Innovative Wastewater Treatment Technologies - The Innoqua Project

The ebook edition of this title is Open Access and freely available to read online.

Globally, poor hygiene and sanitation contribute to more than 1,000 daily deaths from diarrhoeal diseases among children under the age of 5, while two thirds of urban wastewaters are discharged without treatment into lakes, rivers and coastal waters. Across Europe the percentage of the population connected to wastewater treatment plants varies from 14% to >99% with many reliant on unsuitable decentralised sanitation systems or no wastewater treatment at all. With less than a decade left to achieve the 2030 sanitation targets as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals, there is an urgent need to develop new treatment solutions that can be rapidly deployed to meet the needs of growing urban and peri-urban populations, together with under-served rural communities.

This book discusses decentralised wastewater treatment and the role of nature-based solutions within the context of the twenty-partner international INNOQUA project. INNOQUA set out to develop and demonstrate a suite of modular, low cost, decentralised solutions that use the combined capabilities of earthworms, bacteria, Cladocera and micro-algae to deliver nature-based primary, secondary and tertiary treatment – followed by UV disinfection. Design and operation principles are outlined, together with performance data and practical feedback from pilot and demonstration facilities situated in eleven countries from Ecuador to Scotland and India.

Barriers and drivers towards more widespread uptake of these technologies are also examined, alongside an exploration of existing markets for nature-based sanitation in the Global South.

Costel Bumbac is a senior research scientist leading the biotechnology research team within the Environmental Technology and Technology Transfer Department of ECOIND, Romania. He has 15 years of experience in research projects focused on developing and optimisation of biological wastewater/drinking water treatment technologies, biodegradability studies, soil bioremediation and waste to biofuels technologies. Within the INNOQUA project, he contributed to the development of bio-solar purification system and full-scale demonstration and served as worldwide demonstration manager.

Jean-Baptiste Dussaussois was the project manager of INNOQUA. As an environment and water engineer he brought his expertise and experiences from an NGO and large company to develop nature-based wastewater treatment solutions. He has managed several international projects and is currently working with NOBATEK/INEF4, a private Research and Technology Organisation for the sustainable building sector. He has been part of several European Commission expert groups and is a member of the water parliament of the South-West of France.

David Tompkins is an environmental scientist with a multi-disciplinary background encompassing horticulture, soil science, composting, anaerobic digestion, wastewater treatment, market development and policy implementation. David is a technical consultant and senior manager for Aqua Enviro, specialising in various aspects of sewage sludges, biowastes and other bioresources: hazard management, valorisation, market development, end of waste and stakeholder engagement.