Water and Sanitation Course

Lesson 1 • Hygiene Behaviour and Health Linkages

Explains how hygiene practices interrupt faecal-oral transmission routes. Connects behavioural factors to technical infrastructure decisions.

Lesson 2 • Sanitation Systems Overview

Introduces the sanitation service chain from containment to disposal. Sets the vocabulary used throughout the course.

Lesson 3 • Global WASH Context and Importance

Covers the scope of water, sanitation, and hygiene challenges worldwide. Grounds subsequent technical content in real-world health and development outcomes.

Lesson 4 • Water Sources and Their Characteristics

Examines surface water, groundwater, and rainwater as supply sources. Provides baseline knowledge for later treatment and quality chapters.

Lesson 1 • Physical and Chemical Water Parameters

Covers turbidity, pH, hardness, and key chemical indicators. Establishes measurement baselines required for treatment design.

Lesson 2 • Microbiological Contamination Indicators

Introduces faecal indicator organisms and their significance in water safety. Directly informs disinfection decisions covered in the next chapter.

Lesson 3 • Designing a Water Quality Monitoring Plan

Guides students through sampling frequency, site selection, and data management. Synthesises all section skills into an operational monitoring framework.

Lesson 4 • Field Testing Methods and Equipment

Trains students in portable testing kits and field-deployable instruments. Bridges laboratory knowledge to practical field conditions.

Lesson 1 • Filtration Methods and Media

Covers slow sand, rapid sand, and membrane filtration options. Connects particle removal efficiency to downstream disinfection requirements.

Lesson 2 • Disinfection Processes

Examines chlorination, UV, and ozone as primary disinfection methods. Directly applies water quality monitoring data from Chapter 2.

Lesson 3 • Household Water Treatment Options

Introduces point-of-use treatment for low-resource settings. Bridges community-scale and household-scale intervention strategies.

Lesson 4 • Coagulation, Flocculation, and Sedimentation

Explains particle removal through chemical and physical processes. Forms the first stage of conventional treatment train design.

Lesson 1 • Demand Estimation and Service Levels

Establishes methods for calculating water demand by population and service type. Provides the design input for all subsequent hydraulic calculations.

Lesson 2 • Storage Tanks and Pumping Systems

Covers elevated and ground-level storage sizing and pump selection criteria. Integrates storage and pumping into a complete supply system.

Lesson 3 • Network Analysis and Leakage Control

Introduces network modelling tools and active leakage detection methods. Connects design quality to long-term system performance.

Lesson 4 • Pipe Materials and Jointing Methods

Compares PVC, HDPE, ductile iron, and GRP pipe options. Guides material selection based on pressure rating, soil conditions, and cost.

Lesson 1 • Site Assessment for Sanitation Design

Covers soil percolation testing, groundwater depth, and plot size constraints. Ensures technology selection is grounded in physical site conditions.

Lesson 2 • Sanitation Technology Ladder

Presents the spectrum from basic pit latrines to sewered systems. Establishes a decision framework used throughout the chapter.

Lesson 3 • Simplified and Condominial Sewerage

Introduces low-cost sewer variants suited to dense informal settlements. Expands the technology toolkit beyond conventional approaches.

Lesson 4 • Ecological and Resource Recovery Sanitation

Examines urine diversion, composting toilets, and nutrient recovery. Connects sanitation design to circular economy principles.

Lesson 1 • Faecal Sludge Treatment Technologies

Introduces settling-thickening tanks, drying beds, and co-composting. Connects sludge characteristics from the first section to treatment performance.

Lesson 2 • Wastewater Treatment Processes

Covers primary, secondary, and tertiary treatment for municipal wastewater. Builds on treatment principles from Chapter 3 and applies them to sewage.

Lesson 3 • Safe Reuse of Treated Effluent and Sludge

Examines agricultural reuse guidelines, risk assessment, and monitoring. Closes the resource loop introduced in the ecological sanitation section.

Lesson 4 • Faecal Sludge Characterisation

Examines the physical, chemical, and biological properties of faecal sludge. Provides the analytical basis for treatment technology selection.

Lesson 1 • Logical Framework and Results Chain

Introduces the logframe matrix, theory of change, and indicator selection. Provides the planning structure required by most funding agencies.

Lesson 2 • Procurement and Supply Chain Management

Covers procurement planning, supplier selection, and materials logistics. Ensures students can manage the operational side of WASH projects.

Lesson 3 • Community Engagement and Demand Creation

Examines participatory approaches to mobilise communities and sustain demand. Connects behavioural theory from Chapter 1 to programme implementation.

Lesson 4 • Needs Assessment and Baseline Surveys

Covers household survey design, sanitation mapping, and data analysis. Generates the evidence base for programme design decisions.

Lesson 1 • Governance Models for WASH Services

Compares centralised utility, decentralised, and community-managed governance structures. Provides the institutional context for financial and sustainability analysis.

Lesson 2 • Financing Mechanisms and Investment Planning

Examines government budgets, donor grants, loans, and blended finance. Connects funding sources to long-term capital investment planning.

Lesson 3 • Tariff Setting and Cost Recovery

Covers full-cost accounting, tariff structure design, and affordability analysis. Enables students to develop financially viable service models.

Lesson 4 • Asset Management and Infrastructure Maintenance

Introduces asset registers, maintenance planning, and lifecycle costing. Directly addresses the infrastructure sustainability gap in many WASH programmes.