Why faecal sludge management matters and what needs to be done to serve poor communities better

This paper outlines findings and recommendations of a faecal sludge management (FSM) study in 12 cities, and looks at the need for FSM in poor communities. The study used secondary data from 12 cities in low and middle-income countries, to assess the institutional context and estimate outcomes in terms of safely managed faecal sludge. None of the cities managed faecal sludge effectively, although performance varied. Where the cities do address faecal sludge the solutions are partial, and tend to focus on sewerage systems which serve a minority. FSM requires strong city-level oversight and an enabling environment that drives coordinated actions along the sanitation service chain; and this was largely absent. This paper also looks at the sanitation services used by poor people and the FSM services they need, to provide an understanding of priority FSM challenges and as a means to identify solutions

Estimating safely managed sanitation in urban areas; lessons learned from a global implementation of excreta-flow diagrams

The urban population will rise to 6.7 billion by 2050. The United Nations has committed to provide everyone with safely managed sanitation, but there is limited understanding of the scale of the challenge. This paper describes a methodology for rapid assessment of sanitation in cities including a graphical representation (a shit-flow diagram or SFD) and reports on findings from implementation in 39 cities. The SFD provides high level information for planning purposes covering the entire sanitation system in a city. More than half of the human excreta produced in these cities is not safely managed. The most significant portions of the unsafely managed excreta are: (i) contents of pits and tanks which are not emptied and are overflowing, leaking, or discharging to the surrounding environment (14%); (ii) contents of pits and tanks which are emptied but not delivered to treatment (18%); (iii) fecal sludge and supernatant delivered to treatment but not treated (3%); (iv) wastewater in sewers not delivered to treatment (14%); and (v) wastewater delivered to treatment but not treated (6%). Many cities currently relying on onsite sanitation for safe storage, particularly in Africa, will need new strategies as populations grow. Containment systems that discharge to open drains are common in some Asian cities; these pose a public health risk. Dumping of excreta is widespread and there is a lack of realistic performance data on which estimates of the extent and effectiveness of treatment can be made. The SFD production process can be challenging due to a lack of data and low technical capacity in cities. There is often uncertainty over terminology and over the status of infrastructure. Formalizing definitions for the SFD preparation process was found to be useful in overcoming capacity constraints in cities. The SFD produces a credible snapshot of the sanitation situation in a city. The paper provides evidence of the urgent need for improved management and monitoring of urban sanitation in cities around the world and highlights the role of the SFD as a planning tool