Reconditioning the sewerage and drinking water system within the Faculty of Mathematics, University of Guayaquil, Ecuador

Abstract

An evaluation of the sewer and rainwater systems, the same ones that currently discharge from the University of Guayaquil’s main network, was carried out. These networks have previously exceeded their operational capacity, causing flooding in the rainy season. In addition, the drinking water supply system was evaluated. The evaluation identified interconnection problems between the rainwater and sewage networks. This research proposes improvements to the sewage systems with the design of new networks: to identify the flow of rainwater and sewers, avoid contamination of wastewater and minimize the impact of rainy season flooding. Installed capacity is currently insufficient, because the university population grew exponentially. The existing drinking water reservoirs made of asbestos cement are in bad condition; the pipes and accessories of the supply networks are corroded, as galvanized iron was used for their construction (materials widely used at that time). We established new potable water conduction networks, new sanitary units for the university’s Faculty of Math and Physical Sciences building, and made the reconditioned sewage and rainwater networks work separately.