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Integrated Waste and Water Management Project (IWWMP) – Batangas, Philippines
EPA Grant Number: SU833938Title: Integrated Waste and Water Management Project (IWWMP) – Batangas, Philippines
Investigators: Letargo, M. Cherith , Shmaefsky, Brian
Institution: Lone Star College-Kingwood
EPA Project Officer: Nolt-Helms, Cynthia
Project Period: August 15, 2008 through August 14, 2009
Project Amount: $9,440
RFA: P3 Awards: A National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (2008)
Research Category: Pollution Prevention/Sustainable Development , P3 Challenge Area - Water
Description:
Mass evacuations of rural residents in the Philippines to large urban areas overburden an already strained infrastructure. There have been investments by non-profit groups to develop housing to attract the evacuees back to their regions. However, there remains a great need for the design and implementation of cost-effective waste and water treatment facilities in these newly-built communities for indigents in the rural areas of the Philippines. Equally important is the education of the country’s citizenry on working together to ensure their community is environmentally and economically sustainable.
Lone Star College – Kingwood will work in partnership with the Houston-Galveston Area Council-Natural Resources Advisory Committee, the University of the Philippines School of Environmental Science and Management, and Gawad Kalinga.
Objective:The primary objective of the project is to develop an integrated waste and water management Project for a newly-built rural Gawad Kalinga community in Batangas, Philippines.
Approach:The approach that the interdisciplinary student cohort will develop is an economical methodology for solid waste management and wastewater treatment to reduce water pollution and diseases related to water-borne sources. This project will apply a Sustainable Green Cluster approach for municipal waste and water management by utilizing available local resources and site-appropriate technologies. It will also investigate strategies for grey water use, biosolid production and use, water roof recycling systems for rain collection, and making marketable reuse/recycling of municipal solid waste.
Relevant P3 concepts and UNESCO’s Higher Education Sustainable Development curriculum will be integrated into the college’s Environmental Geology course. An interdisciplinary team composed of undergraduate biology and geology honors and service learning students and Phi Theta Kappa Honor students will design the IWWMP. The project’s design will be evaluated through peer and faculty review inthe US and in the Philippines. Acceptability and implementation of thedesign in the GK village will serve as the ultimate review of the model. Project results will be disseminated at international conferences related to sustainable development.
Expected Results:The project’s outcome will show that students, faculty, and project partners will greatly benefit from the collective experience of working together to generate an integrated model that will impact an actual community and move it from a pollution-state towards self sustainability and economical viability.
Supplemental Keywords:sustainable water management, water treatment, integrated water management, water quality, sustainable green cluster approach, water roof recycling, biosolid production, wastewater disposal, global sustainable development, pollution reduction, site-appropriate technologies, cost-benefit analysis, service learning, rural village, Philippines, Gawad Kalinga,