Lessen Environmental Hazards and Health Impacts Promoting Septage Management in Urban Odisha

Abstract

Improper management of faecal sludge increases the environmental risks and public health burden associated with surface and groundwater contamination. Furthermore, poor sanitation has household economic burden. The National government has focused on septage management and sewage treatment in large towns. However, untreated faecal sludge generated in small towns and big cities pollute water bodies and pose public health burden. Odisha with urban population of seven million in 114 urban local bodies (ULBs) is facing challenges in implementation of faecal sludge and septage management (FSSM). FSSM has been undertaken in Odisha supported by Housing and Urban Development Department (H&UDD), Government of Odisha and implemented by the Orissa Water Supply and Sewerage Board (OWSSB). The programme is assisted by a technical support unit of Ernst and Young (EY) which receives fund from Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). The FSSM aims at improvement of the entire service components of onsite sanitation including collection, transportation, treatment of septage and their operation and management along with establishment of septage treatment plants in nine Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT) towns. In remaining 105 ULBs, efforts have been made for providing the septage collection and transportation service through cesspool emptier vehicles and treatment in deep row entrenchments. The H&UDD have provided 86 new cesspool trucks of 3 KL capacity to 57 ULBs. Total 123 cesspool trucks were provided previously for effective sludge transportation at the ULBs. To reach the inaccessible septic tanks, government is planning to procure small cesspool vehicles, to reduce non-mechanised emptying operation. The government has roped in private operators for operation and maintenance of cesspool trucks to enhance public–private partnership. Curbing the faecal sludge contamination can bring about a change in the health indicators thus reducing burden on the households and government.