Garrick E. Louis

A decision model for selecting sustainable drinking water supply and greywater reuse systems for developing communities with a case study in Cimahi, Indonesia.

Capacity Factor Analysis is a decision support system for selection of appropriate technologies for municipal sanitation services in developing communities. Developing communities are those that lack the capability to provide adequate access to one or more essential services, such as water and sanitation, to their residents. This research developed two elements of Capacity Factor Analysis: a capacity factor based classification for technologies using requirements analysis, and a matching policy for choosing technology options. First, requirements analysis is used to develop a ranking for drinking water supply and greywater reuse technologies. Second, using the Capacity Factor Analysis approach, a matching policy is developed to guide decision makers in selecting the appropriate drinking water supply or greywater reuse technology option for their community. Finally, a scenario-based informal hypothesis test is developed to assist in qualitative model validation through case study. Capacity Factor Analysis is then applied in Cimahi Indonesia as a form of validation. The completed Capacity Factor Analysis model will allow developing communities to select drinking water supply and greywater reuse systems that are safe, affordable, able to be built and managed by the community using local resources, and are amenable to expansion as the communitys management capacity increases.

A life-cycle capacity-based approach to allocating investments in municipal sanitation infrastructure

The lack of access to water and sanitation services is a well-acknowledged problem that affects more than 40% of the worlds people, who live in its poorest communities. Providing sustained access to infrastructure services in these communities requires approaches that build local capacity to acquire, build, and manage the systems that provide these services. This paper presents a pedagogical model that spans the lifecycle of sanitation infrastructure acquisition by communities with chronic inaccessibility to water and sanitation services. The pedagogy consists of community capacity assessment, service technology systems evaluation, and sequential allocation of capital investments to expand the capacity for water supply, wastewater and sewage treatment, and solid waste management infrastructure in affected communities. The allocation sequence covers a system lifecycle that allows the deficit in services in a community to be reduced to an acceptable minimum.

A financial resource allocation model for regional water systems

The public water supply sector is facing significant external pressures for change from decreasing water resource availability, stricter water quality regulations, decreasing federal subsidies, increasing public scrutiny, decreasing financial health, and increasing infrastructure replacement costs. These forces necessitate greater accountability by community water systems (CWS) to their stakeholders. This paper presents a method for comparative efficiency analysis to improve the accountability of CWS to their stakeholders while maintaining the level of service. The method is achieved through three objectives, namely: (1) to construct standard efficiency metric parameters based on the techniques of data envelopment analysis; (2) to incorporate these uniform efficiency metric parameters into a transparent decision support system (DSS) based on the standard linear programming resource allocation problem; and (3) to utilize the DSS to determine the efficient allocation of limited budgetary resources among CWS operating as a regional water system (RWS). The paper is a significant departure, in three ways, from the current planning and management approach, which treats CWS as independent entities. First, it provides an open and transparent method for planning and management of CWS; second, it provides a uniform and consistent method for evaluating relative efficiencies across the CWS. Third, the DSS facilitates comparative efficiency analysis across the RWS, and guides financial allocation decisions among CWS operating as a RWS.

A model for international collaborative learning via the Internet

The Internet has created a vast set of resources available from anywhere in the world, at any time. This virtual information repository also has the potential to serve as a virtual learning environment. It is the goal of this project to create an online classroom, for the purpose of enhancing the learning experience of students from three international universities: the University of Virginia, the University of the West Indies, and Mapua Institute of Technology. All three groups of students are participating in a course called environmental systems analysis, the purpose of which is to teach community-based management of municipal sanitation services. The site serves as a medium for communication and collaboration for the students throughout the completion of their course project, with an overarching goal of creating lasting relationships based on trust and common experiences. It differs from previous similar projects in that it is designed with the needs of financially restricted and less technologically proficient institutions in mind. Full-scale development of this tool was broken up into several components, including background research, users requirements gathering, prototype design, and testing and revision. The site has been developed using predominantly open-source technologies available to anyone with an Internet connection. Additional deliverables of this project include a detailed user guide containing the specifications and requirements of the system, as well as a section detailing each of the functions within the site. The guide enables those unfamiliar with the technologies present in the Web site to quickly understand their uses and also serve as a guide for any university that wishes to establish its own collaborative learning program. The project is funded in part by a University Teaching Fellowship grant to Prof. Garrick Louis.

DevClear: An information-sharing platform for rural development

Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world are engaged in community development activities to improve access to basic human services, such as water supply and sanitation (WASAN). In spite of their efforts to address critical human needs, a lack of communication between NGOs, the communities they serve, and the agencies that fund them has inhibited widespread efforts or sustained progress. Because the most severely affected communities lack reliable access to the Internet, they cannot use available web-based systems to connect to agents and resources that can help them. Additionally, an effective accountability system that evaluates the performance of NGOs delivering services to communities-in-need does not exist. This capstone project develops a system called DevClear that allows communities-in-need, NGOs, funding agents (FAs), and external service providers (ESPs) to share information about the need for and acquisition of access to WASAN services. DevClear is an SMS-enabled web-based tool that facilitates information sharing between these four major stakeholders. DevClear also includes a simple rating system of NGOs and their respective projects that may serve as an informal accountability system for NGOs. The projects success is measured by; the extent of reach of information, the speed in disseminating the information, the accessibility to the information sharing service by stakeholders, the flexibility in changing and updating the information, and the cost. This paper outlines the approach used to design and develop the system, and describes the frontend design, backend design, SMS functionality, and integration of subsystems into a prototype.

A Rapid Adaptive Needs Assessment kit for water quality monitoring in Humanitarian Assistance & Disaster Response applications

After natural disasters, communities can be devastated from a lack of clean water. This can lead to death through dehydration, malnutrition, lack of sanitation, and disease propagation. Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Response efforts by the United States military emphasize short-term options for access to safe drinking water. Typically, in the 72 hours immediately after a disaster, long-term water supply systems are not set-up, so soldiers rely on costly imported bottled water. The United States Army is developing Pre-positioned Expeditionary Assistance Kits, which include mobile water purification units to filter local water sources at disaster sites. This Capstone project, a continuation of a 2010-2011 Capstone project, sponsored by the Systems Engineering Research Center under a grant from the Department of Defense, focuses on evaluating the water quality of a particular source before deploying a water purification system. The Rapid Adaptive Needs Assessment kit performs this task immediately after a natural disaster. The kit measures water temperature, dissolved oxygen, conductivity, turbidity, and pH and transmits the data to a command center where a decision algorithm ranks the water sources. The projects operational success is measured by the systems ability to determine the optimal local water source from multiple sources based on user preferences. This paper outlines the approach used to enhance the kit and describes the physical design, anchoring system, data communications system, decision algorithm, user interfaces, maintenance, and integration of parts into a portable, remote water monitoring system.

Water and Health in Limpopo: Designing a sustainable filtration and distribution system

This report describes the design of a sustainable water supply and sanitation system in the villages of Tshapasha and Tshibvumo in Limpopo province South Africa. We begin by briefly describing the work done by previous Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) teams. The report provides details of the current process of monitoring and troubleshooting of the supply system built by previous teams in Tshapasha in the summer of 2010 as well as the design and planning of a new water supply system in Tshibvumo. The status of the Tshapasha system is discussed as well as a plan to ensure the system is running adequately by the end of July 2011. The report then describes analyses of the alternatives considered in both the river selection and filtration method for the future system in Tshibvumo. Details are provided for the final plan for supplying water to the village taking into account elevation, materials cost, and the demand for water. In addition, drawings and specifications for sanitizing the water using a slow sand filter are provided, detailing flow rates for the filter as well as material specifications. Finally, a tentative work plan is introduced for the team to follow during its June–August 2011 visit to Limpopo.

Rapid Adaptive Needs Assessment (RANA) water quality kit

Natural disasters often damage water infrastructure and inhibit access to clean water in affected areas. Military organizations, including the United States Army, are frequently among the first respondents in the humanitarian aid effort. The U.S. Army currently operates a project that aims to purify local water sources to restore water and sanitation in affected areas. This Capstone project developed a prototype of a Rapid Adaptive Needs Assessment (RANA) kit to better measure water quality during the first 72 hours after a natural disaster. The data from the RANA kits will help the Army to better identify the quality of water sources to determine which sources are optimal for purification. This paper outlines the design process of the RANA kit and the recommendations for continued development and implementation of the kit.

Capacity-building for sustainable service delivery in lower-income communities

The Consortium for Integrated Municipal Sanitation Systems has developed a framework for evaluating a communitys capacity to sustain the delivery of municipal sanitation services. The framework is applicable to planning for other sustainable community services. This project uses this framework to assess and evaluate education and tourism services in two different low-income communities. The factors limiting the sustainability of these two services are identified by the framework and are used to evaluate the type and level of service appropriate for each respective community

CIMSS - a case study in Web-based distributed project management

An emerging problem for organizations today is not so much the collection of information and data as it is finding ways to distribute it effectively. The consortium for integrated municipal sanitation systems (CEVISS) exists for the purpose of assuring the capacity for and access to safe, reliable municipal sanitation services to low income and at risk communities worldwide. The success of this endeavor depends on the joint participation of many groups, requiring a central location through which the project can be facilitated. Unfortunately, the technological infrastructure to support advanced information sharing systems is not available to members in remote and third world locations. This project provides the group with a Web-based solution that solves their information sharing and project facilitation needs while maintaining a focus on usability and scalability across international regions with vastly disparate financial and technological resources.