Presentations, class discussions, and reading assignments introduce students to principles, basic concepts, and techniques of traditional and ecological sanitation. The course focuses on the elements and benefits of ecological sanitation as a sustainable sanitation solution.
Students acquire the necessary knowledge of principles, basic concepts, techniques, and engineering of traditional and ecological sanitation to discuss and explain the advantages and disadvantages of conventional versus ecological sanitation.
Ecological sanitation reduces the effects of inefficient or lack of sanitation systems as health risks, contamination, and soil fertility degradation. It also optimizes the management of nutrients and water resources and provides social and economic benefits to improve life quality.
It was God who gave an ecological sanitation principle to the Hebrew people to keep the area around them holly as a condition for His presence within them. Deuteronomy 23:12-14 "12 designate a place outside the camp where you can go to relieve yourself. 13 As part of your equipment have something to dig with, and when you relieve yourself, dig a hole and cover up your excrement. 14 For the LORD your God moves about in your camp to protect you and to deliver your enemies to you. Your camp must be holy so that he will not see among you anything indecent and turn away from you."
Students bring hope and share the love of God as they share their knowledge to promote the implementation of ecological sanitation elements in areas where people are suffering contamination problems due to the absence of or collapsed sanitation systems.
The 2019 Sanitation report from the World Health Organization considers that some 280,000 deaths are due to insufficient sanitation. Ecological sanitation is a sustainable and affordable solution to avoid unnecessary deaths and illnesses in addition to being a source of socio-economic and environmental benefits.
Insufficient and deficient sanitation problems exist and affect all societies and cultures. The student has the opportunity to analyze different cultural and social scenarios to strengthen their criteria when identifying and proposing sustainable sanitation solutions according to the knowledge obtained in the course.
With the aid of case studies, this course gives students the necessary practical tools and knowledge to promote ecological sanitation as a solution to many problems derived from inefficient or lack of sanitation systems.
Students gain experience to put in practice their knowledge through case-studies and visual tools to develop their ideas based on the concepts and principles acquired in the course.
