Course Catalogue.

By the end of this course, you will be able to:

• Assess wastewater characteristics and contaminant loads to inform treatment and disposal decisions
• Select appropriate communal wastewater treatment technologies based on site, scale, and regulatory constraints
• Apply design and operational principles to decentralized and small‑scale wastewater treatment systems
• Evaluate cost, risk, permitting, and management factors affecting system performance and reliability
• Make informed, defensible decisions when planning or managing wastewater treatment for small and medium communities

Description

Managing wastewater in small and medium communities presents a distinct set of technical, economic, and regulatory challenges. Limited infrastructure, variable wastewater characteristics, site constraints, and long‑term operational considerations all influence how treatment systems are selected, designed, and managed. Making the wrong decision can result in system failure, high costs, environmental impacts, or regulatory non‑compliance.

This course provides a structured, practical approach to evaluating and implementing communal wastewater treatment solutions where decentralized or small‑scale systems are required. You will examine how wastewater characteristics, land availability, site conditions, treatment objectives, and life‑cycle costs influence the selection and design of treatment technologies. Practical decision‑making criteria and management considerations are integrated throughout to reflect real‑world constraints.

Through technical discussions and applied examples, this course equips you with the knowledge needed to plan, design, and manage wastewater treatment systems that are technically sound, operationally feasible, and appropriate for the needs of small and medium communities.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for:

• Municipal and consulting engineers involved in wastewater planning, design, or review
• Engineering technologists and technicians supporting treatment system design or operation
• Utility, facility, and plant managers responsible for decentralized or small‑scale systems
• Environmental professionals working in wastewater, water quality, or infrastructure projects
• Public‑sector professionals involved in infrastructure planning, regulation, or system oversight

Course Syllabus

Day I

Wastewater Characteristics and Water Pollutants

• Physical, chemical and microbiological parameters of wastewater
• Water pollutants: dissolved, non-dissolved, organic and inorganic contaminants, persistent pollutants
• Typical characteristics of municipal and industrial wastewater

Centralized and Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems

• Population centre and rural area classification
• Centralized and decentralized concepts of wastewater treatment
• Centralized wastewater treatment systems
• Conventional non-discharging (soil-based) decentralized wastewater treatment systems
• Alternative (enhanced) soil-based decentralized wastewater treatment systems
• Effluent dispersal in soil-based decentralized wastewater treatment systems
• Discharging decentralized plants

Decision-making Criteria in Wastewater Treatment

• Decision-making stages
• Criteria for selecting a wastewater treatment system
• Elements for success in wastewater treatment program
• Costs, permits, legal aspects
• Typical reasons for the failure of decentralized wastewater treatment systems

Soil-based Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems

• Components of conventional and advanced soil-based wastewater treatment systems
• Septic tanks: structure, design and operation
• Subsurface wastewater infiltration systems (SWIS): types, components and design
• Maintenance aspects of conventional soil-based treatment systems

Filtration Systems in Advanced Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems

• Types of filters used in water treatment applications
• Filtration units in decentralized wastewater treatment systems (DWWTS)
• Sand filters and non-sand filters
• Single-pass and recirculating sand filters

Day 2

Constructed Wetlands in Advanced Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems

• Types of constructed wetlands: surface-flow and subsurface-flow wetlands
• Physical, chemical and biological processes of contaminant removal in constructed wetlands
• Structure and design criteria of constructed wetlands
• Removal mechanisms for specific contaminants (organic matter, suspended solids, metals, nitrogen, phosphorus, pathogens) in constructed wetlands

Biological Wastewater Treatment Processes: Applications and Operation Principles

• Major components of biological wastewater treatment systems
• Activated sludge (AS) process: structure, process parameters, design and operational aspects
• Sequencing batch reactors (SBR): operation principles and attributes
• Trickling filters: structure, process parameters, design and operational aspects
• Rotating biological contactors (RBC): operation principles and design criteria
• Membrane bioreactors (MBR): structure, process parameters, design and operational aspects
• Package plants

Wastewater Treatment Lagoons

• Lagoon systems and their operation principles
• Naturally-aerated and mechanically-aerated lagoons: structure, design and operation
• Anaerobic and facultative lagoons: structure, design and operation
• Construction criteria of lagoons

Disinfection Processes in Wastewater Treatment Systems

• Mechanisms of disinfection processes
• Properties of disinfectants

• Design of disinfection systems
• Mechanisms of microbial elimination during disinfection processes

• Chlorination
• Ozonation
• UV irradiation

Management Aspects of Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Systems

• Critical elements of management programs
• Proposed levels of management
• Responsibilities of a decentralized wastewater treatment management program

Concluding Remarks

Discussion Period: Questions and Answers