The increasing number of natural disasters and other emergency situations must lead to a reevaluation with regards to the supply of essentials for affected people, especially in the field of water and sanitation. Emergency sanitation facilities have to be wisely planned and implemented in time in order to reduce the risks of outbreaks of communicable diseases in shelters or temporary settlements.

The presented technical solutions for post-disaster sewage are based on a compact-sized combination of mechanical sedimentation and anaerobic biological wastewater treatment processes. Using different types of prefabricated components, these systems are designed to meet the unique logistical requirements of disaster scenarios.

An important “lesson learnt” from past experiences is the need to reduce the wastewater volume from shelters, as transport and space for appropriate treatment are always a limiting factor.

The applied wastewater treatment following DEWATS-principles will allow a reduction of BOD and COD of over 90%. In order to accelerate the startup, anaerobic sludge from existing plants will be injected into the reactors.

Investment costs are below 5 $ per connected person and the maximum response time after identification of the location in demand until the start of operation is 5 days.

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