In this work, results from characterization of handwashing wastewater from selected stations in Kampala City, Uganda, revealed that handwashing wastewater did not meet permissible international standards for wastewater discharge to the environment. The ratio of BOD₅ to COD of ˂0.5 implied that hadwashing wastewater was not amenable to biological treatment processes. Turbidity of ˃50 NTU pointed to the need for a roughing filter prior to slow sand filtration. Subsequently, a handwashing wastewater treatment system consisting of selected particle sizes of silica sand, zeolite, and granular activated carbon as filtration and/or adsorption media was developed and assessed for performance towards amelioration of the physicochemical and biological parameters of the handwashing wastewater. Treated water from the developed wastewater treatment system exhibited a turbidity of 5 NTU, true colour of 10 Pt-Co, apparent colour of 6 Pt-Co, and TSS of 9 mgL^-1, translating to removal efficiencies of up to 98.5, 98.1, 99.7, and 96.9%, respectively. The residual total coliforms and E.coli of 1395 and 1180 CFU(100 mL)^-1 respectively, were totally eliminated upon disinfection with 0.5 mL NaOCl (3.5% w/v) per liter of treated wastewater. The treated water was thus suitable for recycling for handwashing purpose as opposed to letting handwashing wastewater merely go down the drain. This approach provides a resilient response to COVID-19, where communities faced with water scarcity can treat and recycle handwashing wastewater at the point of washing. It thus enables more people to have the opportunity to practice handwashing, abating the high risks of infection, which could otherwise arise.

在这项工作中，对乌干达坎帕拉市选定站点的洗手废水进行表征的结果表明，洗手废水不符合废水排放到环境中允许的国际标准。BOD _5的比率COD 为 0.5 意味着洗涤废水不适合生物处理过程。˃50 NTU 的浊度表明在慢砂过滤之前需要粗滤。随后，开发了一种由选定粒径的硅砂、沸石和颗粒活性炭作为过滤和/或吸附介质的洗手废水处理系统，并评估了其改善洗手废水的物理化学和生物学参数的性能。经开发的废水处理系统处理后的水的浊度为 5 NTU，本色为 10 Pt-Co，表观颜色为 6 Pt-Co，TSS 为 9 mgL ^-1，去除效率高达 98.5、98.1、分别为 99.7 和 96.9%。残留的总大肠菌群和分别为 1395 和 1180 CFU(100  mL) ^-1的大肠杆菌 在用每升处理过的废水用 0.5 mL NaOCl (3.5% w/v) 消毒后被完全消除。因此，处理后的水适合循环用于洗手目的，而不是让洗手废水直接排入下水道。这种方法提供了对 COVID-19 的弹性响应，其中面临缺水的社区可以在洗涤点处理和回收洗手废水。因此，它使更多的人有机会练习洗手，从而降低感染的高风险，否则可能会出现这种情况。