Sustainable communities projectprotocol and appropriate technologies for water management

Resumen

The sustainable access to drinking water is identified as one of the pillars of sustainable development of human emplacements, such as reflected in United Nations Millennium Development and Sustainable development Goals (MDG´s and SDG´s). Among the initiatives focused on their achievement arises the Sustainable Community Project (SCP), sponsored by the UNESCO and focused on the design and validation of a new Low External Dependence integral Development Model (LEDD) for small isolated communities. Initially 200 implementations are proposed for LEDD validation. A LEDD should be not only sustainable but also highly reproducible, which requires standardized protocols for the creation of master plans of action. The objective of the first part of the thesis is the design of a director plan for water management. It deals with a general procedure dedicated to the design and dynamic management of a database that includes detailed tools and a methodology for monitoring and control. The work is presented in the document “Water management protocol for Sustainable Communities development”, accepted as UNESCO technical report (CLRLA WP042- 15). The second part of the thesis is framed on the development of appropriate technologies. The objective is the design of a compact, renewable energy based electrochemical water disinfection cell prototype. The results obtained until the moment are resumed in the patent pending internal publication “Experimental Modelling of a Wide Working Range Electrochemical Water Disinfection Cell” and “Optimization of an electrochemical water disinfection cell PV power supply depending on the installation climatic zone”, sent for publication to “Energy for Sustainable Development”. A third publication on the evaluation on the prototype disinfection capability is in preparation. The proposal has demonstrated its feasibility as appropriate disinfection technology and its viability for future development and commercial application in the context of small isolated communities.