Enabling sustainability
in the wastewater industry
Paul Chapman
Paul Chapman
Papers by Paul Chapman PhD
Plants and microbes (Nature) are used to treat the polluted water that comes from our toilet, bathroom, laundry and kitchen. Wastewater technologies are a container that exists at the boundary between Nature and human use of Nature. There are many different containers, making any consideration of 'best system' dauntingly complex for a community.
The ‘wastes’ that we generate are processed by the biosphere and the nutrients, carbon and water that they contain form part of the great cycles of the planet. It is within this context that we must ask the question: what is the most sustainable technology(s) for our three waste streams: faeces, urine and greywater?
We cannot be separated from Nature in the real-world, but in the information world such a separation is possible as the information can occur as separate, yet interlinked, structures. This site explores the sustainability question using these information carriers, with a particular focus on the wastewater industry (which includes our institutions).
In order to avoid the need to make starting assumptions and thereby introduce a human imposed bias in seeking the optimum, this work begins with the full planetary complexity. However, allowing the full complexity to exist presents our minds with such a daunting task that we tend to revert to a traditionally bounded analysis using assumptions (usually based on a discipline or industry). Allowing the full planetary complexity to exist therefore necessitates methods to cope with the level of complexity.
This work begins by placing the complexity in one of two sides: either Nature or human complexity. This initial division forms a boundary between Nature and human that coincides with the place in which our technologies exist. While this initial division appears to form a slim line, this boundary is in fact extremely complex. Firstly, its location can be moved without excluding any complexity – it merely moves some of the detail from one side to the other. Secondly, as information must pass through the boundary then the two sides (Nature and human) in effect become three: Nature, human and their interconnections. Much of the useful subtlety of this boundary arises from these interconnections. We can work with all three components in considering the notion of an optimum technology.
These are explored using Glenorchy as a case study.