Project:   Quillopungo Wastewater Treatment Plant Remediation, Ecuador

Sponsors: Dr. Andres Alvarado, Universidad de Cuenca, Ecuador

Team Members:    Texas A&M – Dalton Brown, Jhon Lin, Alexandra Dueitt, Parks Walker. Cuenca – Ana Marcela Palacios, Irene Ordonez

Faculty Advisors:  Dr. Anish Jantrania, Dr. Clyde Munster

Cuenca is the third largest city in Ecuador and leads the country’s efforts to provide sanitation services; The city of Cuenca has a large and effective wastewater treatment facility, but many of Ecuador’s smaller villages have treatment facilities that perform poorly. Universidad de Cuenca, Civil Engineering and Texas A&M BAEN continue, for the second year, to work together to evaluate the performance the treatment facilities in the region, offering integral solutions for improved design, operation and maintenance.

This year, the joint team is analyzing the existing plant in Quillopungo and working to improve its performance. Specific design objectives include: making the plant operational year round, ensuring that effluent meets national and local standards, finding a socially and economically feasible design. Their recommendations included: upgrading the pre-treatment system, slightly modifying the UASB reactors and adding artificial media in the anaerobic filters. They also recommended a design for a future upgrade with down-flow hanging sponge filters.