Donald R. F. Harleman† , Susan Murcott‡ and Fr´ed´eric Chagnon§
†Ford Professor of Environmental Engineering, Emeritus; ‡Lecturer; §Research Assistant
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Water-borne diseases remain a rampant impediment to economic development in densely populated urban areas of developing countries. Most attempts to mitigate this problem of paramount importance have not succeeded. In devising policy to alleviate the public health problems related with wastewater, an important issue that needs to be addressed is whether the developing world should follow the model of using the municipal wastewater treatment technology of Western Europe and North America, or whether there is an alternative “sustainable sanitation” approach?