First coordination meeting in Vienna

The first coordination meeting of the MicrobialSludgeQuality project was held on January 30th and 31st 2017 in Tulln and Vienna, Austria. The meeting was originally planned for November, but due to the Austrian Red Cross ERU deployment to Haiti in the aftermath of hurricane Mathew and other business travel it was decided to move the meeting to January.

The meeting was jointly organised by BOKU and Austrian Red Cross. Representatives of all partners met in Austria to discuss first project results and co-ordinate future work. The partners were joined by Alexander Wolf from BORDA. He is a part of the MSQ external advisory board and provided feedback and advice.

During the first months of the project the focus was on the method development for the microbiological parameters (E.-Coli, Enterococcus, and Salmonella) in faecal sludge. Next focus will be on detection of helminth eggs.

The prototype will be developed as modular system. The core module will include basic microbial and helminth parameters and can be extended by additional modules depending on the specific treatment technology employed on site.

During the project meeting the location of the proposed test site was addressed. The pilot trail is foreseen to be in Blantyre, Malawi. WASTE has ongoing activities in Blantyre. Also, a Butyl products Ltd. - Flexigester (anaerobic digester) installed in a local school. A possible cooperation with the Emergency Sanitation Project phase II to increase the effect of the field trail.

Author : Johannes Bousek