Affordable Sanitation Research Articles

The challenges of providing safe sanitation as a public good in DKI Jakarta

The crucial role of wastewater management contributes to the need for full government support. The impact of water pollution is a significant challenge to human health and well-being, which is one of the priorities of sustainable development, namely achieving universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and sanitation by 2030. DKI Jakarta is one of the major Indonesian cities facing Domestic Wastewater Management System (SPALD) challenges. This study used a constructivist paradigm and a qualitative approach. The data was gathered through field research and Focused Group Discussion. This study aims to analyze the challenges in providing safe sanitation as a public good in DKI Jakarta. This study has shown that PD PAL Jaya, SPALD operator in DKI Jakarta, has encountered several challenges, including the challenge of constructing the infrastructure due to the absence of the SPALD pipeline network in City Planning. Lack of private sector investment and insufficient state/local budget support slow progress in improving sanitation infrastructure. Public apathy concerning wastewater management problems and believing that this problem should require government interference also exacerbate the government’s challenge. Consider their characteristics as public services; government intervention is critical to ensure that these services are delivered safely and adequately.

Drivers of change in urban water and wastewater tariffs

AbstractWater and wastewater tariffs constitute a primary avenue for utilities to generate revenue towards covering the costs associated with water and wastewater service provisions. In the pursuit of achieving global access to safe and affordable water and sanitation, utilities and governments play an important role in regulating and setting combined tariffs, so that they are able to fund the necessary infrastructure while at the same time ensuring that tariffs do not impede on the ability of consumers to access these services. From a survey of 568 cities across 192 countries, this paper examines the main economic and financial drivers of change to regional urban water and wastewater tariffs from 2018 to 2019. Historically, the average global price for water and wastewater services increased from US$ 1.70/m3 in 2011 to US$ 2.16/m3 in 2019, equating to an annual rise in the mean global combined water tariff of ∼3.4%. The analysis indicates that for the studied regions, the financial and economic costs associated with recurring droughts, old infrastructure, subsidy cuts, increasing energy costs and a shift to alternative water resources such as desalination all contribute to changes in tariffs. Further research on the social and political drivers of change in tariffs is needed, in order to provide a holistic understanding of the balance required to be struck between the objectives of affordability and cost-recovery for achieving global access to water and sanitation.

Assessing the Demand for Plastic Latrine Slabs in Rural Kenya.

.Improving access to safe and affordable sanitation facilities is a global health priority that is essential for meeting the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. To promote the use of improved sanitation in rural and low-income settings, plastic latrine slabs provide a simple option for upgrading traditional pit latrines. The International Finance Corporation/World Bank Selling Sanitation program estimated that plastic slabs would have a 34% annual growth, with a market size of US$2.53 million in Kenya by 2017. In this study, we examined the commercial viability of these plastic latrine slabs in rural Kenya by evaluating a financing and distribution model intervention, documenting household slab sales to date, and assessing consumer exposure and perceptions. We also determined household willingness to pay through a real-money auction with 322 households. We found that no households in our study area had purchased the plastic slabs. The primary barriers to slab sales were limited marketing activities and low demand compared with the sales price: households were willing to pay an average of US$5 compared with a market price of US$16. Therefore, current household demand for the plastic latrine slabs in rural Kenya is too low to support commercial distribution. Further efforts are required to align the price of plastic latrine slabs with consumer demand in this setting, such as additional demand creation, product financing, and public sector investment.

Challenges faced by women entrepreneurs in their efforts towards poverty reduction in Mukuru Kwa Njenga; Embakasi East Constituency, Nairobi, Kenya

This study explored the challenges faced by women entrepreneurs and their effects on poverty reduction. The study focused on women entrepreneurs living in Mukuru Kwa Njenga, a slum within Embakasi East Constituency of Nairobi County; Kenya. It gave attention to women entrepreneurship as a vehicle towards women empowerment; these two concepts in the development of women were explored. Studies show that the majority of the world’s poor people are women and especially those living in the slums. According to a report done on women empowerment by Care International in 2012, of the 1.3 billion people who live in absolute poverty around the globe, 70% are women. The paradox however is that women empowerment efforts, conferences, and declarations have been ongoing since the 1970s with the aim of improving the well-being of women all over the world. Yet women live in poverty. This study sought to address this gap by drawing an understanding as to the challenges that vulnerable women face while enhancing their economic empowerment and that of their households. The study targeted 66 women within five self-help groups in Mukuru Kwa Njenga because these groups bring women together towards the cause of self-empowerment. All 66 women targeted operated small-scale enterprises referred to as Jua Kali enterprises that are run by the side of the road, and with no permanent business structure. A mixed methods research design incorporating both qualitative and quantitative research methods was used. Drawing from the research findings, business skills training is not a challenge faced by women entrepreneurs in Mukuru however they lack assets (68%) and business financing (62%) to grow their businesses which tend to have a one year life span. Other challenges include domestic violence, limited access to affordable health care services, poor drainage, and sanitation within the slum, lack of a conducive market space among others. Keywords: Women Entrepreneurship, Women Empowerment, Poverty Reduction, Slums DOI : 10.7176/DCS/9-6-10 Publication date :June 30 th 2019

URBAN INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECTS AND CHALLENGES, RISK IDENTIFYING FOR EMERGING NEW CITIES OF NEPAL

Nepal is beautiful country. According to new geographical structure there are six metropolitan cities, eleven sub-metropolitan cities. Seventeen cities are already urbanized and two hundred and seventy-six municipalities are also newly emerging cities. The objective of this research is mainly urban infrastructure development, its challenges, explore the problems, identify defective coordination within the interdisciplinary ministry, suggest for integrated infrastructure, to aware risk factors associated during urban infrastructures. The methodology adopted was according to various literature reviews and surveys conducted on the sport. Respondent were selected from concerned authorities, this research shows everyone want affordable housing, public hospital, school, college, university, drinking water, communication, drain and sanitation facilities and wide road are prime needs. It was found the defective procurement policy including various risk factors, a lack of adequate government’s act with necessary policies, vision of leader is not globally thinking and locally acting, human resource is not compatible, the poor performance of contactor and consultant, project manager is not being professional and allocating budget is not enough, since one authority built, immediately other authority dig the trench. if government started integrated urban infrastructure projects would better for future and proper risk management plan needs to establish.

Pro-poor governance in water and sanitation service delivery: evidence from Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water surveys.

The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) for water and sanitation seeks to achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water and access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene. This article examines what governments are doing to achieve this, paying particular attention to actions that governments report taking to better serve the poor and other vulnerable populations (i.e. pro-poor governance). This article also assesses the extent to which, and how, UN-Water's Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking Water (GLAAS) has tracked governments' efforts to reach the poor since the inception of this global monitoring effort. This article employs qualitative document analysis and iterative coding to identify pro-poor governance themes examined in GLAAS reports from 2008 to 2016 and provides a quantitative summary of findings related to pro-poor governance from the most recent GLAAS surveys. The dimensions of pro-poor governance and number of questions related to pro-poor governance in GLAAS surveys have increased from 2008 to 2016. While the majority of countries report taking actions to promote equity, many countries did not provide information about specific actions they were taking to provide better services to the poor. Moreover, several actions countries reported taking (e.g. implementing an increasing block tariff) are likely to be ineffective. The findings of this study raise concerns about the extent to which governments are taking - or are positioned to take - effective action to meet the SDG aspiration of safe and affordable water and sanitation services for all. Without information on what countries are doing to promote equity, policy makers and researchers are unable to discern which policies are effective in different contexts.

Controlling Bacterial Pathogens in Water for Reuse: Treatment Technologies for Water Recirculation in the Blue Diversion Autarky Toilet.

The Blue Diversion AUTARKY Toilet is a urine-diverting toilet with on-site treatment. The toilet is being developed to provide a safe and affordable sanitation technology for people who lack access to sewer-based sanitation. Water used for personal hygiene, hand washing, and flushing to rinse urine- and feces-collection bowls is treated, stored, and recycled for reuse to reduce reliance on external water supplies. The system provides an opportunity to investigate hygiene of water for reuse following treatment. Treatment in the toilet includes a Biologically Activated Membrane Bioreactor (BAMBi) followed by a secondary treatment technology. To identify effective secondary treatment, three options, including granular activated carbon (GAC) only, GAC+chlorine (sodium hypochlorite), and GAC+electrolysis are considered based on the bacterial inactivation and growth inhibition efficiency. Four different hygiene-relevant bacteria are tested: Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecalis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Salmonella typhimurium. Our evaluation demonstrates that—despite treatment of water with the BAMBi—E. coli, P aeruginosa, and S. typhimurium have the potential to grow during storage in the absence of microbial competition. Including the indigenous microbial community influences bacterial growth in different ways: E. coli growth decreases but P. aeruginosa growth increases relative to no competition. The addition of the secondary treatment options considerably improves water quality. A column of GAC after the BAMBi reduces E. coli growth potential by 2 log10, likely due to the reduction of carbon sources. Additional treatments including chlorination and electrolysis provide further safety margins, with more than 5 log-10 inactivation of E. coli. However, reactivation and/or regrowth of E. coli and P. aeruginosa occurs under in the absence of residual disinfectant. Treatment including the BAMBi, GAC, and electrolysis appear to be promising technologies to control bacterial growth during storage in water intended for reuse.

Moving up the sanitation ladder with the help of microfinance in urban Malawi

Abstract We carried out a stated preference survey in Malawi to examine whether access to microfinance for sanitation would significantly increase the proportion of households upgrading to improved pit latrines or alternative improved sanitation technologies (urine diverting dry toilet, fossa alterna, pour flush). We presented a range of sanitation options at local market prices, initially without and then with a real microfinance option, to 1,300 households sampled across 27 low-income urban settlements in the two largest cities, Lilongwe and Blantyre. When we gave respondents a microfinance option, the proportion of households stating an intention to install improved and unimproved pit latrines decreased significantly, while the proportion stating an intention to upgrade to alternative improved sanitation technologies increased significantly. However, households in the lowest wealth quintile were more likely to state a preference for unimproved pit latrines, suggesting that the benefits of microfinance for sanitation may not accrue equally across wealth strata. Organisations seeking to improve access to safely managed sanitation by promoting alternative sanitation technologies would succeed if households have access to affordable alternative sanitation technologies and microfinance for sanitation. However, poorer households would need more affordable improved sanitation technologies, flexible microfinance options and possibly targeted subsidies to gain access to safely managed sanitation.

Sanitation value chains in low density settings in Indonesia and Vietnam: impetus for a rethink to achieve pro-poor outcomes

This study examined the sanitation hardware supply chain in rural, low density settings in Indonesia and Vietnam. Actual costs along the chains were investigated to understand the challenges and opportunities to support affordable sanitation in remote, rural locations. Data were collected from four remote districts in Indonesia and Vietnam through a systematic value-chain analysis comprising 378 interviews across households and supply chain actors and both quantitative and qualitative analysis. Three main findings are presented. Firstly, poor households, often located in remote areas and with lower sanitation access, often experienced higher costs to build durable latrines than households in accessible areas or district capitals. Second, locally sourced materials (sand, bricks or gravel) had a greater influence on price than externally sourced materials (cement, steel and toilet pans), even accounting for cost increases of these materials along the supply chain. Thirdly, transport and labour costs represented considerable proportions of the overall cost to build a toilet. These findings highlighted logistical and financial barriers to poor, remote households in accessing sanitation. Findings can inform strategies to improve the availability and affordability of sanitation products and services, in particular key issues that need to be addressed through government and non-government pro-poor market-based interventions.

Urine diversion dry toilets in eThekwini Municipality, South Africa: acceptance, use and maintenance through users' eyes

This study was part of the VUNA project aimed to develop an affordable sanitation system that produces a valuable fertiliser, reduces pollution of water resources and promotes health. Urine diversion dry toilets (UDDTs) simplify the on-site hygienisation of faeces and allow for nutrient recovery from urine. Social acceptance is vital for the implementation of the UDDT, because sanitation is only effective if the system not only provides a well-designed toilet and effective waste management, but also offers users a facility that caters to their needs and is sensitive to their cultural lifestyle. This study used qualitative and quantitative methods to investigate acceptance, use and maintenance of UDDTs. Key findings indicate lower levels of acceptance of UDDTs among the elderly, who are accustomed to traditional pit toilets. The users aspire to own a flush toilet, perceived to be indicative of household wealth. A dominant concern was emptying the pit and the quality of the building material. Community interventions are required that will promote acceptance, understanding and encourage proper use and maintenance of the UDDT, and may need some technology modification. There is an urgent need for increased community participation to address users’ perceptions, attitudes and behaviour concerning the UDDT.

Estimating the Cost and Payment for Sanitation in the Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya: A Cross Sectional Study.

Lack of sanitation facilities is a common occurrence in informal settlements that are common in most developing countries. One challenge with sanitation provision in these settlements is the cost and financing of sanitation. This study aimed at estimating the cost of sanitation, and investigating the social and economic dynamics within Kisumu’s informal settlements that hinder provision and uptake of sanitation facilities. Primary data was collected from residents of the settlements, and using logistic and hedonic regression analysis, we identify characteristics of residents with sanitation facilities, and estimate the cost of sanitation as revealed in rental prices. Our study finds that sanitation constitutes approximately 54% of the rent paid in the settlements; and dynamics such as landlords and tenants preferences, and sharing of sanitation facilities influence provision and payment for sanitation. This study contributes to general development by estimating the cost of sanitation, and further identifies barriers and opportunities for improvement including the interplay between landlords and tenants. Provision of sanitation in informal settlements is intertwined in social and economic dynamics, and development approaches should target both landlords and tenants, while also engaging various stakeholders to work together to identify affordable and appropriate sanitation technologies.

Towards “Sustainable” Sanitation: Challenges and Opportunities in Urban Areas

While sanitation is fundamental for health and wellbeing, cities of all sizes face growing challenges in providing safe, affordable and functional sanitation systems that are also sustainable. Factors such as limited political will, inadequate technical, financial and institutional capacities and failure to integrate safe sanitation systems into broader urban development have led to a persistence of unsustainable systems and missed opportunities to tackle overlapping and interacting urban challenges. This paper reviews challenges associated with providing sanitation systems in urban areas and explores ways to promote sustainable sanitation in cities. It focuses on opportunities to stimulate sustainable sanitation approaches from a resource recovery perspective, generating added value to society while protecting human and ecosystem health. We show how, if integrated within urban development, sustainable sanitation has great potential to catalyse action and contribute to multiple sustainable development goals.

Early testing of new sanitation technology for urban slums: The case of the Blue Diversion Toilet

The toilets used most in informal urban settlements have detrimental consequences for the environment and human health due to the lack of proper collection and treatment of toilet waste. Concepts for safe, sustainable and affordable sanitation systems exist, but their feasibility and acceptance have to be investigated at an early stage of development, which is difficult due to the high costs of building working models. In this paper, we present an approach to estimate acceptance in a valid and representative form with only one working model, and apply it to test an innovative zero-emission toilet with recycling of wash water. Four basic principles were specified for investigation and nine hypotheses formulated to test the feasibility and acceptance of these principles: source separation of urine and feces with subsequent collection for resource recovery; provision of wash water in a separate cycle with on-site recovery through a membrane bioreactor; a convenient and attractive overall design; and a financially sustainable business plan. In Kampala (Uganda), in 2013, data was collected from 22 regular users, 308 one-time users and a representative sample of 1538 participants. Qualitative data was collected from the users, who evaluated their likes, perceived benefits, social norms and expected ease of use based on verbal and visual information. Most of the hypotheses were confirmed, indicating the feasibility and acceptance of the basic principles. Source separation and on-site water recovery were found to be feasible and accepted, provided users can be convinced that the emptying service and water recovery process work reliably. In the survey, the toilet was evaluated favorably and 51% of the participants agreed to be placed on a bogus waiting list. However, some design challenges were revealed, such as the size of the toilet, hiding feces from view and improving the separation of urine and water.

The all-inclusive sustainable development goals: the WASH professional's guide (or should that be ‘nightmare’?)

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) are now upon us. An initial reaction might be ‘too little time, too much to do’. This is, of course, somewhat dangerous as it might lead some professionals, some ministries, and some governments, to decide that nothing (or, at best, not much) can be done − after all, progress towards the sanitation target of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) was weak or very weak in many developing countries (Luh & Bartram 2016). However, we, as WASH professionals, cannot think like this and we have to face the enormity of the SDG challenges head-on. And enormous these challenges most certainly are. SDG #6 is all-water embracing (United Nations General Assembly 2015a, 2015b). It includes, for example, affordable safely-managed water and sanitation, and hygiene (notably facilities for handwashing with soap, menstrual hygiene management (MHM), and food hygiene), for all − and ‘all’ really does mean ‘all’. We therefore have to include the disabled, the elderly, slum dwellers, indigenous peoples and nomads, the homeless including street children and pavement dwellers, and refugees, prisoners and detainees. We also have to address the hygienic disposal of young-child faeces. Water quality has to be improved by reducing pollution, halving the proportion of untreated wastewater, and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse. This is going to be more than a little difficult, as currently around 1.5 billion (billion = 109) people who are served by sewers do not have any wastewater treatment (Baum et al . 2013); in total some 80% of all wastewater is untreated (Corcoran et al . 2010). Next is water-use efficiency and reducing the number of people suffering from water scarcity. This will also be difficult: currently some 4 billion people live under conditions of severe water scarcity for at least 1 month of the year, …

User perceptions of and willingness to pay for household container-based sanitation services: experience from Cap Haitien, Haiti.

Household-level container-based sanitation (CBS) services may help address the persistent challenge of providing effective, affordable sanitation services for which low-income urban households are willing to pay. Little is known, however, about user perceptions of and demand for household CBS services. This study presents the results of a pilot CBS service programme in Cap Haitien, Haiti. One hundred and eighteen households were randomly selected to receive toilets and a twice-weekly collection service. After three months, changes in these households’ satisfaction with their sanitation situation, along with feelings of pride, modernity and personal safety, were compared to 248 households in two comparison cohorts. Following the service pilot, 71 per cent of participating households opted to continue with the container-based sanitation service as paying subscribers. The results from this study suggest that, in the context of urban Haiti, household CBS systems have the potential to satisfy many residents’ desire for safe, convenient and modern sanitation services.

Thermodynamic Performance of a High Efficient Power Plant Based on Faecal Biomass Gasification, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Micro Steam Turbine

Affordable sanitation around the world with the recovery of valuable energy and clean water from faecal biomass in an off-grid system is a challenge. An energy neutral sanitation system concept based on plasma gasification and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) was presented by TU Delft {Mings et al.}. The system is further optimised and novel small scale CHP toilet system concept has been developed which can generate power very efficiently and produce clean water. Pre-dryed faecal biomass, is fed to the integrated system. The system combines a dryer, a plasma gasifier, and a gas cleaning unit with an ambient pressure stack and a micro steam turbine (MST). The gasifier uses the heat supplied from the combustion of SOFC depleted fuel. With this concept syngas with high heating value can be produced, which can be efficiently converted in a SOFC system. This is reflected by the net electrical efficiency of the integrated system configuration of the order of 50%. Additional power is produced combining it with an MST and an efficiency increase of the order of 5% is achieved. Variation of the different operating conditions in the system reveals an optimum for the temperature, steam to biomass ratio and oxidant to fuel ratio in the gasifier. Furthermore, the SOFC operating temperature influences the system performance and self-sustainability. As a result, from a thermodynamic point of view it is demonstrated that a high efficiency power generation through faecal biomass can be realized. Ming Liu, T. Woudstra, E.J.O. Promes, S.Y.G. Restrepo, P.V. Aravind. System development and self-sustainability analysis for upgrading human waste to power.

Thermodynamic Performance of a High Efficient Power Plant Based on Faecal Biomass Gasification, Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Micro Steam Turbine

Affordable sanitation around the world with the recovery of valuable energy and clean water from faecal biomass in an off-grid system is a challenge. A novel small scale combined heat and power (CHP) toilet system concept has been optimized which generate power very efficiently and produce clean water. The system combines a dryer, a plasma gasifier, and a gas cleaning unit with an ambient pressure solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack and a micro steam turbine (MST). The gasifier uses additional heat supplied from the combustion of stack depleted fuel. With this concept, syngas with high heating value can be produced which can be efficiently converted in a SOFC system. This is reflected by the net electrical efficiency of the integrated system configuration of the order of 40%. Additional power is produced combining it with an MST and an efficiency increase of the order of 20% is achieved.

A value proposition: Resource recovery from faecal sludge—Can it be the driver for improved sanitation?

There is currently a lack of access to affordable sanitation in urban areas of Sub-Saharan Africa. This study evaluated the potential for resource recovery from innovative faecal sludge treatment processes to generate a profit that could help sustain the sanitation service chain. A total of 242 interviews were conducted in Accra, Ghana; Dakar, Senegal; and Kampala, Uganda to compare markets in different cultural and regional contexts. Products identified to have potential market value include dry sludge as a fuel for combustion, biogas from anaerobic digestion, protein derived from sludge processing as animal feed, sludge as a component in building materials, and sludge as a soil conditioner. The market demand and potential revenue varied from city to city based on factors such as sludge characteristics, existing markets, local and regional industrial sectors, subsidies, and locally available materials. Use as a soil conditioner, which has been the most common end use of treated sludge, was not as profitable as other end uses. These findings should help policy and decision makers of sanitation service provision to design financially viable management systems based on resource recovery options.

An affordable open-source turbidimeter.

Turbidity is an internationally recognized criterion for assessing drinking water quality, because the colloidal particles in turbid water may harbor pathogens, chemically reduce oxidizing disinfectants, and hinder attempts to disinfect water with ultraviolet radiation. A turbidimeter is an electronic/optical instrument that assesses turbidity by measuring the scattering of light passing through a water sample containing such colloidal particles. Commercial turbidimeters cost hundreds or thousands of dollars, putting them beyond the reach of low-resource communities around the world. An affordable open-source turbidimeter based on a single light-to-frequency sensor was designed and constructed, and evaluated against a portable commercial turbidimeter. The final product, which builds on extensive published research, is intended to catalyze further developments in affordable water and sanitation monitoring.

Measurement of faecal sludge in-situ shear strength and density

The provision of affordable urban sanitation presents a unique set of challenges as the lack of space and resources to construct new latrines makes it necessary to empty existing pits, typically done manually with significant health risks. Various mechanised technologies have been developed to facilitate pit emptying, which are currently either tested on faecal sludge or an ‘ad-hoc’ simulant that (in the opinion of the tester) approximately replicates the behaviour of faecal sludge. This ranges from a watery consistency in some pour-flush latrines to the strong soil found in many alternating pits, making it difficult to evaluate the effect of changes to a design, or to compare the performance of different pit-emptying technologies produced by different organisations in different countries. This study developed the portable penetrometer, a man-portable device to physically characterise pit latrine sludge through in-situ measurement of its shear strength. The machine produces continuous profiles of shear strength with depth and is capable of testing to approximately 2.5 m below the slab. The portable penetrometer was manufactured and tested in the UK, before profiling approximately 30 pits in Kampala, Uganda. The resulting data are compared to the literature on the physical properties of faecal sludge, and are found to significantly extend the measured strength range with a maximum value approximately 5 times higher than previously reported. The effect of physical remoulding is identified through comparison of data from undisturbed and remoulded strength tests and highlights the potential to increase the ‘pumpability’ of faecal sludge through in-pit fluidisation.The implications for the development of pit-emptying technologies and synthetic sludge simulants are discussed, and potential further work is identified. These include studies on factors affecting pit function and fill-up rates as well as scientific tests on the effect of modifications to latrines. In both cases any change in the physical properties of the faecal sludge can be identified through repeated profiling using the portable penetrometer. It is hoped that the penetrometer can contribute to an improved understanding of the physical properties of faecal sludge and the factors affecting pit function, supporting the development of improved faecal sludge management services.Keywords: Density, faecal sludge, pit latrine, sanitation, shear strength