types and characteristics, urban drainage systems, determination of inputs to urban drainage systems, hydraulics of sewer systems, modelling of urban drainage hydraulics and urban drainage design.
• Waste Water Treatment Process Design and Engineering consists of eight subjects: sewage characterisation, primary treatment, secondary treatment, state-of-the art technologies, sludge treatment and disposal, sludge characterisation, sewage and sludge treatment in practice, and design of an activated sludge plant.
• Modelling and Industrial Waste Water Treatment deals with modelling of activated sludge waste water treatment, and industrial effluent (characterisation, minimisation and treatment options).
• Sustainable Waste Water Treatment and Re-use presents anaerobic waste water treatment, natural systems for waste water treatment, and waste water re-use.

In addition, one elective module must be selected from the following:

• Solid Waste Engineering and Management
• Decentralised Water Supply and Sanitation
• Urban drainage and Sewerage II