SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER AND
STORMWATER: UNEP-IETC’S INFORMATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING
RESOURCES
Lilia G.C. Casanova
UNEP-IETC
1091 Oroshimo-Cho, Kusatsu City, Shiga 525-0001, Japan
casanova@unep.or.jp
ABSTRACT
Decision makers in developing countries are often ill-equipped to make an informed
technology choice in trying to resolve problems related to municipal wastewater and
stormwater due to lack of adequate information on the subject that is in the right form, context
and language and easily accessible. But even if the kind of information needed were made
available and accessible, unless the knowledge base is supported with an enabling instrument
to build capacity for decision making, information could remain simply stored facts and
figures of little consequence. UNEP-IETC has developed a Source Book and a set of Training
Modules as resources to improve the knowledge base as well as build the capacity of decision
makers in developing countries to select appropriate technologies and to manage sustainably
their municipal wastewater and stormwater.
KEYWORDS
Integrated freshwater resources management, integrated waste management, environmentally
sound technologies, regional overviews, training modules, urban environment management
INTRODUCTION
One sewer fits all. In many developing cities, one pipe is good enough to take in and spew
out black water, gray water, stormwater, agricultural run-off and other types of wastewater
that are usually untreated. Canals or open sewers without pipes are, in fact, commonly used
for collection and the dirty waters are then deposited in lakes, rivers, other freshwater bodies
and the oceans. Since canals are also favorite sites for open dumping of a variety of solid
waste, pollution and contamination especially of freshwater resources is aggravated, reducing
tremendously the quality of water for urban use. The easiest explanation for this prevailing
condition in developing countries is the general lack of understanding of the need to segregate
different types of waste, whether solid waste or wastewater, because of their different
treatment requirements. In essence, because treatment of wastewater is not among the
management practices of developing countries, waste segregation is not a policy option.
Technologies for treatment of wastewater and stormwater have been developed and are used
extensively in developed countries as well as in more progressive developing countries. But
as all experts know, treatment is only a part, and at the end of the line, of the waste
management stream. The more important aspects of waste management are ‘apriori’, prior to
the occurrence of waste – that is, waste avoidance or prevention, reducing, reusing and
recycling of waste before disposal.
The focus of this paper is not on the waste ‘apriori’ principles and practices but on the
information and capacity building resources that UNEP-IETC has produced to help
developing countries tackle waste, in particular, wastewater and stormwater, as soon as they
happen or when they happen. UNEP-IETC has given priority to the development of these
resource materials because of the need to address current and urgent needs in developing
countries. However, it is UNEP-IETC’s long term goal to inculcate in these countries, first
and foremost, the basic ‘apriori’ principles in waste management – A+3Rs: avoid, reduce,
reuse and recycle waste. UNEP-IETC endorses the application of the concept and principles
of integrated waste management (IWM) or the total systems approach where A+3Rs are the
basic guiding principles.
The two resource documents that UNEP-IETC has produced, which are complementary, are:
“International Source Book on Environmentally Sound Technologies for Wastewater and
Stormwater Management” and “Training Modules On Sustainable Wastewater and
Stormwater Management: Guidelines For Trainors”. These form part of the collection of
UNEP-IETC’s Information and Capacity Building Resources. A UNEP-IETC publication that
is related to the resources presented in this paper is the “International Source Book on
Environmentally Sound Technologies in Municipal Solid Waste Management”.
The Source Book
‘The International Source Book on Environmentally Sound Technologies for Wastewater and
Stormwater Management’ or simply Source Book, for the purpose of this paper, is a
compendium of available information on three areas: (1) a framework for understanding the
rationale behind the need for wastewater and stormwater management; (2) the broad range of
wastewater and stormwater management, from the basic principles of planning, to technology
choice, to the operation of the system; and (3) state-of-the art or practices in wastewater and
stormwater management in the different regions of the world.
In most developing countries, the absence or scarcity of information is a barrier to efforts in
finding solutions to problems related to wastewater and stormwater management. Information
is available but it is usually dispersed, piecemeal bits in different formats for various types of
users. City executives or urban managers in search of simple, alternative solutions to augment
what their city may already have in terms of a system or technology for managing wastewater
and stormwater may have to search far and wide to get information sources, yet, may only
find that in the face of enormity of information sources none would actually suit their needs.
Information is not really scarce; it is just not properly organized, especially country or city
level data, and not available in the form that it is needed. This inability to acquire the right
kind and form of information when it is needed usually leads to insufficient knowledge and
inevitably results in poor management.
Essentially, the objective of the Source Book is to inform with the right kind, form and
context of information, to influence public policy, and to generate or enhance academic as
well as entrepreneurial interest in wastewater and stormwater management. As a parallel
objective in support of sustainable development, it wants to also highlight the need to protect
freshwater resources from a major urban source of pollution and contamination, which is
municipal wastewater.
A REFERENCE, NOT A TECHNICAL MANUAL NOR A CATALOGUE
While the Source Book speaks of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs), it is not a
technical manual nor a handbook to provide technical details or design procedures. These
types of publication are already widely available, though generally related to North America
or Western European settings. Nor is the Source Book a catalogue of hardware for wastewater
and stormwater treatment. In the first place, ESTs are not just the hardware part of the
technology or ‘hard’ ESTs but also the ‘soft’ ESTs or the management systems and
procedures, which are the more important part of the technology to ensure its effectiveness.
The Source Book deals largely with ‘soft’ ESTs or the non-technological elements of the
integrated approach to waste management. It encapsulates sound practices in the selection of
technology and stresses the need to consider the social, economic, institutional and
environmental factors in the selection process.
The ESTs in the Source Book include an array of major technology options for collection,
treatment, reuse and disposal of wastewater and stormwater. To demonstrate the value of
reuse, ESTs for sludge reuse, for example, and reuse of wastewater and stormwater by
households, communities or industries, whether these require applications that are highly
technical or simple and practical, are given prominence.
Not being a handbook nor catalogue, the Source Book is a general reference on how to sort
out and synthesize available information on the management of wastewater and stormwater
and how to determine the applicability of that information under local conditions or special
circumstances.
REGIONAL OVERVIEWS
A dominant part of the Source Book is on Regional Overviews. These contain substantive information
on sound practices that are in actual operation in a number of countries selected for the purpose of the
study from each major region of the world. The Regional Overviews cover basic information about a
particular region’s wastewater and stormwater – i.e., their characteristics as waste and the region’s
practices in collection, treatment, reuse, and disposal. Each Regional Overview discusses the policy
and institutional frameworks that support waste management, the training and public education
activities that are being undertaken to implement the policy, and the financing mechanisms in place to
maintain the system.
Case studies of good management practices in the region have been added to substantiate
information and to highlight their value and potential for adoption by other countries or cities.
A case study, for instance, which shows this potential is about an example from Brazil, where
a low-cost ‘condominium sewerage’ has been developed and applied successfully. This
technology could be applicable to other cities with similar problems of how to provide an
efficient but low-cost system for wastewater collection and disposal in high density lowincome settlements. The information about this system, which is not known elsewhere, is now
contained in the Source Book and is available to everyone.
The totality of the information organized for the Source Book would be valuable to
researchers, R and D experts, international development agencies that provide technical
assistance programmes, international or regional training institutions in search of areas for
transfer of skills and knowledge and to regional and global investors in search of markets for
environmental technologies.
The global regions covered by the ‘Regional Overviews’ are: Africa, Asia Pacific, West Asia,
Latin America, North America, and Europe (East and West). Beyond these global regions,
the special groups of countries called SIDS (Small Island Developing States) in the Pacific
and in the Caribbean have been included and grouped as special regions because of the
demand for information on SIDS but where information especially on waste is scarce. Their
inclusion has enriched the information content and value of the Source Book.
TARGET AUDIENCE
Decision makers and makers of public policy at the national and local levels of government
are the primary audience of the Source Book. At the national level, these comprise of section
or division chiefs, bureau directors, and cabinet secretaries, including their senior advisers, or
heads of national government agencies responsible for wastewater and stormwater
management. At the local level, these include governors, mayors, their deputies, heads of
local planning departments and urban managers.
Because the Source Book is primarily designed to influence public policy and decision
making by raising the awareness level of national and local executives, it is written in a
language that is not too technical nor academic, yet, not too simplistic to be boring. It wants to
attract this group of readers who would not be so much interested in the technical solutions as
they would be on their being informed about the basics of wastewater and stormwater
management, to enable them to use that information to establish wastewater and stormwater
management as a policy of the state or of the city, and to enable them adopt in their
jurisdictions, whenever possible, the principles of environmentally sound technologies and
practices.
But the Source Book is not just for politician-decision makers. While it wants to reach the less
schooled in the technical aspects of wastewater and stormwater management, it will appeal
just as well to professional practitioners and students because of its value-added to
environmental protection and conservation. The discussions on alternative technologies, for
example, on natural purification processes and the role of micro-organisms which are naturebased technologies, would provide professional specialists and students with a new insight on
what would be otherwise known as indigenous or non-conventional local technologies that
have been there all along but whose value to wastewater and stormwater management have
not been given importance until recently.
For those who would be more interested in specific technologies and practices, the Source
Book has put together information on wastewater and stormwater collection technologies,
covering the conventional, simplified and settled types of sewerage systems, with a separate
discussion on stormwater collection. It has also put together information on wastewater and
stormwater treatment technologies, which cover off-site and on-site treatment systems, and
with a separate discussion on stormwater treatment technologies.
The Source Book addresses the needs of two other classes of audience – (1) the community
leaders who participate in making decisions in selecting a technology at the community level
and lead community participation in waste management; and (2) the private entrepreneurs
who would be interested in the financing, construction, operations and services delivery
aspects of wastewater and stormwater management.
The Training Modules
The “Training Modules On Sustainable Management Of Wastewater and Stormwater” or
briefly ‘Training Modules’ complement the Source Book. These are short term training
courses designed especially for decision and policy makers, practitioners or specialists and the
general public or stakeholders.
The Training Modules are part of a training package which contains four Folders: Folder 1 –
Guidelines For Trainors; Folder 2 – The Source Book; Folder 3- Regional Overviews; and
Folder 4 - Training Slides. The Source Book is on a separate CD but has been added here for
the sake of completeness. The Regional Overviews, which are an integral part of the Source
Book, have been treated separately for the purpose of training. The contents of the Folders
are as follows:
Folder 1: Guidelines For Trainors. This Folder contains the text file “Guidelines For
Trainors”. It contains the Training Modules designed per target training group and
instructions on how to use its supporting documents, including the visual aids. It is suggested
that Folder 1 should be read first. Understanding these Guidelines will be the basis for a
successful preparation and running of the three different types of training sessions, which are
as follows: (a) executive briefing, (b) professionals and trainors coaching, and (c) general
awareness raising.
Folder 2: Source Book.
This Folder consists of: (a) The Source Book file, which
contains the main bulk of information on sustainable approaches to wastewater and
stormwater management. It contains text files with figures. And (b) Aquaculture file, which
contains text with figures and photographs.
Folder 2 has five separate sets of training slides. These are:
a) Training slides for Group A (decision makers)
b) Training slides for Group B (water and environmental specialists/professionals)
c) Training slides for Group C (general public and NGOs)
d) Additional technical slides
e) Photo slides on aquaculture
Folder 3: Regional Overviews.
This Folder consists of several articles, accompanied
with slides, on the state-of-the-art and regional experiences in wastewater and stormwater
management. The files are grouped by global region. Each Regional Overview has a separate
set of slides, some of which have been incorporated into the main body of the text.
These are the files contained in Folder 3: (1) Africa; (2) Asia Pacific; (3) West Asia; (4) South
and Central America; (5) Eastern Europe; (6) Western Europe; (7) North America; (8) SIDS
Caribbean; (9) SIDS Pacific.
Folder 4: Training Slides. This Folder contains all the above-mentioned training slides,
which have been grouped for Target Groups A, B and C. An additional set of technical slides
have been added to enhance the training session for the professionals group or Group B.
Depending on the profiles of participants, this additional set can be used for the other sessions
as well. Also included are the slides for aquaculture and Regional Overviews.
The following files are found in Folder 4:
 Training slides for Group A plus list
 Training slides for Group B plus list
 Training slides for Group C plus list
 Additional technical slides plus list
 Aquaculture slides
 Regional slides for each of the 9 global regions
TARGET GROUPS AND TRAINING MODULES
As mentioned earlier, the three Target Groups for training are Group A, Group B and Group
C. A separate Training Module has been designed for each group. These are all contained in
Folder 1.
Target Group A pertains to top level decision makers in government. These are officials and
executives or senior officers of national, regional (subnational), and local governments, who
are involved in policy issues. At the national level, this Group will include cabinet ministers
and their deputies; at the local level, this will include governors, mayors, and their deputies.
These high level officials are generally responsible for a broad spectrum of policy issues,
among which environmental management is just one, but who may not have a deep technical
knowledge of the subject on wastewater and stormwater management.
The training session designed for Group A is Training Module A - an executive briefing
session. It is a concise overview of the modern concepts of sustainable solutions, general
information on available technologies, and basic criteria for technology selection. The typical
duration of an executive briefing session is between half a day to one day.
Facilitators/trainors will use ‘lecturettes’ or presentation of short non-technical papers
supported with appropriate slides from the Slides Directory (Folder 4).
Target Group B refers to water and environmental professionals, which would include
planners, project developers, designers and other specialists in wastewater and stormwater
management and those who would advise persons in the decision and policy making group or
Group A, e.g., urban managers, seniors advisors, and heads of departments for urban
planning, environmental management, waste management and related functions. They are
assumed to have had formal education in sanitary or environmental engineering and related
fields and have been trained in the conventional approaches to sanitation management but
who would be interested in further exposure to recent developments in the field that have to
do with higher levels of environmental concern, analysis of interactions between wastewater
and stormwater systems, resource recycling and sustainable solutions. Hence, they would be
potential trainors on the subject. However, they are not expected to learn systems designing
and other technical details from this training session. These tasks still remain with other
specialists in systems analysis, design, construction, and operational management.
Training Module B has been designed for Target Group B. It is a five-day training course on
the more technical aspects of wastewater and stormwater management. The Source Book will
be used here as the basic reference. The technical papers contained in the Report of
Proceedings of the Regional Workshop in Rio de Janeiro will be useful materials for the
lecturers/resource persons. All of the training slides in Folder 4 will be useful for this Training
Module.
Target Group C are community leaders, representatives of NGOs with broad interests in water
and environment issues, and the general public. This Group would not have a high level of
knowledge about wastewater and stormwater systems. But as users of these systems, they are
important stakeholders whose participation in planning, decision making and management of
these systems will ensure the sustainability of the systems.
For Target Group C, a one-day public awareness session in the form of a seminar-workshop
has been designed as Training Module C. Training Module C is a brief, concise overview of
the modern concepts of sustainable solutions, available technologies and basic criteria for
technology selection depending on local conditions. Unlike Training Module A, where the
overview will be addressing issues related to the decision making needs of high level
participants, the overview in Training Module C addresses community needs and issues
related to health and sanitation and links these to wastewater and stormwater management.
Training Module C can be split into two sub-modules – i.e., Sub-Module D, which would be
for a mixed group of persons who would belong to Group B (professionals and potential
trainors) and Group C (general public) and Sub-Module E, which would be just for Group C
persons. Each Sub-Module can be designed for one to two days where the basic material for
Training Module C will be used and augmented with the third session theme of Training
Module B (sustainable solutions) and role game exercises. The difference between the two
Sub-Modules is that role playing exercises will be optional for Sub-Module C.
Folders 1, 2, 3 and 4 will serve as a complete training package for trainors. Along with the
Source Book, these will be available in printed form as well as in CD rom and will be
distributed for free to environmental agencies and training institutions of governments of
developing countries as well as to non-profit regional/international training institutions that
deal with the subject of wastewater and stormwater management. Other interested persons or
entities may subscribe the package from SMI, which is located in the U.K. At a later time,
these resources can be accessed through the internet from IETC’s website. Enquiries can be
sent by email directly to UNEP-IETC at this address: ietc@unep.or.jp.
UNEP-IETC’S MANDATE
The production of information and capacity building resources is one of UNEP-IETC’s major
activities to implement its mandate, which is to promote the adoption and use of
environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) in developing countries and countries with
economies in transition in two focal areas - urban environmental management (UEM) and
integrated freshwater resources management (IFRM). The production of the above-cited
Source Book and the Training Modules come within its UEM mandate. To present the Source
Book to professionals and develop the concept of the Training Modules, a Regional
Workshop on the Sustainable Management of Wastewater and Stormwater was held in Rio de
Janeiro last March 2000 for professionals in Latin America and Caribbean.
However, while UNEP-IETC has two focal areas – urban and freshwater environments - these
two areas are dealt with in an integrated fashion because of the strong connection between
them, i.e., while freshwater resources provide the water demand of cities, it is, however, urban
activities from these same sectors that impact negatively on freshwater resources. Hence,
urban environment management must factor in the impact on freshwater resources of
urbanization and human activities on land.
UNEP-IETC works with experts on specified fields of ESTs in producing its information and
capacity building resources. In the preparation and production of the Source Book, we are
grateful to Mr. Goen Ho of the Environmental Training Center (ETC) of Murdoch University,
Australia; for the preparation and production of the Training Modules, we are grateful to Mr.
Cedo Macsimovic of the Center for Urban Water (CUW) in UK, for their expert assistance.