Turning fecal sludge into a resource: New approaches required to achieve the rural sanitation SDGs

Safely managed sanitation is a focus of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is central to stunting reduction and early childhood survival, both identified by the World Bank’s Human Capital Index as critical for humans to develop their full potential. It is widely known that 4.5 billion people lacked access to safely managed sanitation in 2015, according to the Joint Monitoring Programme. Less well understood is that hundreds of millions more people in densely populated rural areas are exposed to significant health risk due to unsafely managed sanitation.

In contrast to urban areas, fecal sludge management (FSM) is not yet recognized as a priority for the rural sanitation sector – it is assumed to be less of an issue because rural areas are more sparsely populated. However, some densely populated areas fall under rural administrations, notably in deltas and on the periphery of rapidly growing rural areas. In these areas there is also a need to safely manage fecal waste. Many sanitation systems that, for lack of scrutiny, are assumed to be improved and safe, but due to lack of scrutiny they fail to safely manage fecal sludge.

A new World Bank report-supported by the Global Water Security and Sanitation Program (GWSP) – and six case studies identified specific causes of health risks in locations in Bangladesh, Bolivia, Egypt, India, and Vietnam. They include compromised construction of on-site sanitation solutions, incorrect technology choices, poorly developed FSM markets, predominantly manual emptying practices and indiscriminate dumping of sludge in the immediate environment. They found that environmental regulations and building codes do not address FSM effectively, and enforcement is often weak. Rural administrations typically lack the mandate and institutional capacity to provide and manage FSM services.

Read the full blog by Joep Verhagen and Pippa Scott

Citation

“Verhagen, Joep; Scott, Pippa. 2019. Safely Managed Sanitation in High-Density Rural Areas : Turning Fecal Sludge into a Resource through Innovative Waste Management. World Bank, Washington, DC. © World Bank. https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/32385 License: CC BY 3.0 IGO.”

 

Don’t neglect shared latrines in drive for sanitation for all, agencies warn

Shared toilets in Kenya. Photo: Sanergy

• WaterAid joins WSUP, World Bank and leading academics in urging donors, policymakers and planners not to neglect shared sanitation
• Where private household toilets aren’t yet an option, safe, well-managed shared toilets are a crucial step to further improvement

Funding for safe, shared toilets in fast-growing developing-world cities is at risk of neglect from donors, policymakers and planners, a new journal article authored by sanitation specialists, senior economists and leading academics has warned.

Authors from the World Bank, WaterAid and Water & Sanitation for the Urban Poor have joined leading academics from the University of Leeds and the University of Colorado – Boulder in calling for shared toilets as an essential stepping-stone towards universal sanitation.

World Bank targets smarter sanitation communication for rural Ethiopia

By Peter McIntyre, IRC Associate

The World Bank in Ethiopia has commissioned a rapid survey of what motivates people to upgrade their latrines, with the aim of delivering behaviour change communication materials with greater impact.

Sanitation rapid survey launch meeting Addis Abeba, 23 March 2017 (Photo: Sirak Wondimu)

The survey is being conducted in four regions, with the main target audiences being adult women, male heads of households, opinion leaders and existing sanitation businesses.

The aim is to pilot and produce materials that emphasise the dignity, prestige and status of having improved sanitation, rather than focusing only on health messages.

The WB decided a new approach was needed after Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) figures for 2016 suggested that only 4% of rural households in Ethiopia have improved toilets facilities while a further 2% have facilities that would be considered improved if they were not shared. This is well below the Joint Monitoring Program figure of 28% for improved latrines (although we understand this may be revised down to around 14%). Indeed, according to DHS, although access to some form of sanitation has risen, access to an improved latrine has declined in percentage terms over the past ten years. Most latrines in rural areas (55%) do not have an effective slab or lid while more than a third of rural households (39%) practise open defecation.

The Government of Ethiopia has a flagship programme to increase use of improved latrines to 82% by 2020.

At a launch meeting in Addis on 23 March 2017, social market consultant, Addis Meleskachew, said that this initiative will develop a memorable brand for marketing materials that will encourage the private sector to provide materials and will attract rural families to buy them.

Dagnew Tadesse,Hygiene and Environmental Health Case Team Leader for Ministry of Health, welcomed the initiative to attract business but emphasised that the GoE approach is based on a comprehensive health education strategy with multiple messages including hygiene awareness, handwashing and safe food, and said that these important messages should not be abandoned.

Jane Bevan, rural WASH Manager at UNICEF Ethiopia offered to share extensive data that UNICEF has collected for its country programme on attitudes to sanitation, which has identified the high cost of concrete slabs as a significant obstacle. She presented examples of low cost options for upgrading sanitation in a pilot project in Tigray region. It was agreed to collate all existing KAP studies and relevant data including research by SNV.

Monte Achenbach from PSI and John Butterworth from IRC spoke about the work being started by USAID Transform WASH to market innovative sanitation models. John Butterworth said there is a need to make people aware of what is available and to get materials to where they are needed.

The World Bank research is being conducted by 251 Communications.

This blog was originally posted on 5 April 2017 on the IRC website.

5 lessons to manage fecal sludge better

5 lessons to manage fecal sludge better | Source: by Peter Hawkins & Isabell Blackett, World Bank Water Blog, July 19 2016 |

Our last blog outlined the neglect of Fecal Sludge Management (FSM) and presented new tools for diagnosing FSM challenges and pointing the way to solutions.

A motorized tricycle fitted with a small tank provides desludging services in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Photo credit: Kathy Eales / World Bank

In this blog, we’ll share some lessons learned from the city-specific case studies and analysis to highlight key areas which need to be addressed if the non-networked sanitation services on which so many citizens rely are to be effectively managed.

Lesson 1: Fecal sludge management must be included in national policy and legislation

On-site sanitation is often the only sanitation option for poor households, and may account for the majority of all sanitation, in many middle income and poor countries. However, the construction and servicing of on-site facilities is typically left to the unregulated informal sector.

There can even be legal barriers to developing on-site sanitation, although integrated urban water management may identify the provision of clean piped water, with systematic FSM, as a cheaper, more effective solution than city-wide sewerage access. The formal recognition and regulation of on-site sanitation and FSM is therefore critical.

Read the complete article.

Fecal Sludge Management Tools – World Bank

Fecal Sludge Management Tools – World Bank

In many cities, the emptying, conveyance, treatment and disposal of fecal sludge has largely been left to unregulated private, informal service providers. 

To address this neglected but crucial part of urban sanitation, the World Bank has developed some tools to diagnose fecal sludge management (FSM) status and to guide decision-making.

These tools don’t provide pre-defined solutions, as the many variables and stakeholders involved demand interventions specific in each city, and should be seen within the context of integrated urban water management.

Link to the FSM Tools website.

WEDC & WSP online learning course – Rural Sanitation at Scale

The Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) of Loughborough University, UK, in partnership with the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of the World Bank, recently developed a self-paced online course that addresses the important global challenges facing the water and sanitation sector.

The course, titled Rural Sanitation at Scale, which is featured as a unit in WEDC’s master’s (MSc) program, is also offered free-of-charge as a non-accredited professional development unit for sector professionals interested in learning more about the issues of scaling-up sanitation in rural areas.
The course is divided into three parts: 

Part 1 – Lays out the challenge of scaling up rural sanitation in context, examining fundamental aspects of sanitation provision and the reasons why, up to now, the goal of sanitation at scale has proved elusive. 

Part 2 – Examines the core theory of change for sustainable programs. In particular it looks at the first two, of three, key components or pillars required for change: the creation of demand and the supply chain.

Part 3 – Continues to explore the core theory of change, focusing on the enabling environment. The unit concludes with a discussion of how the three pillars fit together and what steps are necessary to take an at-scale program forward.

Each section takes approximately 1 hour of study time, excluding associated reading, and is delivered using a variety of media including slide presentations, film clips, animations, photography and graphics supported by selected online publications.

• Access the WEDC/WSP course directly or on the
• World Bank Water website and the 
• WSP website.

Note: You will need to allow pop-ups for the course to run.

• For more information, please contact R.J. Shaw (WEDC) or Eddy Perez (WSP)
• Read WSP’s publication What Does it Take to Scale Up Rural Sanitation? (PDF)

Top 10 Finalists of the Sanitation Hackathon App Challenge announced

On World WaterDay, 22 March, the World Bank announced the Top 10 Finalists of the Sanitation Hackathon App Challenge. The challenge is a follow-up to the Sanitation Hackathon, which attracted over 1,100 developers in December 2012 to solve sanitation problems.

The Top 10 Finalists apps are:

• Empowering Girls monitors girls’ school attendance to track appropriate sanitation facilities.
• LION Sync provides decision-makers with access to real-time data online and offline.
• LooRewards promotes sanitary behavior by rewarding safe sanitation practices.
• mSchool monitors the status of water and sanitation infrastructure in schools.
• mSewage crowdsources the identification of open defecation sites and sewage outflows.
• San-Trac reminds users about hygienic practices and gathers real-time data for trend analysis (winner of the People’s Choice Award)
• Sanitation Investment Tracker tracks investment and expenditure in sanitation at the household level.
• SunClean teaches sanitary and hygienic behavior through games for children.
• Taarifa enables citizen reporting and tracks decision-makers’ feedback.
• Toilight finds toilets in a smart and easy way.

For more information on the apps click on the video links above or go here.

The Grand Prize Award winners will be announced on April 19, on the eve of the World Bank’s Spring Meetings.

Source: SanHack Team, SanitationHackathon.org, 22 Mar 2013

Sanitation and nutrition

In the scramble for attention in post-2015 development agenda discussions, WaterAid and the SHARE programme are highlighting the role of WASH in combating malnutrition. “A successful global effort to tackle under-nutrition must include WASH” is the headline in their new briefing note.

Mentioned in the note, and of special interest, is the forthcoming Cochrane review on “Interventions to improve water quality and supply, sanitation and hygiene practices, and their effects on the nutritional status of children” (DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD009382).

In the wake of the WaterAid/SHARE briefing note, a new World Bank report on sanitation and stunting [1] is “getting a lot of attention from our nutrition colleagues”, says Eddy Perez of the Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) in an email.

New study analyzes options for wastewater treatment in Lower Egypt

New study analyzes options for wastewater treatment in Lower Egypt

Source: Daily News Egypt – February 24, 2012

CAIRO: Egypt has made good progress towards increasing access to sanitation in urban areas but access to waste water treatment in rural areas lags far behind, a recent study showed.

The World Bank and the University of Leeds launched a new study in Cairo that analyzed the cost-effectiveness of a range of investment options for wastewater treatment in terms of the relative health benefits these are likely to generate for downstream farmers and consumers.

The study [1], conducted by the University of Leeds, UK, in partnership with the World Bank and the Holding Company for Water and Waste Water, discussed the benefits of differing strategies for Wastewater Management in Lower Egypt using Quantitative Microbial Risk Analysis (QMRA).

“The study, which we are presenting today, discusses the selection of efficient and effective treatment technologies and would be a useful input to policy makers in the sanitation and health sectors in Egypt,” said David Craig, the World Bank Country Director for Egypt, Yemen and Djibouti.

Rates of sewerage connection in rural Egypt remained at only 18 percent in 2008. There is substantial evidence that informal discharges of untreated domestic wastewater in agricultural channels is widespread – and it is not surprising given the lack of facilities for collection and safe disposal of wastewater from household vaults.

The high rate of informal reuse of agricultural drainage water means that these wastewater discharges have a significant negative health impact. Domestic waste has significant potential as an input to agriculture and can be safely used as fertilizer if appropriately treated and regulated.

Many technologies exist, and indeed, simple improvements to existing domestic sanitary facilities could have significant benefits at a relatively low cost. The challenge is to work out what investment strategies make the most sense in terms of delivering a good service to citizens, protecting health and promoting agricultural efficiencies at the most efficient price.

The World Bank has been supporting Egypt’s reforms in the water supply and sanitation sector and continues to support improved access to sustainable rural sanitation services in Egypt, given its strong linkages to health and environment.

[1] Evans, B. and Iyer, P., 2012. Estimating relative benefits of differing strategies for management of wastewater in Lower Egypt using quantitative microbial risk analysis (QMRA). Washington, DC, World Bank Water Partnership Program, World Bank. viii, 36 p. Download report

India – Government funds for sanitation inadequate, private sector should pool in

by Anupam Tyagi, Economic Times – Feb 9, 2012

More people die from inadequate sanitation-related causes in India everyday than 10 aeroplanes filled with 200 people each. This has high economic costs. Therefore, achieving adequate sanitation is an imperative.

A summary of the report on economic impacts of inadequate sanitation in India, released on December 20, 2011, by Water and Sanitation Program (WSP) of the World Bank, shows that lack of adequate sanitation in India resulted in an annual loss of $53.8 billion ($161 billion in purchasing power parity, or PPP) or $48 per capita ($144 in PPP) in 2006, the year of evaluation in the report. This was equivalent to 6.4% of GDP in 2006. 

Most of these losses were related to health (71.7%; $38.5 billion), and mostly concentrated in children below five years. Other quantified economic losses from inadequate sanitation in this report relate to getting access to cleaner drinking water, time losses from not having access to sanitation, and tourism-related losses.