CVEN 4969/EVEN 4969: Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries

Environmental Engineering typically focuses on solutions to address pollution in high income countries. We often engineer energy intensive, highly complex solutions to address problems created by industrialization and human activity. This class focuses on technologies and approaches to address pollution and public health issues in low-resource settings related to water, sanitation, and hygiene. Contaminated water, lack of sanitation access, and insufficient hygiene in low- and middle-income countries are problems that require completely alternative solutions and approaches compared to those implemented by engineers in high income countries.

This course will explore environmental pollution and public health issues specific to low- and middle-income countries and solutions that have been developed to tackle these problems. It will also explore alternative approaches to drinking water treatment, sanitation, and sustainability in industrialized nations, specifically for rural and small systems and communities that have been marginalized and left behind. Students will understand the fundamentals behind effective water and sanitation treatment processes and develop/design appropriate solutions for specific challenges. Students will be able to design various household and community-based systems for treating water and wastewater in a wide variety of contexts. Students will develop presentation and analysis skills around problems important to developing communities.