San Pedro Sula Background Engineering Research (Research Paper Sample)

San Pedro Sula Water System
Student’s Name
Institution Affiliation
San Pedro Sula Water System
City water supply systems are built to provide water to cities across the globe. The systems include the drainage systems, which involves purification of drinking water. A dam or water collection point, i.e., an underground aquifer, and storage facilities. The water networks also include a pressuring water station, distribution network and connection to the sewers. Th San Pedro Sula city in Honduras has been without a water system until 2000 when they installed a temporary water system.
Historical Background
The San Pedro city in Honduras is situated in the Ulua river valley. The agricultural city in central America was founded by the Spanish in 1536 and has since been rebuilt to become the country’s main industrial center. The city has a population of over 700,000 and has an interoceanic railroad connecting it to the city of Puerto Cortes (Brodzinsky, 2013). Its large population has contributed to high crime rate, rating the city as the most dangerous city in the world. Being the country’s industrial Centre, the city as various manufacturing plants that process foodstuffs as well as other products for export. The economic progress of the city, however, has often been hampered by the climate. For instance, in 1974, the city was damaged by the hurricane Fifi, which contributed to the slow growth of the city. The Same fate happened to the city in 1990 when it was also severely damaged by Hurricane Mitch. The climatically setbacks to the growth of the city are contributed by the fact that the city is located in the river basin of Ulua.
Environmental and Public Health Problems to The City
The high population and lack of a proper water network system in the city of San Pedro Sula have contributed to various environmental and public health issues affecting the inhabitants. For instance, the crime rate in the city has been rated highest in the world making it the number one public health issue. The violence in the city has been rated as being political, and economically based (San Pedro Sula, 2016). Political violence, for instance, has led to the decline of the environmental activism due to fear (Ransford, 2016). For instance, Berta Caceres, who campaigned against Agua Zarca dam is an example of politically motivated violence. This has led to the decline in environmental protection in the city.
Also, the city’s lack of water system has led to lack of hygiene across the city. The country receives high amounts of rainfall around the year. Thus, the open sewers and lack of drainage across the city often leads to flooding and contamination of clean drinking water. Tap water in the city of San Pedro Sula is known to be unsafe for drinking. The open sewers and unsafe drinking water running in the city taps pose a serious public health issue. Lastly, the lack of waste management system has led to increased environmental issues such as the stench from garbage.
Integrated Waste Water System for San Pedro Sula
The various public health and environmental issues in the city of San Pedro Sula necessitate an integrated waste water system for the city. Since the city receives high amounts of rainfall throughout the year, the design should include a treatment process to clean the waste water. Much of the waste water in the city of San Pedro Sula is contaminated due to contact with open sewers. Thus, the treatment process should include coagulation step to increase the size of dissolved matter for easy removal (Ismail, 2016). The coagulation step should be followed by a dissolved air floatation process to clump organic matter.
After the dissolved air floatation process, the waste water should be subjected to the ozonating process which helps in the disinfection of the water. The water then should be filtered and passed through the chlorination chamber. The material removal design process then will separate the materials, i.e., solids from water before it is channeled through city water networks. However, this design needs to include large water storage reservoirs and treatment plants. It will thus require large amounts of money
San Pedro Sula Population and Waste Lands and Energy Production
Rapid urbanization in San Pedro Sula has led to an increase in population in the city. Th...