PROAGUA, FHNW School of Life Sciences

Ensuring the sustainability and climate resilience of water supply and wastewater disposal is a high political priority for the Peruvian Government. The objective of the PROAGUA project is to improve water supply security for Peru's urban population.

As part of the project, the FHNW School of Life Sciences is responsible for:

1. Provision of advisory services and technical expertise in the management of industrial wastewater. This includes the internal optimization of water consumption within the factory, the reduction of the wastewater effluent, technical options for the pre-treatment of industrial wastewater prior to the discharge to an existing public wastewater treatment system and the internal recycling or external re-use of treated wastewater. The two selected priority sectors are tanneries and textiles.
2. Development of a modular web-based decision tool to be applied for the selection of the most adequate domestic wastewater treatment system depending on wastewater quality and quantity and the given physical local conditions (e.g altitude, ambient temperature, wastewater quantity) and the intended reuse of the treated wastewater.
3. Review and update of existing two Peruvian Technical Norms (OS.090 und IS 020). The review looks on the design as well as on operational aspects of a wastewater treatment plant. The two selected technologies are trickling filters and activated sludge treatment.
4. In close cooperation with Peruvian Universities (e.g. UNI, UNALM, La Molina) the experts from Institute for Ecopreneurship will expand and update existing national curricula for teaching the subjects of wastewater treatment and water resource management.