Faecal Sludge Management

It is estimated that literally billions of residents in urban and peri-urban areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America are served by onsite sanitation systems (e.g. various types of latrines and septic tanks). Until recently, the management of faecal sludge from these onsite systems has been grossly neglected, partially as a result of them being considered temporary solutions until sewer-based systems could be implemented. However, the perception of onsite or decentralized sanitation technologies for urban areas is gradually changing, and is increasingly being considered as long-term, sustainable options in urban areas, especially in low- and middle-income countries that lack sewer infrastructures. This is the first book dedicated to faecal sludge management. It compiles the current state of knowledge of the rapidly evolving field of faecal sludge management, and presents an integrated approach that includes technology, management, and planning based on Sandecs 20 years of experience in the field. Faecal Sludge Management: Systems Approach for Implementation and Operation addresses the organization of the entire faecal sludge management service chain, from the collection and transport of sludge, and the current state of knowledge of treatment options, to the final end use or disposal of treated sludge. The book also presents important factors to consider when evaluating and upscaling new treatment technology options. The book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students, and engineers and practitioners in the field who have some basic knowledge of environmental and/or wastewater engineering. Authors: Linda Strande,Eawag, Switzerland, Mariska Ronteltap, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands and Damir Brdjanovic, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands

It is estimated that literally billions of residents in urban and peri-urban areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America are served by onsite sanitation systems (e.g. various types of latrines and septic tanks). Until recently, the management of faecal sludge from these onsite systems has been grossly neglected, partially as a result of them being considered temporary solutions until sewer-based systems could be implemented. However, the perception of onsite or decentralized sanitation technologies for urban areas is gradually changing, and is increasingly being considered as long-term, sustainable options in urban areas, especially in low- and middle-income countries that lack sewer infrastructures. This is the first book dedicated to faecal sludge management. It compiles the current state of knowledge of the rapidly evolving field of faecal sludge management, and presents an integrated approach that includes technology, management, and planning based on Sandecs 20 years of experience in the field. Faecal Sludge Management: Systems Approach for Implementation and Operation addresses the organization of the entire faecal sludge management service chain, from the collection and transport of sludge, and the current state of knowledge of treatment options, to the final end use or disposal of treated sludge. The book also presents important factors to consider when evaluating and upscaling new treatment technology options. The book is designed for undergraduate and graduate students, and engineers and practitioners in the field who have some basic knowledge of environmental and/or wastewater engineering.

Faecal Sludge and Septage Treatment confronts the urgent need to treat increasing volumes of faecal sludge and septage in the rapidly expanding towns and cities of the global south. It discusses the urban contexts that influence treatment requirements and the overall septage treatment processes.

Over the past few years on-site sanitation has been widely promoted as a solution which can be quickly implemented to address sanitation issues, and it is gaining traction. As such, treatment of the contents emptied from on-site containments has become a pressing issue. While dedicated treatment facilities for this purpose have been advocated, co-treating these wastes in sewage treatment facilities is a promising option, which many countries have implemented or are exploring. This option maximises the utilisation of city infrastructure. In cases where the existing sewage treatment facilities are underutilised, co-treatment presents a ready solution for managing fecal sludge and septage. In spite of co-treatment being a well-known practice in many countries, it remains clouded in uncertainty, especially regarding the technical advisability, and potential risks of co-treating fecal sludge or septage in sewage treatment plants. Planners and decision-makers are often very apprehensive in considering co-treatment. As a result, the opportunity to better utilise available infrastructure for co-treatment of sludge is often being missed. Meanwhile, there are also many cases where co-treatment has been tried, either successfully or otherwise, but it has not been possible to draw conclusions from these, to guide the way forward. This guide book explores some of the basic principles behind sewage treatment, and how it may be impacted by co-treatment of wastes from on-site containments, to try to throw some light on how co-treatment could be considered, in an incremental manner, recognising risks and mitigating them. It is intended to facilitate a better understanding among planners, engineers, decision makers and technical practitioners and to help them evaluate and consider the option of co-treatment.

The importance and need for faecal sludge management has been recognised worldwide. One major gap in developing appropriate and adequate faecal sludge treatment and monitoring techniques is the ability to understand faecal sludge characteristics, its quantification and correlation to source populations. Faecal sludge characteristics are highly variable, but as standard methods for sampling and analysis do not exist, results are not comparable and hence the actual variability is not yet fully understood. Due to the lack of standard methods for sampling and analysis of faecal sludge, standard methods from other fields such as water, wastewater and soil science are usually applied. However, these methods are not necessarily the most suitable for faecal sludge, and have not been specifically adapted for that purpose. Characteristics of faecal sludge are typically different from these other matrices by orders of magnitude. The methods for faecal sludge sampling are also greatly complicated by the wide range of technologies in each local context, and the heterogeneity within systems. Another gap in existing knowledge is how to quantify faecal sludge on a city-wide scale, or scale relevant for the design of treatment technologies. Moreover, the lack of standardisation complicates the transfer of knowledge and data between different regions and institutions as the results are not comparable. This illustrates the urgent need to establish common methods and procedures for faecal sludge characterisation and quantification. This book aims to address these challenges and provide a basis towards standardized methods for characterisation and quantification of faecal sludge from onsite sanitation technologies, including sampling techniques and health and safety procedures for faecal sludge handling. It also aims at improved communication between sanitation practitioners, comparative faecal sludge database and improved confidence in the methods and obtained results. The book will be beneficial for researchers, laboratory technicians, academics, students and sanitation practitioners.

On-site sanitation systems, such as septic tanks and pit latrines, are the predominant feature across rural and urban areas in most developing countries. However, their management is one of the most neglected sanitation challenges. While under the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the set-up of toilet systems received the most attention, business models for the sanitation service chain, including pit desludging, sludge transport, treatment and disposal or resource recovery, are only emerging. Based on the analysis of over 40 fecal sludge management (FSM) cases from Asia, Africa and Latin America, this report shows opportunities as well as bottlenecks that FSM is facing from an institutional and entrepreneurial perspective.