Ecological Sanitation
Paradigm shift from conventional to sustainable sanitation. |
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The conventional centralised systems, based on flush toilets and central collection of bulk water by sewer systems have been effectively applied in developed countries with high technical and economical capacity for annual investment. However, their sustainability even for industrial countries is questionable, as most treatment plants and sewer systems require large inputs of energy and involve huge investment and maintenance costs, whilst at the same time they are not planned for reuse of water and nutrients.
Source: Werner et al (2004) |
Developing countries generally do not have the financial, technical, or institutional resources to keep pace with increasing pollution and the parallel need to improve environmental sanitation services (Kalbermatten et al., 1999). Therefore, the application of such centralised systems in poor nations is unaffordable, bringing as a consequence that over 90% of the sewage in developing countries is discharged untreated into surface waters, polluting rivers, lakes and coastal areas, and thus causing the spread of "waterborne" diseases. |
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In India sewerage system covers up to 80% of class I cities and 40% in class II cities. Only about 30% of domestic sewage collected is treated. About 29000 MLD of domestic sewage is generated in urban India (CPCB, 2001 statistics). Furthermore, more than 650 Million inhabitants do not have access to adequate sanitation at all. This insufficient or even non-existing management of municipal and industrial wastewater results in immense environmental problems and increasing hygienic risks for the growing urban population, thereby hampering poverty alleviation and sustainable development of the Indian society. In order to achieve the Millennium Developing Goals in India, approximately 82,000 people need to be provided with sanitation facilities every day in India (Panse, 2006 from WHO statistics). It is simply impossible that this huge demand can be met by conventional sanitation systems, not only because the enormous costs involved, but also because of the serious environmental drawbacks |
A paradigm shift from conventional solutions to more ecological approaches is therefore of paramount importance to cope with this situation. |
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| Definition of ecological sanitation |
| What is sanitation? |
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Scavenging is the demeaning practice of manual cleaning of human excreta from service/dry latrines. |
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Services Overview
Training Services Education on ecosan by ESF is to enable the people to develop, plan and implement eco-sanitation systems that are hygienically safe, socially acceptable, economically feasible, environmentally sound and technically appropriate.
Promotional Activities ESF partners different organizations in bringing sanitation to limelight, and thus giving true meaning to the word advocacy - “the process of managing information and knowledge strategically to change and/or influence policies and practices that affect the lives of people – particularly the disadvantaged”.
ProjectsThe concept behind ecological sanitation (ecosan) is that sanitation problems could be solved more sustainable and efficiently if the resources contained in excreta and wastewater were recovered and used rather than discharged into the water bodies and the surrounding environment.
Consulting ServicesThe Consulting unit has the mission of supporting individuals, industrial, commercial, residential, educational and governmental partners with the implementation of ecological sanitation systems to manage communal water in their premises.
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