CRC Press Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control for the Municipal Water Cycle in a River Basin Context: Validation of the Three-Step Strategic Approach (IHE Delft PhD Thesis Series)

The protection of water resources from deterioration in quality by pollution discharges is probably the biggest challenge in sustainable water resources management in the recent decades. In practice, most countries have adopted pollution control strategies and measures which are based on ‘end-of-pipe’ solutions: wastewater treatment plants and adjustments to the regulations, including taxes for wastewater discharges (Conventional Strategy). Although this approach involves very high costs, on many occasions, this strategy has been a complete failure. The research described in this book contribute to the development of sustainable solutions for the previously outlined problem. It was based on the validation of the Three-Step Strategic Approach concept (3-SSA), which includes: 1) prevention or minimisation of waste production; 2) treatment aimed at recovery and reuse of waste components, and 3) disposal of remaining waste with stimulation of natural self-purification of the receiving water body. The study showed overall positive effects of the 3-SSA, in comparison of Conventional Strategy, on wastewater management in the Upper Basin (389 km) of the Cauca river, the second most important river in Colombia. The Cost Benefit Analysis clearly favoured the 3-SSA, generating a major impact on the river water quality at lower cost compared to the Conventional Strategy. About the Author Alberto Galvis Castaño was born on March 31, 1955 in Sevilla, Department of ‘Valle del Cauca’, Colombia. He grew up in Cali and graduated in Sanitary Engineering in 1979 and a Master of Science in System and Industrial Engineering in 1988. Between 1979 and 1985 he worked in engineering consultancy companies. He is currently a staff member of the Cinara Institute in the Faculty of Engineering at the Universidad del Valle since 1986. He was a member of the founding group of the Cinara Institute (1989) and a member of the team that led the creation of the research group in ‘Integrated Water Resources Management’ (2003). He has been a director of international cooperation programs with institutions in Europe and Latin America and a director of research and development projects with the participation of Colombian institutions in the water resources management sector. He was made a full professor (2001) and Distinguished Professor (2010). Alberto Galvis is currently Director of the research group in ‘Integrated Water Resource Management’, as well as Senior Researcher in the national science and technology system (Colciencias). He is a lecturer in different academic programs and researcher in the topics of technology selection in water and sanitation, and mathematical modelling applied to planning and water resources management.