Nestled in the foothills of the world’s tallest mountains, the Namobuddha Municipality of Nepal relies on water from natural springs and mountain snowpack diminished by climate change. Another threat to the water supply comes from the communities themselves. A lack of well-maintained wastewater treatment systems means raw sewage spills into local streams, which can cause disease outbreaks.
A team of University of Maryland, Nepali and Israeli researchers within the Global FEWture Alliance (GFA) this summer delivered a solution, installing a solar-powered wastewater treatment and reuse system at the Shree Janak Secondary School.
The alliance, supported by a UMD Grand Challenges Grant, focuses on the food-energy-water (FEW) nexus. In this project, the system developed by Laguna Innovation, an Israeli water technology company, uses elements of aquatic ecology, algae and oxygenation, to turn wastewater into safe irrigation water for the school’s instructional food plots.
Clive Lipchin, the GFA co-principal investigator based in Israel, led the design of this wastewater system and said it’s the first time an off-grid wastewater treatment and reuse system has been used in Nepal.
“Nepal's topography makes it difficult to install large, centralized wastewater treatment facilities,” he said, “and Laguna's compact, off-the-grid, renewable energy-powered technology is well suited to the Nepalese environment.”
The Shree Janak Secondary School’s “Learn and Earn” program includes rainwater harvesting, animal husbandry and small-scale agriculture to boost the nutrition of students and their families. Raising chickens, goats and buffaloes goes well with irrigating and fertilizing food plots that provide fresh greens and grains for Namobuddha’s youth.
But Nepal-based engineer and GFA co-PI Shree Krishna Dhital said that the school program was constrained by limited irrigation water, along with the untreated wastewater.
“The Laguna system changes that,” he said. “By treating wastewater for irrigation, it protects public health, conserves freshwater and provides a reliable water source for the school's food gardens.”
On a larger scale, said GFA co-PI Leena Malayil, microbiologist and associate research professor in UMD’s Department of Global, Environmental, and Occupational Health (GEOH), the initiative will showcase how innovative technologies can strengthen resilience, improve water security and support sustainable development.
The Laguna system can be monitored and operated remotely, thanks to a cellular-linked motherboard that displays the unit’s status to operators in Israel. The GFA, in partnership with Israeli and Nepali colleagues, is also training local people to lead the system’s ongoing operation and maintenance.
GFA PI Amy Sapkota, MPower professor and chair of GEOH, was with Lipchin, Dhital, Malayil and Suhana Chattopadhyay, a GEOH assistant research professor and GFA program manager, when the Laguna unit began operation in late June, during the Global FEWture Alliance’s third annual symposium at Kathmandu University.
She called the project “a wonderful example of how a team of community members and international, interdisciplinary researchers can bring about transformative food-energy-water solutions, the essence of the Global FEWture Alliance.”
This is just the beginning, she added. “Our continued partnership and commitment to this project over time are what will make it a model of successful off-grid wastewater reuse that can be replicated in Nepal and beyond.”
— By Heidi Scott