IRES: US-South Africa Collaboration on Sustainable Sanitation and Energy and Resource Recovery from Wastewater

随着全球人口的增加以及世界各地城市和沿海地区的迅速增长，提供清洁水是一项重大挑战，特别是在基本卫生需求得不到满足的情况下。缺水、卫生条件差和经济差距往往是世界上许多人口稠密的城市地区的特征。毫无疑问，需要新的解决办法来改善服务不足人口获得清洁水和基本卫生设施的情况。此外，回收能源和资源以实现净零影响的解决方案有可能极大地改变应对水资源短缺以及能源和粮食安全的社区。因此，有必要提高分散废水系统技术（DEWATS）的基础知识，从而实现净零能源和资源使用。针对人口密集的城市和城郊发展中社区所面临的挑战，研究可持续的DEWATS解决方案是提供卫生和资源利用解决方案的一种新方法。IRES的学生将为夸祖鲁-纳塔尔大学（UKZN）正在进行的关于废水处理和资源和能源回收的生物和物理化学过程的各种项目的基础研究做出贡献。该IRES项目旨在为美国学生提供一种变革性的科学和文化体验，这将促进南非社区全面实施ABR和其他DEWATS处理过程的基础知识。该项目是15名美国学生访问南非德班UKZN的独特机会，在那里他们将进行广泛的环境工程主题的基础研究，这些主题涉及废水的资源和能源回收，废水处理的新视角，以及可持续卫生。环境科学与工程本科和研究生将与UKZN污染研究小组一起在水，能源和食品的关系方面进行新颖的研究，同时也可以在环境科学家和工程师高度相关的主题上获得丰富的国际经验。这种研究经验将使高年级本科生具备过渡到研究生院所需的研究技能，并加强研究生参与者的研究和指导技能。这些美国学生将来自美国两个截然不同的地区，其中一个是加利福尼亚州。一个是美国人口稠密的城市走廊，另一个是人口稀少的农村。他们将从堪萨斯州立大学（Kansas State University）和波莫纳（Pomona）的加州州立理工大学（California State polytechnic University）环境科学与工程专业人数不足的群体中招募。为期一周的培训计划旨在促进团队建设，文化敏感性，并为学生进行国际合作研究做好充分准备。作为本项目评价的一部分，以及为了从队列到队列的知识转移，将向后续队列传播退出调查、研究视频和学生的看法。参与者将在德班的最后一周在UKZN展示他们的研究成果。回到美国后，他们将有机会在当地和区域研究研讨会和会议上发表演讲。IRES参与者还将通过课外活动向K-12机构展示视频和研究成果。

Technical Description With the rise in global population and rapid growth of urban and coastal areas worldwide, providing clean water is a major challenge particularly when basic sanitation needs are not met. Water scarcity, poor sanitation, and economic disparity tend to characterize many densely populated urban areas throughout the world. There is no doubt that new solutions are needed to improve the availability of clean water and basic sanitation for underserved populations. Moreover, solutions that also recover energy and resources for net-zero impact have the potential to dramatically change communities dealing with water scarcity, and energy and food security.Consequently, there is a need to improve fundamental knowledge on decentralized wastewater systems technologies (DEWATS) that lead to net-zero energy and resource use. Research on sustainable DEWATS solutions that address the challenges of densely populated urban and peri-urban developing communities is a novel approach for providing solutions to sanitation and harnessing resources. IRES students will contribute to fundamental research on various ongoing University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) projects on the biological and physico-chemical processes in wastewater treatment and resource and energy recovery. This IRES project aims to be a transformative scientific and cultural experience for US students that will advance fundamental knowledge of ABR and other DEWATS treatment processes implemented at the full-scale in South African communities. Broader Description This project is a unique opportunity for fifteen US students to visit the UKZN in Durban, South Africa, where they will conduct fundamental research on a wide range of environmental engineering topics related to resource and energy recovery from wastewater, new perspectives on wastewater treatment, and sustainable sanitation. Environmental science and engineering undergraduate and graduate students will be working on novel research at the nexus of water, energy, and food with the Pollution Research Group at UKZN, while also obtaining an enriching international experience on topics highly relevant for environmental scientists and engineers. This research experience will equip upper-level undergraduates with research skills needed to transition to graduate school and strengthen the research and mentoring skills of graduate student participants. The US student cohorts will be drawn from two contrasting regions of the U.S., one being California?s densely populated urban corridor and the other, sparsely populated rural Kansas. They will be recruited from groups underrepresented in environmental science and engineering at Kansas State University and the Hispanic-serving California State Poly-technical University in Pomona. The week-long orientation program is designed to promote team building, cultural sensitivity, and adequate preparation for students to conduct collaborative research internationally. As part of the evaluation of this project and for knowledge transfer from cohort-to-cohort, exit surveys, videos of the research, and student perceptions will be disseminated to subsequent cohorts. Participants will present their research at UKZN during the final week in Durban. Upon return to the U.S. they will have the opportunity to make presentations at local and regional research symposia and conferences. IRES participants will also present videos and research findings to K-12 institutions via after-school programs.