Faecal Sludge management

We often get asked about toilets— what is the difference between a VIP and an improved pit latrine? What is the actual technology that supports Ecological Sanitation? Good questions, and so we are introducing short videos on different types of toilets.

Manual scavenging is the most obnoxious and inhuman practice violating the dignity and human personhood of safai karmacharis. It involves the engagement or employment of sections of people to manually dispose human excreta from dry latrines with bare minimum aids such as scrappers, brooms and baskets.

Manual scavenging is integrally linked with caste system and is imposed on certain dalit sub-caste groups particularly on their women. As a result all persons engaged in manual scavenging are dalits, and of them 82% are women.

From Ludhiana: Bassi Pathana Town - Fathegar sagar district:

A Community meeting was held in Valmiki Mohalla. It was attended by local eminent persons from the community, Mr. Sardar Sukhdev Singh Jamagal - rtrd Additional Judge, Mr. Kaval Jit Singh Mattu, Advocate, Mr. Dholak Ram - and President,  Safai karmachari Union, and community leader Mr. Ram ji Lal, Govt Employee. 12 liberated SK women took the responsibility of organising a meeting in the basti with the support of committee people. They invited the community as well as general public to the meeting, where the mission, demands, SKA’s back ground were discussed and people’s views were taken.

This booklet about the work of Exnora Green Pammal (EGP), produced by UNICEF and published by the Government of Tamil Nadu,  illustrates examples of the implementation and impact of solid waste management innovations in five localities in Tamil Nadu. The solid waste management systems in these localities are widely regarded as successes that deserve replication.This document has been produced to inspire and enable more local body authorities to emulate such successes in other parts of the country.

Improving solid waste management services in India is an urgent challenge for all levels of the government. Littering and the indiscriminate disposal of solid waste are widely practiced, polluting India's air, water, soil and inhabitants. Such pollution impedes India's efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG).The nation's measures to combat malaria and other diseases (MDG 6), reduce child mortality (MDG 4), and ensure environmental sustainability (MDG 7) are all hampered by the unsightly and unhygienic conditions created by the accumulation of waste.{C}

This manual has been prepared by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), a department under the Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) and aims at meeting the professional needs of practising engineers dealing with the sanitation sector in the country, that focuses on achieving the goal of 'sanitation for all' within a reasonable timeframe.

The manual  is a revised version of the earlier one, which was developed in 1977 and was widely used by field engineers engaged in sewerage and sewage treatment. However, a need was felt to revise and update the earlier manual taking into consideration the advancement in technology.

This document is an educational booklet on sanitation and hygiene published by Utthan, which works towards empowering women's groups to seek clean and adequate quality of water for all.

The booklet includes the details of seven steps that can be undertaken to attain sanitation and hygiene. The details have been explained in a manner that is simple and understandable and includes illustrations that are self explanatory and easy to follow.

The seven steps include:

1. Use and protection of water sources
2. Managing drinking water

The Big Necessity - The unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters By Rose George

Prakash Kumar, an ecological sanitation consultant with UNICEF/Stockholm Institute provides an update on some recent work on ecological sanitation in India:

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1. We are in the process of supporting I I T Delhi for nutrient recovery project for developing complete process for converting liquid urine in to the crystalline form.
2. We are in the final stage of supporting SCOPE for demonstration of ecosan toilet in a govt. middle school at Musiri, Trichy.
3. Comprehensive evaluation of Tamilnadu ecosan project will be taken up shortly.
4. Last batch of training of CCDU officials have been completed . This year total 5 batches got training on ecosan.

 Biome Solutions, a Bangalore-based company working on sustainable architecture and buildings visited some flood affected areas in Guntur to observe the situation and see the suitability of applying "Ecological Sanitation", a new approach to sanitation. (Search on India Water Portal for "Ecological sanitation" for more information on this). Their report  after their travels can be seen below.

A point of interest is the picture of a flooded toilet. Pit toilets which are the norm in rural areas have the disadvantage that during floods the pit below the toilet (where the human waste accumulates over time) gets flooded and the toilet becomes unusable. The faecal matter can come out of the toilet pan and create a real mess which needs to be cleaned up. 

Read their report at: 

http://biomesolutions.blogspot.com/2009/10/visit-to-flood-affected-areas-in-guntur.html

This status report prepared by Development Alternatives contains brief background information about the Bundelkhand region, details about the physical profle (topography, drainage and river systems, land usage, climate, rainfall), water resources information (water demand, availability, supply and accessibility) and information on sanitation practices (toilets, personal  hygiene, solid waste management, liquid waste disposal, availability of water for sanitation).