RAPID: Assessing the Impact of Internal Refugees on Hospital Water and Wastewater Infrastructure and Its Implications for Future Sustainable Treatment Designs

主要研究者：Stephanie Lansing提案编号：1034836这项工作利用了地震前的数据，由马里兰州大学的兰辛博士于2008年收集，关于海地坎吉卫生合作伙伴（PIH）医疗综合体的废水处理需求和能源基础设施。PIH医院是海地设备最齐全的医院之一，接收了迅速涌入的国内难民。以2008年的数据为对照，将对震后水、废水和能源需求的变化进行量化，并将开发一个灵活和可持续的系统，以快速扩大废物处理和能源生产能力。 具体而言，该项目将（1）通过后续调查评估震后环境中关键医疗基础设施的废水和能源需求，并将该数据与震前数据进行比较，以量化内部避难所对废水和能源基础设施的影响，（二）创建一个可持续的设计，通过将废水生物消化器纳入规划的难民社区，以满足废水和能源需求处理、能量生产和液体肥料产生，并将这种适当的处理技术与农业和溶液培养系统相结合，以及（3）实施灵活且可适应的生物消化系统，以满足幸存的医疗综合体中增加的能量和水需求。这项工作将与来自马里兰州大学、克莱姆森大学、我们的专业人员和私人执业人员以前在海地有经验，并与海地工程师，农学家和PIH设施的社区外展同行建立了良好的关系。申请的资金将用于支付薪金和研究助理，以收集和分析水文数据，购买计量设备，以量化水和沼气流量，以及往返海地的国际旅行。文献强调了评估和优先考虑直接饮用水和废水需求的重要性，以维持灾后人口的短期公共健康，但是，尽管学术界对这些类型的评估达成了共识，但文献很少量化一个国家的哪些组成部分？的卫生基础设施受到重视。同样，关于如何快速、经济和可持续地重建这一基础设施的研究也很少。这项拟议的研究旨在通过量化海地现有医疗基础设施的能源需求和废水量的变化来满足这一需求。的地震后立即的环境，并使用这些数据来通知设计一个创新的生物消化系统，将能源生产，作物发展和水的再利用，在其处理模式。通过设计水处理和能源生产使用适当的技术，重建海地社区的可持续发展模式，最近的地震破坏将产生。非政府组织和海地政府机构可以利用2010年夏天设计和实施这一生物消化池设计的经验教训，设计难民营的景观，包括通过生物消化池处理废物，有水耕花园连接到配水点的污水，并在生物消化池设施附近有可持续的种植区，以接收富含肥料的污水。 在这种模式中，废物被用作能源生产、灌溉和肥料的资源。由于需要烧炭，海地的农业遭到土壤侵蚀的破坏。通过利用废物并以沼气的形式创造能源，同时为作物生产提供养分和水，所展示的设计将对一个国家产生巨大影响，这个国家有独特的机会以可持续的方式设计人与环境相结合的景观。该奖项由NSF国际科学与工程办公室（OISE）共同资助。

Principal Investigator: Stephanie LansingProposal No: 1034836This work takes advantage of pre-earthquake data, collected in 2008 by Dr. Lansing of the University of Maryland, on the wastewater treatment needs and energy infrastructure of the Partners in Health (PIH) medical complex in Cange, Haiti. The PIH hospital is one of the most well equipped hospitals in Haiti and has received a rapid influx of internal refugees. Using the 2008 data as a control, the post-earthquake change in water, wastewater, and energy needs will be quantified and a flexible and sustainable system for rapid expansion of the waste treatment and energy production capacity will be developed. Specifically, this project will (1) assess the wastewater and energy needs of critical medical infrastructure in a post earthquake environment through a follow-up survey and compare this data to pre-earthquake data in order to quantify the impact of internal refuges on wastewater and energy infrastructure, (2) create a sustainable design for meeting wastewater and energy demands in planned refugees communities by incorporating biodigesters for wastewater treatment, energy production, and liquid fertilizer creation and couple this appropriate treatment technology with agriculture and hydroponic systems, and (3) implement a flexible and adaptable biodigestion system for meeting increased energy and water demand in a surviving medical complex. The work will be done in consultation with a team of engineers, scientists, and students from the Univ. of Maryland, Clemson Univ., and private practice that have previous experience in Haiti and have developed an excellent rapport with the Haitian engineering, agriculturalist, and community outreach counterparts at the PIH facility. The funds requested will be used to pay salary and research assistants to collect and analyze hydrologic data, purchase metering equipment to quantify water and biogas flows, and international travel to and from Haiti.Literature has stressed the importance of assessing and prioritizing the immediate potable water and wastewater needs for maintaining the short-term public health of the post-disaster population, but despite the academic consensus for these types of assessments, the literature rarely quantifies the degree to which components of a country?s health infrastructure is stressed. Similarly, there is a paucity of research on how this infrastructure can be rebuilt quickly, affordably, and sustainably. This proposed research seeks to fill this need by quantifying the change in energy demand and wastewater quantity on the existing health care infrastructure in Haiti?s immediate post-earthquake environment and use this data to inform the design of an innovative biodigestion system that incorporates energy production, crop development, and water reuse in its treatment model.By designing for water treatment and energy production using an appropriate technology, a sustainable model for rebuilding Haitian communities devastated by the recent earthquake will be produced. The lessons learned from the design and implementation of this biodigester design in the Summer of 2010 can be used by NGOs and Haitian governmental agencies for designing refugee camps with landscapes that incorporate waste treatment through biodigesters, have hydroponic gardens connected to the effluent from water distribution points, and contain sustainable cropping areas near the biodigester facility to receive the fertilizer-rich effluent. In this model, waste is used as a resource for energy production, irrigation and fertilizer. Agriculture in Haiti has been devastated by soil erosion caused by the need for cooking charcoal. By taking a waste and creating energy in the form of biogas while providing nutrients and water for crop production, the designs presented will have a large impact on a country that has a unique opportunity to design the landscape in a way that integrates humans and the environment in a sustainable manner.This award is co-funded by the NSF Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE).