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SUMMARY:Towards sustainable sanitation: Mitigating microbial health risks 
 in the production of urine-derived fertilizers in South Africa
DTSTART:20141111T161500
DTEND:20141111T171500
DTSTAMP:20260511T055804Z
UID:38cca337a1b4af75e11af51744565e847833937a64c4c15bd41ed63e
CATEGORIES:Conferences - Seminars
DESCRIPTION:Dr Heather N. Bischel\, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (LC
 E)\nAbstract:\nSouth Africa aims to achieve universal access to sanitation
  services. Aggressively pursuing this goal\, the eThekwini Municipality of
  Durban\, South Africa installed over 80\,000 urine-diverting dry toilets 
 (UDDTs) since the early 2000s at households in peri-urban regions of the c
 ity. Urine from these toilets is typically diverted from households into s
 oak pits. However\, approximately two thirds of phosphorus and 80% of nitr
 ogen in human excrement are contained in the urine fraction and could be a
 pplied in agriculture either directly or in a processed fertilizer form. T
 he VUNA project\, sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation\, aims 
 to design and optimize the recovery of nutrients from urine in Durban as p
 art of a decentralized sanitation system that is affordable for the poor\,
  produces a valuable fertilizer\, and reduces environmental pollution.\nLi
 ttle systematic evaluation regarding the health risks determinants in urin
 e and microbial treatment efficacy of urine nutrient recovery processes ha
 s been conducted. Source-separated urine contains excreted pharmaceuticals
  as well as fecal pathogens resulting from cross-contamination of collecte
 d urine with fecal matter. This presentation provides an overview of the V
 UNA project and specifically addresses the presence of human pathogens in 
 urine storage tanks throughout Durban. The pathogen inactivation performan
 ce of urine nitrification moving bed biofilm reactors (MBBRs) that are use
 d to produce a nitrogen- and phosphorous-rich fertilizer is further evalua
 ted.\nWhile urine diversion and nutrient recovery have typically been impl
 emented as grassroots or community-driven initiatives\, the magnitude of t
 he UDDT installation in the eThekwini Municipality will allow an evaluatio
 n of the potential for urine nutrient recovery processes at scale. A hygie
 ne evaluation is particularly important in such a large-scale urban or per
 i-urban setting in which urine storage times are reduced and fertilizer pr
 oduction rates are high.Short biography:\nHeather N. Bischel is Postdoctor
 al Researcher interested in safe and efficient reuse of water resources an
 d sustainable sanitation to improve environmental and human health. As par
 t of the Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry at EPFL and the VUNA projec
 t\, she works in collaboration with the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic
  Science and Technology (Eawag)\, the eTheKwini Water and Sanitation (EWS)
  Municipality\, and the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal (www.eawag.ch/vuna). 
 VUNA aims to recover nutrients from urine in Durban\, South Africa as part
  of a decentralized sanitation system that is affordable for the poor\, pr
 oduces a valuable fertilizer\, and reduces environmental pollution. Previo
 usly\, she worked at the US NSF Engineering Research Center for Re-inventi
 ng the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt) to address technolo
 gical and management challenges associated with recycling wastewater for s
 treamflow augmentation and ecosystem enhancement. Heather earned a Ph.D. a
 nd M.Sc. from the Environmental Engineering & Science Program at Stanford 
 University (2011\, 2007) and a B.S. in Civil and Environmental Engineering
  from the University of California\, Berkeley (2005).
LOCATION:GR A3 31 http://plan.epfl.ch/?room=GR%20A3%2031
STATUS:CONFIRMED
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