Nearly 2 million people die every year from water born diseases because of a lack of adequate sanitation. A team of researchers led by Kartik Chandran, an associate professor of Earth and Environmental Engineering at Columbia University, thinks they may have a solution to the sanitation crisis that will also promote energy security in developing countries. Dr. Chandran recently received a $1.5 million grant from the Bill & Malinda Gates Foundation to set up a “Next-Generation Urban Sanitation Facility” in Accra, Ghana. Working with his colleagues Ashley Murray, founder and director of Waste Enterprisers , and Moses Mensah of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Dr. Chandran hopes to turn feces found in sewage into biodiesel and methane by converting a waste-processing facility into a biorefinery.
“Thus far, sanitation approaches have been extremely resource- and energy-intensive and therefore out of reach for some of the world´s poorest but also most at-need populations,” Dr. Chandran explained in a press release. This has resulted in waste going directly into water supplies without being treated. Water management is especially important at a time when the impacts of climate change are becoming increasingly evident and fresh water availability grows more erratic. As water resources become scarce, preventing water from being contaminated becomes increasingly significant to agriculture and public health. Yet, half the people in the developing world lack access to safe sanitation.
There have been numerous wastewater management efforts taking place in Ghana that have helped increase water and food security, but the “Next-Generation Urban Sanitation Facility” will be the first project of its kind because it also focuses on developing new sources of energy . Ghana needs alternative energy supplies because it suffering from high oil prices, relies heavily on imported energy, and remains dependent on hydropower at a time when drought hampers productivity.
Dr. Chandran’s project could be a major stepping stone in efforts to address sanitation and energy shortages. According to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), around half the world population depends on unsustainable biomass based energy sources, such as wood. Dr. Chandran hopes that his efforts to address the lack of sanitation and energy shortages in Ghana can serve as a testing ground for future development project aimed at tackling both problems. “This project will allow us to move forward and develop practical technologies that will be of great value around the world,” he emphasizes.
By Graham Salinger
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Danielle worked for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. She is currently traveling across Africa looking at innovations that are working to alleviate hunger and poverty and blogging everyday at Worldwatch Institute's Nourishing the Planet. She has a regular column with the Mail & Guardian, the Kansas City Star, and the Huffington Post and her writing was been featured in newspapers across Africa including the Cape Town Argus, the Zambia Daily Mail, Coast Week (Kenya), and other African publications. She holds an M.S. in agriculture, food, and environment from Tufts University and a B.A. in environmental policy from Monmouth College.
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