Improving Lives Essay

415 Words2 Pages
“Improving Lives” The article “Improving Lives” by Michel Rochon and Morrison Hershfield describes how Canadian engineers are “modeling an expanded sewage collection system and designing a wastewater treatment plant in the busy African city of Addis Ababa.” Due to in-migration the population of the area has grown rapidly, and the current collection and treatment system is only able to serve a small portion of the catchment area. The current system only has approximately 30 kilometres of trunk sewers and 320 kilometers of secondary sewers, most of which were built with piping that cannot handle the capacity. Because of this many of the people are forced to use pump out technologies such as septic tanks, and latrines. In order to counteract this, the ultimate system has been designed with trunk sewers that will service approximately 327 kilometers, and will be built from piping that can properly service the demand. The project however does not come without its challenges. Engineers must bring an outdated and over used septic and treatment system into the 21st century. However it is because of these challenges that Canadian engineers are being given the opportunity to share their knowledge and create a model for urban centres worldwide. In order to achieve their ambitious goals they must push the latest technologies to its limits, in addition to exploring options that will benefit the local economy. One such example of this is the using the “treated effluent as a source of irrigation water” providing “the local farmers with a water source considerably cleaner than currently found.” The engineering company responsible has chosen to use a process that is both easy to operate and forgiving to the varied strength of wastewater flows. Executive Summary: The busy African city, Addis Ababa, is suffering from an outdated and overused sewage and water treatment
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