Standard For Decentralised Faecal Sludge Treatment In Developing Countries. Water Online, November 8, 2016.
TÜV SÜD has started developing a private technical standard for decentralized treatment plants. The aim is to promote innovations for safe and environmentally friendly sanitation in developing countries. The work is funded by a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
“Our experience proves the value of standards in promoting new technologies”, says Dr Andreas Hauser, Director of Water Services at TÜV SÜD. “Establishing common guidelines is a key step towards fostering next-generation faecal sludge treatment plants as well as engaging commercial interests”. The standard will refer to technologies that can convert waste into beneficial outputs, like electricity, biomass, water for irrigation and ash – in accordance with the resource-oriented sanitation approach.
They are operated on a commercial basis and serve up to 10.000-100.000 people improving hygiene, living conditions and creating economic opportunities. For them to become accepted and adopted essential criteria need to be met concerning for example functional safety, treatment performance, occupational health or emission values.
The private technical standard is to define these criteria. It is a follow-on project within the Gates Foundation’s Omni-Processor program. Beginning in November 2015 TÜV SÜD has been examining and evaluating the various requirements and possibly relevant standards for decentralized, community scale faecal sludge treatment solutions.
Developing a standard now takes this work to a new level. Dr Andreas Hauser: “A private technical standard for decentralized faecal sludge treatment plants will benefit the entire value chain towards a resource-oriented sanitation approach.”
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