About this Course

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Do you want to learn how to plan affordable and context-specific sanitation solutions? Be up-to-date on the newest developments in urban sanitation planning and programming? Get to know best practice examples of urban sanitation systems in low- and middle-income countries? If yes, this course is for you! 
This course provides you with an introduction to integrated sanitation planning, both on a citywide scale and for specific contexts such as informal settlements. You will become familiar with different sanitation planning frameworks as well as different systems and technologies relevant along the sanitation value chain. You will learn why systems’ thinking is crucial for urban environmental sanitation, and how to apply key terminology and important concepts. 

INSTRUCTION Eawag-Sandec and EPFL jointly offer this course with support from sanitation experts of the World Bank and WHO. 

LANGUAGES We simultaneously offer this course in English and French. The name of the French course is « Planification & Design des Systèmes et Technologies d’Assainissement ». 

MOOC SERIES This course is one of four in the series “Sanitation, Water and Solid Waste for Development".

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Intermediate Level

Approx. 17 hours to complete

English

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Skills you will gain

Urban Planning
Environmental Protection
Engineering Design
Wastewater Engineering

Flexible deadlines

Reset deadlines in accordance to your schedule.

Shareable Certificate

Earn a Certificate upon completion

100% online

Start instantly and learn at your own schedule.

Intermediate Level

Approx. 17 hours to complete

English

Could your company benefit from training employees on in-demand skills?

Try Coursera for Business

Instructor

Instructor rating

4.63/5 (184 Ratings)

Christoph Lüthi

Dr.

Strategic Environmental Sanitation Planning Sandec/Eawag

43,719 Learners

3 Courses

Syllabus - What you will learn from this course

Content Rating99%(7,103 ratings)

Week

1

Week 1

6 hours to complete

Introduction to sanitation planning & systems approach

To get started, you will get an overview of why sanitation is important for human health and environmental protection, especially in urban areas. Then, you will learn about what an Enabling Environment is and why it is important. Towards the end of the first week, you will get a taste of some state-of-the-art environmental sanitation planning approaches (Sanitation 21, CLUES, CLTS) that are currently being used in international development work.

6 hours to complete

17 videos (Total 120 min), 10 readings

17 videos

1.1 Overview of the course5m

1.2 City Sanitation Planning (Guest lecture)12m

1.3a City-wide sanitation diagnostic tools and planning frameworks [1] (Guest lecture)7m

1.3b City-wide sanitation diagnostic tools and planning frameworks [2] (Guest lecture)11m

1.4 Local Level Sanitation Planning [1]8m

1.5 Local Level Sanitation Planning [2]4m

1.6 Local Level Sanitation Planning [3]10m

1.7 Summary Week 13m

1.8 Spotlight video - Advancements in and Integration of Water, Sanitation and Solid Waste2m

1.9 Spotlight video - A Sanitation Journey 3m

1.10 Introduction to CWIS10m

1.9 Case study: Towards CWIS - Kampala, Uganda5m

1.10 Case study: Towards CWIS - Lusaka, Zambia5m

1.11 Case study: Towards CWIS - Kathmandu, Nepal5m

1.12 Case study: Towards CWIS - Dhaka, Bangladesh5m

1.13 Case study: Towards CWIS - Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire5m

1.14 SDG Baselines - Sanitation Services12m

10 readings

Important information to succeed in this course15m

Key and further readings10m

Connect with your peers5m

Hands-On Challenge I - Sanitation planning in YOUR community2h

Sanitation 21 – City wide sanitation planning approach1h

CLUES – Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation10m

How to give feedback to the course team?5m

Slides Week 110m

What is a bonus module?10m

About Citywide Inclusive Sanitation10m

Week

2

Week 2

4 hours to complete

Sanitation systems & technologies

4 hours to complete

11 videos (Total 99 min), 3 readings

11 videos

2.1 Introduction to the Compendium2m

2.2 Sanitation Products9m

2.3 Functional Groups6m

2.4 User Interface Technologies16m

2.5 Collection and Storage/Treatment - Single Pit Technologies9m

2.6 Collection and Storage/Treatment - Double Pit Technologies12m

2.7 Collection and Storage/Treatment - Anaerobic Technologies8m

2.8 Conveyance - Container-based Technologies9m

2.9 Conveyance - Sewer-based Technologies6m

2.9b Conveyance - Condominial Sewerage Systems14m

2.10 Summary Week 22m

3 readings

Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies10m

Hands-On Challenge II – Let’s get visual: Draw YOUR sanitation reality2h

Slides Week 210m

Week

3

Week 3

3 hours to complete

Sanitation systems & technologies

3 hours to complete

12 videos (Total 86 min), 1 reading, 1 quiz

12 videos

3.1 [Semi] Centralized Treatment - Treatment stages6m

3.2 [Semi] Centralized Treatment - Anaerobic Technologies11m

3.3 [Semi] Centralized Treatment - Aerobic Technologies12m

3.4 [Semi] Centralized Treatment - Technologies for Sludge Treatment9m

3.5 Use and/or Disposal - Agricultural Use as Fertilizer and Soil Conditioner7m

3.6 Use and/or Disposal - Effluent and other Products8m

3.7 Emerging Sanitation Technologies2m

3.8 Introduction to Sanitation Systems11m

3.9 Waterless Pit-based Systems5m

3.10 Decentralized Water-based Systems5m

3.11 Black Water Transport Systems4m

3.12 Summary Week 31m

1 reading

Slides Week 310m

1 practice exercise

Quiz1h

Week

4

Week 4

2 hours to complete

Urban sanitation solutions - Case studies

2 hours to complete

6 videos (Total 65 min), 2 readings

6 videos

4.1 Case study Nala, Nepal - Implementing CLUES14m

4.2a Case study Erdos, China - an eco-town pilot project [1]9m

4.2b Case study Erdos, China - an eco-town pilot project [2]5m

4.3a Case study Indonesia - How Sanitation in Indonesia was transformed [1]10m

4.3b Case study Indonesia - How Sanitation in Indonesia was transformed [2]12m

4.4 Case study Lusaka, Zambia - Sanitation service delivery through faecal sludge management12m

2 readings

How to join the global sanitation community?10m

Slides Week 410m

Reviews

4.8

302 reviews

5 stars
77.91%
4 stars
20.56%
3 stars
1.42%
1 star
0.09%

TOP REVIEWS FROM PLANNING & DESIGN OF SANITATION SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES

by VNMay 7, 2020

Good learning course for environmental engineer but in my point of view it mostly theoretical and requires more animation picture and videos to make it more effective

by TMNov 21, 2016

The modules were reader friendly and very easy to follow. There is no written paper required for this course. All you need to do is watch the presentations and keep on track.

by MSMay 22, 2017

The course is very well prepared for beginner and intermediate participants and will give more elaborate discussions about sanitation techniques and technologies. I am very happy to did the course.

by CLMay 4, 2017

Really interesting course! The approach from different perspectives and fields make it very useful to apply the knowledge in many fields.

So far the most complete course of Coursera.

View all reviews

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Planning & Design of Sanitation Systems and Technologies