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Small-scale waste-stabilization ponds for rural communities: an undergraduate experimental venture
01.10.2015
Though billions of people are without adequate fresh-water resources, even more people lack effective sanitation services. This latter concern is the focus of an appropriate technology initiative (WASTE Programme) of Wheaton College in Illinois which engages undergraduate students and interdisciplinary faculty in experiments with simple, small-scale waste-stabilization ponds for eventual installation in many global communities. Project laboratory data indicate that low-cost, low-maintenance systems can eliminate microbial pathogens and provide nutrient-rich effluent for agricultural use, before recharging the local groundwater.