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The Hague, The Netherlands

Thursday 17 April 2014

Overview of faecal sludge management challenges and practices

Erick BaetingsIRC

Index

• Context

• Rural FSM challenges and practices

• Small town FSM challenges and practices

• Urban FSM challenges and practices

OVERVIEW OF FAECAL SLUDGE MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES AND PRACTICES

Putting it in context | FSM challenges

• Most programs focus(ed) on increasing access to sanitation facilities by investing in onsite sanitation systems.

• The management of onsite sanitation remains a neglected component of urban (and rural) sanitation.

• Result: onsite facilities have become major sources of groundwater and surface water pollution, with significant environmental, public health, and economic impacts.


2.4 billion people with access to sewers, 2.6 billion require FSM services, 1.9 billion lack any services



Source: Source: www.worldmapper.org

The Boston Consulting Group, December 2012


Today, ~2.6 billion people worldwide are served by (onsite) sanitation methods1 that need faecal sludge management

If current trends persist, by 2030, FSM services may be required by some 4.9 billion people

Estimated volume of faecal sludge comes to some 245 billion litres per year with a market potential of $2.3 billion per year

(The Boston Consulting Group, December 2012)


1Septic tanks, flush/pour-flush pits, and dry pit latrines


Key challenges: • Limited awareness of policymakers on FSM

• Lack of legal and regulatory framework for FSM resulting in informal and unregulated service provision

• Limited performance of existing sanitation technologies

• Limited capacity to design, construct, and operate FSM infrastructure

• Ignorance on potential of faecal sludge for productive use in agriculture and energy sectors


FSM practices

Faecal sludge service chain

The entire chain requires attention and all links needs to be addressed


Containment Emptying Transport Treatment Disposal or reuse

FSM | Rural challenges & practices


FSM practices | Rural challenges & practices• Still relatively problem free but FSM can not be ignored

much longer

• Manual pit emptying is most common as access to mechanised pit emptying services is limited

• Currently there are basically only three options when pit is full: 1) Abandon toilet altogether

2) Empty pit (manually) and dispose sludge in another pit or directly in the environment (fields, open water bodies, etc.)

3) Dig a new pit and build new toilet

• Need for compost is high to improve organic composition and structure of the soil BUT sludge is hardly reused


Offset latrine with double alternating pits

Double pit composting latrines

Urine diverting dry toilet (UDDT)



• Appropriate sanitation technology options are available:


• Limited attention to develop viable business models

• BRAC WASH programme in Bangladesh is developing and testing faecal sludge productive use business models: Small-scale businesses: local production of

organic fertiliser by making use of micro-enterprises Large-scale business proposition: digestion of a

mix of agricultural waste, chicken manure and faecal sludge to produce 3,000 MWh electricity and about 1,500 tons of organic fertiliser


FSM | Small town challenges & practices


FSM | Small town challenges & practices Smaller towns are likely to have rural

characteristics with the same challenges and solutions

Alternative sanitation technologies need to be promoted if population density increases: Individual septic tanks Communal septic tanks (e.g. Borda’s DEWATS) Other? BMGF’s ‘Reinvent the toilet’ programme is

expected to come up with appropriate technologies that are safe (100% removal of pathogens), affordable ($ 0.05/person/day), appealing, user-centred, and sustainable (service providers can recoup all lifecycle costs)


FSM | Urban challenges & practices



• Cities face the biggest problems – biggest challenges!

• Problems are most severe in low-income settlements and slums: Limited space to build individual toilets Limited access to mechanised pit emptying services Land tenure issues Financial constraints Lack of pro-poor financing mechanisms Etc.



Containment • Most human faeces are not contained

safely

• So-called ‘septic tanks’ do not function effectively

• Faecal sludge finds its way directly into the environment

• Need to ensure safe containment of onsite sanitation by setting and enforcing building and emptying regulations



Emptying and transportation• Existing services: informal and outside

public sector control

• Small operators: difficult to run a profitable business

• Market: poorly regulated and enforced

• Often sludge does not reach official dumping site due to indiscriminate dumping of sludge



Treatment and disposal • Only a small % is being treated due to

lack of dedicated facilities

• Western-style treatment facilities require massive investments

• Appropriate sludge treatment plants are needed to ensure a complete and effective sanitation value chain

• Limited sludge disposal options



Productive use of faecal sludge • Limited successful examples of models

that can work at scale

• Limited interest from private sector due to lack of profitable business models

• Potential business models are being developed to convert human waste (mixed with other waste) to fuel, fertilisers or electricity


Faecal waste flows in Dhaka, Bangladesh


(WSP, March 2014)

References

Shrestha, R.R. (October 2013) Urban Sanitation: A Growing Challenge with Opportunities. Available at: http://www.sacosanv.gov.np/userfiles/files/Roshan%20Raj%20Shrestha(1).pdf

USAID (January 2010) A Rapid Assessment of Septage Management in Asia: Policies and Practices in India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Vietnam. Prepared by AECOM International Development, Inc. and the Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries (Sandec) at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag)

The Boston Consulting Group (December 2012) Global FSM Market Sizing + Archetypes. Prepared for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

WSP (March 2014) The missing link in sanitation service delivery, A review of fecal sludge management in 12 cities


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