Engineering to survive : global solutions for sustainable development

283 Pages·1996·5.312 MB·English

Engineering to survive
Global solutions for sustainable
development
Proceedings of the Commonwealth Engineers'
Council 50th Anniversary Inaugural Conference
held in London on 18-21 March 1996
Sponsored by the Institution of Civil Engineers, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the
Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institution of Chemical Engineers and the British
National Committee for International Engineering Affairs
The Commonwealth Engineers' Council gratefully acknowledges the support of Bechtel
Water Technology Ltd (Warrington) in sponsoring this volume of Proceedings.
Published on behalf of the organizers by Thomas Telford Services Ltd, Thomas Telford
House, 1 Heron Quay, London E14 4JD
First published 1996
© The Authors 1996 unless otherwise stated
All rights, including translation, reserved. Except for fair copying, no part of this publication
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written
permission of the copyright authors.
Papers or other contributions and the statements made or opinions expressed therein are
published on the understanding that the author of the contribution is solely responsible for the
opinions expressed in it and that its publication does not necessarily imply that such
statements and or opinions are or reflect the views or opinions of the organizers or publishers.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by Galliards (Printers) Ltd, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Contents
engineer's contribution to sustainability. D. SWAMINADHAN 1 '
Mortality and suffering from water and waste related disease. T. LUSTY 7
Ensuring assessment of needs and sustainable water resourcing.
SYED MANSOOB ALI ZAIDI j
2
Water production and means of mobilisation: alternative sources, reuse,
mobilisation in arid and semi-arid areas. E. K. MWONGERA 1^
Water supply and sanitation: challenges to the engineering profession.
A. BARRETT
25
Management of wastes: meeting Rio targets. S. B. REED 33
Irrigation techniques and combating drought.
K. THIRUNAVUKKARASU j
4
Landcare in Australia: fomenting social technologies for sustainable
development A. CAMPBELL
47
Legislating for sustainable development - the problems and the successes.
E. GALLAGHER
6?
Integrated land use and natural resource planning: New Zealand's
Resource Management Act. L. GOW ^
Energy debate: constraints and innovation. P. M. CHACKO 69
Energy sources beyond 2000. J. RICHMAN 78
A review of waste-to-energy using state-of-the-art combustion.
A. PORTEOUS
88
Road development in Malaysia. CHEW SWEE HOCK 113
Transport policies to extend society while protecting health and the
atmosphere. J. PARRY I2Q
Protection of society from man-made and natural disasters. An overview.
O.ELO ,
26
Coastal development - case history (Sri Lanka). S. R. AMARASINGHE 132
Protection of society from storm surge hazard. J. R. CHOUDHURY 137
Sustainable cities - a contradiction in terms? E. K. H. LEUNG 143

The Engineer's Contribution to Sustainability
PROF. (DR.) D. SWAMINADHAN
Member,
Planning Commission,
Government of India,
New Delhi - 110 001
India.
Overview
The twentieth century has seen some spectacular changes of social, economic, scientific and political
significance. Tremendous developments in science and technology and their application in
agriculture, industry, improvement in longevity and quality of life and in many other areas of human
activity, have been the land marks of this century. However, these achievements have extracted their
price in terms of large scale indiscriminate damage to life support systems.
Till the middle of the present century, upto the end of the second world war, concern for the issue
of environment was only peripheral. Natural resource was considered as something 'infinite' and
'free'. The relevance of the issue of environment was pioneered by engineers thereafter with a
number of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA), which were carried out as isolated exercises
without their integration into the development policy.
In early 1970's, debate on "environment versus development" was heightened with the "limits to
growth" argument, thereafter the development policy undergoing a significant shift towards a "basic
needs approach" in early 1980s. The United Nations Conference on Human Environment (UNCHE)
also known as Stockholm Conference in 1972 and the subsequent efforts focussed on developing
guidelines for appraisal of development decisions also from 'environmental' angle. The setting up
of World Commission on Environment and Development by the United Nations and the subsequent
elaborate public debates on the subject and publication of the Commission's report 'Our Common
Future' in 1987 led to the emergence of sustainable development as a new environmental dimension.
Sustainable Development
Sustainable development implies a model of development in which both the present and the nature
are taken into consideration. Natural resources, ecology and economic growth are to be managed
in such a manner that it leads to sustainability. In this process, three basic tenets are paramount.
Firstly, temporal sustainability demands careful maintenance of delicate balance between productivity
parameters and conservation practices. Secondly, environmental sustainability implies development
strategies which are eco-friendly, energy-efficient and waste minimal and thirdly, economic
development models should optimise growth subject to ecological, economic, social and cultural
constraints, which may include pro-poor and gender equity bias as well.
Engineering to survive. Thomas Telford, London, 1996 1
THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Urbanisation Scene and Sustainable Development
Today nearly half the world's population live in cities and by the year 2025 AD. the quantum
reaches to more than two-thirds. The stress of such population growth is overwhelming Despite
growing investments in environmental infrastructure, approximately 380 million urban population in
the developing world still do not have adequate sanitation, and at least 170 million lack access to a
nearby source of safe drinking water.
With the world reaching a point at which nearly half of its people are living in cities, it is clear that
the goal of achieving a sustainable mode of life on our planet envisaged at Rio cannot be achieved
unless the urban environment is sustainable. The great urban centres of the world are the crucibles
of our common future. The path of sustainable development is, therefore, inextricably inter- linked
with the future of development of our human settlements; we must use the scarce water and land
resources efficiently; we must recycle, manage, and dispose of waste materials in a manner which
minimizes environmental degradation. Agenda 21, adopted in Rio, set the framework for the current
dialogue on sustainable human settlements aspects as an integral part of urban environment
Environmental Degradation
Despite development efforts both poverty and environmental degradation in cities continue to
increase at alarming rates. The developing countries face formidable obstacles in addressing problems
of environmental degradation. The sustainable human settlements approach would need financial
resources, effective settlements management and technology inputs. Sustainable human settlements
development will require a wide range of new technologies, both for production and urban services
which are environment-friendly in nature. Engineer's contribution in providing appropriate new
technologies can pave the way in a big manner for a model for sustainable human settlements
development. Engineers have to take this challenge as we move into the next century. The
technological innovations should succeed in making a better use of human, natural and financial
resources to meet human needs with technology being realistic, appropriate, economically viable and
ecologically sustainable. It should be replicable with costs low enough and the benefits high enough
to make wide spread implementation feasible.
Engineer's Role in Sustainable Development
Development per-se, involves interference with nature. A continuous process of engineering and re-
engineering is inevitable as the pace of development accelerates and expands to meet growing
aspirations and needs. It is in the balancing between the needs of development and the need to ensure
sustainability that expertise and experience of the engineer is of crucial importance. The engineer has
to juxtapose developmental solutions against sustainability and implement only those solutions as to
meet the prescribed standards of sustainability. His role is thus vital. He is in the best position to
ensure that the sustainability is adequately catered for while finding developmental solutions.
Ocean Based Resources
(a) Exploitation of Marine Living Resources :
Fish is one of the cheapest sources of protein to mankind. Over-exploitation of fishes along the
coastal waters (below 50 mtrs. depth) is causing depletion of resources and as an alternative it needs
to capture fish in the deeper areas (beyond 50 mtrs. depth). Designing and fabrication of suitable nets
for catching selective species of commercially important fish through modern engineering methods
helps in increasing the catches. Development of fuel-efficient long-range fishing crafts economise the
cost of fishing operation.
(b) Harnessing of Ocean Energy :
Development of engineering systems for harnessing wave energy, tidal energy and Ocean Thermal
Energy Conversion (OTEC), would make available pollution-free energy in the form of electricity to
the coastal population. This reduces the burden of dependence on fossil fuels, which are not
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PAPER 3: SWAMINADHAN
environment-friendly.
(c) Engineering for Environment:
Deployment of engineeringly designed structures facilitates settlement of corals in the coral reefs.
Thereby, the coral reefs are rejuvenated in areas where corals were destroyed in the past.
Development of satellite-based monitoring system with the help of development of suitable
instruments facilitates monitoring the changes in the distribution of coral reefs and mangroves. The
satellite-based technique is faster, less time consuming compared to the conventional survey
methods.
Irrigation
The technologies that strengthen human society's power to manipulate the hydrology in a beneficial
manner are those of dam building for creating storages (large or small); construction of canals and
aqueducts enabling even long-distance transfer of water; loss prevention by spread of monomolecular
films on the water surfaces to conserve water against the extreme heat in summer; pumping from
great depths; irrigation by drip system; reuse of water through repetitive treatment; and purification
and obtaining usable waters from normally non-usable quantities such as the highly saline sea water
through high-tech processes like osmosis. A society armed with such technologies can utilise the
available water resources in a far more beneficial manner and thereby build up a greater degree of
confidence in supporting the existing as well as increasing population. This may be difficult to
achieve in the case of a technologically less developed society. The water resource engineer is in
the center of sustainable development of this Mother Nature's precious gift to mankind i.e., water.
Bio- Technology
Developments in bio-technology, including genetic engineering, in offering solutions to problems
of health and disease, agriculture and food production, industry and environment are enormous. The
advent of recombinant DNA, hybridoma, plant and tissue culture technologies with innovations in
downstream processing to handle large scale production of biological products, has ushered in a new
bio-technology revolution. Bio-technology has wide application in several sectors of economic
relevance for both developing and developed countries. It is generally skill and not capital intensive.
It generates employment and at the same time is also capable of miniaturization and automation. It
can be applied either in the decentralized rural environment or set up in a modern urban industrial
complex. The development and application of bio-technology is location specific and may lead to
sustainable use of industrial resources.
Space Technology
The space and remote sensing technology is perhaps the most potent tool in the process of achieving
sustainable development. Remarkable developments in space technology and its applications during
the past few decades have firmly established the immense potential of space to transform the life style
of human society as a whole. With this potential, the perceptions of development have undergone
significant alterations with space technology providing unique solutions in the areas of
communications, meteorology and natural resources. It is rightly said that space activities can be
viewed as a technology drive for the entire economy benefitting a wide range or space and non-space
related industries. The space programmes comprising, among other things, designing and building
of remote sensing and communication satellites and launch vehicles for putting satellites into orbits
and design and manufacturing of ground electronic equipment needed for remote sensing,
communication, T.V. broadcasting, E-Mail services and meteorological forecasting are the areas in
which the engineer has to play an important role. The roles of engineers in the areas of computers,
telecommunications and Information Technology (IT) are equally vital.
Food Processing Engineering
Fruits and vegetables are the important source of micro nutrients. Due to lack of preservation and
processing facilities, especially in developing countries, estimates show that considerable loss of fruits
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THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES
and vegetables take place. Similarly, fishes of low-unit value remain mostly unutilised or under­
utilised due to absence of any kind of preservation and processing. Many of the species have great
potentialities of being converted into value added bi-products which can supplement protein not only
to the diet of man but also of fish and prawn. Food processing engineering provides vital means of
not only reducing this substantial loss, but also ensuring longer storage and shelf life, uniform
availability, higher quality food stuffs and better nutrition.
Urban Sustainability
It is important that a clear understanding of the inter-relationship between urban development and
urban environment is developed because lack of this understanding makes "urban sustainability"
complicated and difficult. The major areas which are directly linked to ensuring sustainable
development where the engineers could make visible impact are discussed as under:
a) Water Supply. Sanitation and Drainage.
Depletion of water availability to urban centres has become a serious issue. Sustainability is a patent
issue when cities are forced to tap water from increasingly long distances. In view of the limits to the
drawl of ground water, the urban planning process should ensure reservation of areas for drainage
and ground water recharge accordingly. Trie overall strategy for sustainable water supply should
identify and implement strategies and actions to ensure the continued supply of affordable water for
present and future needs, and to reverse the current trends of resource degradation and depletion.
Water resources need to be protected through the introduction of sanitary waste disposal facilities.
The adopted systems need to be ecologically sound, low-cost with upgradable technologies, and
should include urban storm water run-off and drainage programmes, promotion of recycling and
reuse of waste water and solid wastes and the control of sources of industrial pollution.
High costs of conventional sewerage treatment systems have prevented most cities in the developing
countries from installing them. Recent initiatives in anaerobic treatment process as well as improved
approaches in oxidation, pisciculture, aquaculture and sewage farms in treatment and waste water
application need to be pursued more widely and consistently. Resource recovery from waste water
treatment has to be an important principle in these efforts.
b) Solid Waste Management.
Of the various categories of pollutants, minicipal solid wastes contribute significantly towards
environmental degradation. Industrial solid wastes, which often get mixed with domestic wastes due
to inadequate disposal facilities cause toxic effects on human, animal and plant life. The waste
problem is especially severe in the rapidly growing informal settlements of the developing world,
where population densities and health risks are high, public awareness of the hazards of uncontrolled
disposal is low and the consequent need for municipal waste disposal services is greatest.
A strategy for waste prevention, minimization and reuse should become the basis for all future solid
waste management programmes. Waste minimization can be achieved by modifying industrial
processes and changes in the design and use of products.
c) Pollution Control.
In several cities in developing countries the general environment - air, water and land - is badly
polluted adversely affecting the health of hundreds of millions of people. Appropriate air pollution
control technologies need to be developed on the basis of risk assessment and epidemiological
research considered as part of the introduction of clean production processes and suitable safe mass
transport. Air pollution control capacities emphasising monitoring networks and enforcement
programmes should be installed in all major cities. Prevention and control methods are required to
reduce indoor air pollution.
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PAPER 3: SWAMINADHAN
Water pollution control efforts should aim at the integrated environmentally sound management of
water resources and the safe disposal of liquid and solid wastes. This should include the
establishment of protected areas for sources of water supply, the safe disposal of refuse, the control
of water associated diseases, the sanitary disposal of excreta and sewage and using appropriate
systems to treat waste water in urban and rural areas.
d) Shelter.
Shelter is fundamental to an individual's physical, psychological, social and economic well-being. The
Global Strategy for Shelter by the Year 2000, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in
1988, has the goal of providing adequate shelter for all by the end of this century. Developing
countries need to adopt national shelter strategies focussed on the use of new and innovative
financing mechanisms, such as specific housing schemes. Shelter efforts of poor and vulnerable
groups should be supported by facilitating their access to land, financing and building materials,
reforming existing codes and regulations, and actively promoting the regularisation and upgrading
of informal settlements.
e) Construction Industry
The construction industry, which provides shelter, infrastructure and employment, is vital to the
achievement of national socio-economic development goals. It provides basic infrastructure for all
developmental activities. But it can also damage the environment by degrading fragile eco-zones
using harmful materials, consuming excessive energy and increasing air pollution. In promoting
sustainable construction industry activities, developing countries need to encourage the use of local
materials and labour-intensive construction methods to generate employment.
f) Urban Planning and Development
Urban planning techniques require innovative approaches. There is a need to assess the population
based on resource planning and resource availability in an urban region. This is different from
conventional planning approach which plans for certain pre-determined density, based on which the
demand for resources is assessed. Urban land-use planning and promoting the integrated provision
of environmental infrastructure - water, sanitation, drainage and solid waste management - in all
human settlements is essential for environmental protection, increased productivity, better health and
poverty alleviation. In providing land for human settlements and promoting sustainable land-use
planning and management policies, there is a need to inventorise land resources and develop urban
land resource management plans for meeting the demands of residential, commercial, industrial, open
spaces, transport and agriculture, in an integrated manner. Coordination is essential to ensure that
the poor are not denied access to serviced land.
g) Transport.
Transport congestion and pollution from vehicles have emerged as two strong manifestations of
deteriorating urban environment in developing countries. In view of the inappropriate land use
planning policies, the cities in developing countries have long travel distances. While the integration
of transport and land use planning as a continuous but long term goal is to be stressed, in the near and
medium term, urban environment in the cities of developing countries will depend on how quickly
the problems of poor public transport and high pollution are addressed. In recent years, several cities
in the developed countries have been able to achieve some improvement in controlling air pollution
from vehicles only by a concerted and multi-pronged strategy, which clearly assign roles for the
different institutions involved. Such city-based strategies are long overdue for evaluation for
replication in the cities of developing countries.
h) Energy
At a global level, most of the energy is derived from fossil fuels and is used in urban areas.
Transport accounts for close to 30 per cent of global commercial energy consumption and about 60
per cent of the total global consumption of liquid petroleum. In developing countries, rapid
motorization and the lack of resources for investment in urban transport, traffic management and
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THREATS AND OPPORTUNITIES
infrastructure have combined to create increasing health, noise, congestion and productivity problems.
Developing countries are at present faced with the need to increase their energy production to
accelerate development and raise the living standards of their population, while reducing energy
production costs and energy-related pollution.
Science and technology should play a pivotal role in the long-term energy planning. The long-term
strategy should aim at sustainable energy supply and demand systems consistent with the overall
economic growth and improvements in the quality of life. On the supply side, science and technology
should provide the inputs necessary for expanding the renewable energy supply base through cost-
effective and environment friendly technologies that will ensure that consuming sectors obtain energy
at affordable prices through clean technologies. On the demand side, thrust of science and technology
should be towards improvements in the end use efficiencies through cost-effective processes and
technologies so that demand can be regulated without compromising on the quality of energy
supplies.
Total Quality Management (TQM)
Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management philosophy that builds customer driven learning
or organisations dedicated to total customer delight with continuous improvement in the effectiveness
of the organisation and its processes. TQM is a multi-dimensional pursuit of Quality, Effectiveness,
Efficiency, Culture and Welfare. It leads to better customer service, economy orientation and meet
social needs and professional accountability. Such being the importance of TQM, it should not only
form part of the technical education but ample training facilities should be made available for the
working engineers to getting exposed to such techniques so as to enable them to equip better to
play their role effectively in the economic development.
Interaction
For effective contributions to sustainable development, the engineer himself needs preparedness in
terms of relevant education, training, awareness about contemporary innovations leading to
professional competence, professional values and ethics and maintain visibility. The universities,
engineering institutions, R&D organisations, various Engineering academies and Institutions of
engineers and international bodies like the Commonwealth Engineers' Council and others can play
an important facilitating role in the engineer's contribution to sustainability, through their state-of-
the-art and futuristic approaches and programmes, either formal or non-formal. For this to happen
in a rewarding manner, strong linkages among these constituents and with industries are vital. To
bring about such a meaningful interaction, a Model for University-Industry-National R&D
Laboratories-Professional Bodies and Academies Interaction has been formulated and published by
the author. The Model identifies areas of interaction between these constituents. Each of these
constituents should have a consultancy unit/cell and it would be desirable to have a central
coordination mechanism for promoting effective interaction.
Conclusion
The engineer's contribution to economic development is well known since ages. The engineer,
however, has to have a clear exposure to the modern development concept namely, sustainable
development, in all its entirety. The changed context naturally necessitates the engineer's
preparedness in terms of updating his professional competence and training. In this process, the
universities, industries, national R&D organisations and the national and international academies and
councils of sciences, engineering and technology have a greater role to play in facilitating the
engineer's contribution to sustainable development effectively.
6