feces management usage écologique sustainable sanitation p r a c t i c e eco san club 22010

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Sustainable Sanitaon Pracce Issue 13/20121

Sustainable Sanitation

P r a c t i c e

Issue 13, 10/2012

Faecal Sludge Management partner of:


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mailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://www.ecosan.at/


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http://www.ecosan.at/ssphttp://www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustriahttp://www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitationPracticemailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://www.ecosan.at/ssphttp://www.waterbiotech.eu/


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Key facts:

The situaon of faecal sludge management in 3 cies in Bangladesh (Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur) has been

analysed

Most households rely on simple pits, VIPs and sepc tanks.

Manual emptying is predominant in all 3 cies.

Only Dhaka has a designated area for disposal of faecal sludge, however, treatment for faecal sludge is providedin none of the cies

In general there is a big lack of faecal sludge management in Bangladesh


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diarrhoeal morbidity by 36 per cent (Carr 2001). A meta-

analysis of 25 studies which invesgated the associaon

between sewerage and diarrhoea or related outcomes,

including presence of intesnal nematodes show that

sewerage systems typically reduce diarrhoea incidence by

about 30 per cent or perhaps as much as 60 per cent when

starng sanitaon condions are very poor (Norman,Pedley and Takkouche 2010). However, as most of the

developing countries are sll struggling to gain universal

sanitaon coverage; they are yet to put adequate

emphasis on this important environmental need. This

paper provides evidence from three cies of Bangladesh

where in an absence of safe emptying, transportaon

and treatment facilies, most faecal sludge re-enters the

environment with full potenal for harming public health.

Sanitaon context in Bangladesh

Sanitaon is sll one of the biggest challenges for

Bangladesh although it has made some good progress in

increasing sanitaon coverage over the past years. A well-

coordinated eort by the government, non-government

development agencies and other development partners as

well as the introducon of the innovave Community-led

Total Sanitaon approaches have made it possible to bring

down the proporon of open defecaon from 43 % in

2003 (SACOSAN 2008) to 4.4 % of the populaon in 2011

(BBS, 2011). Despite this signicant gain, the challenge

sll remains high as about half of the populaon do not

have access to safe sanitaon (BBS and Unicef, 2010). This

report suggests that only about 54 % of the populaon has

access to improved sanitaon facilies which eliminate

the potenal for contact with human faecal maer, largelythrough water seals in toilets. Besides, 25 % and over

15 %t of the populaon has access to shared latrines and

unimproved sanitaon facilies (largely open pit latrines)

respecvely.

Faecal sludge management scenario in Bangladesh

No formal FS management system exits in Bangladesh.

The only treatment plant exists in Dhaka was constructed

in 1980 by DWASA (Dhaka Water Supply and Sewerage

Authority) and was upgraded in 1992 has a treang

capacity up to 1.25 million m3 of sewage and has 4 sludge

lagoons for the treatment of sludge produced by theplant. The sewerage network in the city serves the need

of around 20 % of sewage generated in the city (Rahman

2009) and only 1 % of the sludge generated in the country.

This means that 99 % of the sludge generated throughout

the country remains untreated, most of which goes

directly to the surface water.

Emptying in urban and rural areas is overwhelmingly

done by the manual sweepers. Two NGOs in Dhaka and

three other Municipalies provide pit emptying service

through vacu-tug machines. However, their service is

constrained by a number of factors. The manual emptying

is most hazardous as the sweepers usually do not use

anything other than some buckets and a plasc drum for

transport. These manual sweepers do not even use hand

gloves to avoid contact with sludge. In few instances, they

use pump machines to pump out liquids from the sepc

tank or pit and then manually empty the remaining solid

manually. This saves me but the liquid is usually pumped

out to nearby drains, cannels or water-bodies. Thus, the

method is extremely harmful for both the emper andthe environment.

The limited mechanical emptying systems available in

few cies, other than Dhaka, are not ecient enough

and not a popular opon although considering the

market size (described in a later secon), they have

huge potenal. In an absence of a proper dumping site

for faecal sludge and treatment facilies, emptying and

transportaon through this system have only limited

benets. In the end, collected sludge through this system

is dumped into open drains, canal and water-bodies. On

the other hand, the NGO-run emptying service is Dhaka

is environmentally sound since the collected sludge is putinto the sewer lines which then end up in the treatment

plant. However, since a high number of sepc tanks in

Dhaka are connected illegally with the storm sewerage

or other drainage systems, there is not much demand for

the service provided by the NGOs.

The study and the methodology

This study was conducted in three cies in Bangladesh:

Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur, provides analysis of

household level pracces, preferences and aspiraons

of sludge management. Dhaka accommodates morethan one-third of the total urban populaon and about

9 % of the total populaon of the country. Although, the

average income is high in Dhaka, in absolute terms, a

large number of people remain poor. Slums house nearly

one-third of all residents of Dhaka and they connue to

absorb most of the new migrants (Islam 2005). Khulna is

the third largest city in Bangladesh. The populaon of the

city was esmated to be around 1.2 million in 2009 and

populaon density was 21000 per km. In Faridpur a total

of 135,837 people live in an area of 22.39 km. The city

is considered to be a high density city with an esmated

growth rate of over 3.91 per cent annually. About 10 % of

the city dwellers live in slums and squaer selements inthe city.

Data was collected during June to September 2011.

Stascally representave samples were drawn randomly

in Khulna and Faridpur cies. In Dhaka, sepc tanks and

pits in the whole city do not require emptying as they are

either covered by the sewerage networks or connected to

the storm drainage or other drainage systems. Therefore,

sample households were drawn from several pockets

areas mainly in the fringe of the city which require

emptying. A total sample of 467 household for Dhaka, 395

households for Faridpur and 358 households for Khulnawere selected and interviewed using a semi-structured

quesonnaire. In addion, relevant stakeholders were

Faecal sludge management in Bangladesh


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consulted, secondary data were reviewed, pits and

sepc tanks emptying work were shadowed to generate

accurate informaon.

Results and analysis

Latrine technology and usage pracces

In Khulna, most household latrines have sepc tanks and

the number of pits is much less compared to the other

two cies. In Faridpur and Dhaka cies, the distribuon of

sepc tanks, pits and VIPs is almost equal (Figure 1).

Probably because of less land availability, the size of sepc

tanks and pits is smallest in Dhaka compared to the other

two cies. Average size of sepc tank is biggest (19.8 m3)

in Faridpur. The size of the pits is also biggest in Faridpurcompared to the other two cies (Table 1).

Table 1: Average size of sepc tanks and pits (in m3)

Tank type Dhaka Khulna Faridpur

Sepc tank 13.7 14.4 19.8

Pit 2.5 3.1 3.3

Access type of toilet

Households predominantly use personal toilets (Table2). In Khulna, the higher percentage of households use

shared latrines. In some low income housing complexes,

mulple families share a latrine. On the other hand,

community latrines are mainly constructed by the NGOs

in low income selements which are usually used by an

average of 20 families.

Table 2: Access types of toilets (in %)

Access typeCity

Dhaka Faridpur Khulna

Personal 22.9 84.1 62.0

Joint 73.4 15.7 36.9

Community 3.7 0.2 1.1

The average number of households

sharing a latrine is much higher in

Dhaka compared to the other two

cies. Average 7.6 households

share a latrine in Dhaka while

3.4 households share a toilet inFaridpur and 5.7 households per

toilet in Khulna. However, the

average user per sepc tank/pit

is much higher in all the cies;

31.5, 14.8 and 7.2 respecvely in

Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur cies.

The dierence between the user

numbers in latrines and sepc tank/pit is mainly because

in slum selements several toilets share a common

sepc tank/pit.

Emptying methods

In all three cies, manual emptying is the predominant

pracce (Table 3). Compared to the other two cies,

a higher percentage of households use mechanical

emptying in Dhaka parcularly because collected sludge

cannot be dumped randomly in the slum selements in

Dhaka due to community pressure. Thats why people

prefer mechanical emptying so that sludge can be

transported outside the neighbourhood. Mechanical

emptying service is comparavely easily available in

Dhaka being provided by two NGOs that also have other

WaSH programmes in many of the studied slums. In the

other two cies, this frequency is much less. Parcularlyin Khulna, only 2 % of the households empty their pits

or sepc tanks mechanically. There is another opon

whereby empers use pump machines to drain out the

liquid part from the tank rst and then empty the solid

part manually but this is seldom pracced.

Table 3: Methods of emptying (in %)

Method of

emptyingDhaka Khulna Faridpur

Manual 69.4 96.3 86

Mechanical 30.1 2.0 13

Semi-mechanical 0.5 1.7 1

Emptying frequency

In Dhaka, most households emped their tanks or pits

at least once while this is much lower in Faridpur. This

is probably correlated to the size of tanks/pits and

number of users per toilet. Tank and pit sizes were higher

in Faridpur and lower in Dhaka. Again, frequency of

emptying is also higher in Dhaka probably for the same

reason. More than a quarter of the tanks/pits have to be

emped more than once a year in Dhaka (Table 4).


Figure 1: Latrine technologies


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Table 4: Frequency of emptying (in %)

Emptying Dhaka Khulna Faridpur

Emped at least once 92.5 83.0 77.0

Never emped 7.5 17.0 23.0

Emptying frequency

2-3 mes / year 26.3 6.8 13.2

Once per year 4.9 0.0 2.6

Once every 2 years 29.3 16.7 23.8



Between 5 - 10 years 13.6 35.0 26.2

Over 10 years 3.5 18.0 10.6

In choosing a parcular emptying process, most people

consider the ease of availing of the service. For otherpeople, the choice depends on a combinaon of factors,

such as cost, exibility of ming and ease of availing of

the service. All these factors favour manual emptying.

Therefore it is likely that most people use a manual

emptying service (Table 5).

Table 5: Reasons of choosing a parcular type of

emptying

Factors of choice %

Cheap 23.8

Easy to avail 75.0

Flexible ming 10.0

Personally known 6.4

On the other hand, accessing mechanical emptying

services from the municipality in the case of Khulna

and Faridpur cies is quite a lengthy and bureaucrac

process. If someone choses to use the service of a

municipality, he has to go to the municipality to collect

a form, ll and submit it to the appropriate department.

He will then be given a date of inspecon by the

Municipality. It usually takes 2/3 days to get this date.

The purpose of this inspecon is to assess the size of thetank and distance of disposal site to x the rate. Once

the rate is xed, he then has to deposit the money to

get the date of the work. It usually takes about a week

to complete this processing. Most people usually decide

to empty their tank once it is overowing. Therefore,

they cannot wait for so long to use the service of the

municipality. As a result, even though some people

know about the availability of this service they avoid

it. On the other hand, in Dhaka city, most interviewed

households who used manual emptying do not know

about the availability of mechanical emptying services

provided by the NGOs. None the NGOs providing thisservice do any markeng about it.

Emptying fees

Quite naturally, the cost of manual emptying is

comparavely low. As presented in Table 6, mean

cost of manual emptying was US$ 17.1, US$ 14.3 and

US$ 12.6 in Dhaka, Khulna and Faridpur respecvely.

Cost of mechanical and manual emptying is almost

same in Dhaka. This is due to the fact that in Dhakathe mechanical service is provided by the non-prot

organisaons at a subsidised rate. The cost of manual

emptying is comparavely high in Dhaka because of

higher transportaon cost. In Khulna and Faridpur

cies, the cost of mechanical emptying is about three

mes higher than the cost of manual emptying. In

these two cies, although the services are provided by

the Municipalies on no-prot basis, the cost for the

households is higher due to corrupon by the emptying

sta.

Table 6: Expense of emptying and transportaon (in

US$)

Methods Dhaka Khulna Faridpur

Manual 17.08 14.33 12.60

Mechanical 17.26 39.52 37.52

Semi-mechanical 5.71 17.14 10.71

Willingness to pay for improved service

It is not very surprising that most people in all three cies

are willing to pay to improve the prevailing situaon of

faecal sludge emptying and disposal services (Table 7).

In terms of money, the amount they could aord to

pay is not very high the average monthly amount a

household could aord to pay is about US$ 1.

Table 7: Willingness to pay for improved service (in %)

Willingness to

payDhaka Khulna Faridpur

Yes 71.3 80.3 71.8

No 28.7 19.7 28.2

Desnaon of sludge

It is a great environmental concern that in most cases,

collected sludge is not managed in an environmentally

safe way. Sludge is released randomly (here and there)

or dumped into open drains or water-bodies which

contaminate surface water. In 18.2 % of the cases in

Faridpur, 30.6 % of the cases in Dhaka and 24.5 % in

Khulna, collected sludge is dumped in a parcular place

which is a designated site to dump solid waste. But in

no cases does this prevent sludge from contaminang

surface water (Figure 2).


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Public awareness

Although collected sludge oen goes into open, most

people stated that they are aware of its negaveconsequences. In Dhaka, more than 60 % of the

respondents expressed their concern that pung

sludge here and there contaminates water, aects

human health and has negave consequences on

environment in general. In the other two cies, although

this percentage is lower compared to Dhaka, there is

certain level of awareness among people about negave

consequences of this act (Table 8).

Table 8: Views about the consequences of sludge

disposal (in %)

Parameters Dhaka Khulna FaridpurContaminate

water60.2 43.5 27.1

Human health 61.0 42.5 29.6

Environment 63.6 47.6 39.1

Demand vs. Supply of service provision

In the absence of any sewerage network or drainage

system, Khulna and Faridpur have relavely larger

markets for emptying and treatment service provision

compared to Dhaka. Dhaka has a sewerage network and

a treatment plant which covers approximately 20 % of

the total sludge generated in the city. Although there is

no study available; however, it is esmated that nearly

70 % pits/sepc tanks in the areas that are not under

sewerage coverage in Dhaka are connected to storm

drainage system or other type of drains. These tanks

and pits do not require any emptying service. As such,

eecve demand for on-site sanitaon is quite low (only

about 10 %, as shown in the table below) compared to

the sludge generaon in Dhaka. On the other hand, as

shown in Table 9, coverage under OSS in Khulna andFaridpur is 98.2 % and 98.5 % respecvely which demand

emptying, safe transpiraon and treatment. Therefore,

it is assumed that both the cies have high demand

of improved and aordable service. This demand is

growing rapidly with the growth of populaon.


Figure 2: Desnaon of sludge

Table 9: Demand esmaon for on-site sanitaon in 3 cies

Descripon Unit Dhaka Khulna Faridpur

Market size:

Total populaon (in 2011) Number 15,018,594 1,728,760 146,667

Total Household (in 2011) Number 3,337,470 384,169 24,840Producon of Faecal Sludge

Total producon of FS* m3 2,740,893 315,499 26,767

Coverage under sewerage system % 20.0 0.0 0.0

Coverage under drainage % 69.2 0.0 0.0

Open defecaon, hanging, etc. % 0.8 0.8 1.5

Coverage under OSS % 10.0 98.2 98.5

Coverage under OSS m3 541,585 815,276 25,434

Treatment plant coverage

Number of treatment plant Number 1 0 0

Coverage by treatment plant m3 548,179 0 0

Coverage of treatment plant % 20 0 0* 0.5 ltr per person per day including grey water


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Table 10: Present coverage by dierent categories of service providers

Descripon Dhaka Khulna Faridpur

m3 % m3 % m3 %

Coverage by informal providers

(manual)562,829 99.7 883,384 99.0 90,005 99.8

Coverage by formal providers

(mechanized by NGOs)1,860 0.3 0 0.0 0 0.0

Coverage by ulity department

(mechanized)0 0.0 8,667 1.0 144 0.2

Total 564,689 100.0 892,051 100.0 90,149 100.0


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Names: Aab Opel

Organisaon: WaterAid

Country: BangladesheMail: [email protected]
mailto:aftab.opel%40wateraidbd.com?subject=mailto:aftab.opel%40wateraidbd.com?subject=http://www.thelancet.com/infectionhttp://www.thelancet.com/infectionhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/iwachap5.pdfhttp://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/dwq/iwachap5.pdf


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Key facts:

In general, faecal sludge management is Douala and Yaound is poor. Although dump sites for faecal sludge are available in both cies no treatment is provided

Service provides are only very lile organised


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the bargaining power of the operator. Though the prices

are xed according to the volume of the truck, they also

integrate many other aspects.

Materials and methods of invesgaon

This arcle centres on the evaluaon of managing

sewage in the cies of Douala and Yaound. Data

collecon was structured in such a way that the whole

process could be understood from the start to the end

passing through the intermediaries.

Evaluang the organisaon of sewage management in

Douala and Yaounde

The percepon in organising the management of

emped faeces in the two Cameroonian metropolitan

cies has enabled us to present the situaon, interpret

the regulaons in force in the domain and analyse the

ow chart of instuons implicated in the domain so as

to beer understand the respecve roles of the actorsinvolved. In this wise, the dierent actors involved were

idened, their level of implicaon analysed through a

compilaon of their ow charts either at the level of

ministries, urban communies or district councils. This

approach enabled us to beer understand the roles

state actors play.

Simultaneously, emphasis was laid on the idencaon

and analysis of the pracces of private operators who

are professionals in the domain (mechanical scavenger,

sewage intermediaries etc.). They were counted

simultaneously at the discharge sites and staoningparks in the two cies. Furthermore, we analysed the

condions of becoming a scavenger through the arrt

of MINSANTE (i.e. arrt N0003/A/MSP/SESP/SG/DPS

xing condions of opening, exploitaon, renewal,

suspension or withdrawal of accord of a private hygiene/

drainage enterprise for a period of 3 years) and the

accord that is delivered by competent services, the real

authorisaon to engage in the profession is delivered

by the urban council in the case of Douala.

Monitoring sewage tankers and interview of

customers

In the two metropolises sewage tankers were

systemacally idened at their discharge points

(Nomayos in Yaounde and Bois des singes in Douala).

The idencaon exercise was conducted for 3 months

in Yaounde (November 2011 January 2012) but this

period was reduced to 2 weeks in Douala, given the

fact that the Urban Council was already registering the

number of trucks that empty their tanks at the Bois

des Singes site.

The trucks registered were then selected using two

criteria: frequency at the discharge site and the free

and clear consent of the truck driver. In total 7 drivers

out of 17 in Yaounde, being 41.2 % and 7 out 49 truck

drivers in Douala, being 14.3 % accepted to respond to

the enquiries in respect of this study.

Trucks were followed up at the convenience of drivers

placed besides the driver from 6 am to 6 pm (12 hours

for a day) for 8 consecuve days in Douala and 14 in

Yaounde. Mulplying the number of days by two in

Yaounde was due to the low frequency of emptying

fecal material in the city. To this eect we establishedan observaon scale for each truck to ll during the

period of operaon. The me sat at the carbine with

the driver enabled our collaborator to familiarise with

the driver in order to obtain maximum informaon on

the funconing of the management system of emped

faeces and the pracces of the operators.

During this period of the follow up of trucks, all the

customers were interviewed who gave an appraisal on

the manner in which this acvity is carried out, that is

the levies charged, eventual negoaons, the network

of emptying sewage, relaons with scavengers amongst

others. In total 52 customers in Yaounde and 60 inDouala were interviewed.

Sewage quancaon and characterisaon

A combinaon of two methods was applied in quanfying

sewage. These consisted of 1) counng trucks at the

entrance of emptying sites in Yaounde and Douala, and

2) their classicaon according to the volume of the

tanker and household demand for sewage services.

Rapid calculaon led to the esmaon of average

dejecon per inhabitant in the two cies. Considering

populaon projecon from the 2005 naonal census, we

could esmate the weekly producon of sewage in thetwo metropolises.

Characterising on the other hand is a praccal

operaon which consisted of sampling faeces at the

level of households as well as at the level of emptying

sites during the process of emptying. Thirty samples,

amongst which there were 11 at the level of households

and 20 at the emptying sites, were sampled on the spot.

All the bowls of sewage in Douala were condioned

and taken to Yaounde by bus where the contents were

analysed. The laboratory analyses were carried out in

the Department of Botany in the Faculty of Science,University of Yaounde I.

Analysis of the management of emptying sites and their

impacts on the surrounding populaon

A good knowledge on how this acvity funcons led us

to the analysis of the emptying sites in the two cies.

To this eect, transects were realised with exploratory

limits during which photographs were taken to illustrate

some important facts.

An invesgaon was also carried out on the populaon

to determine the extent or poor execuon of emptying

on the inhabitants and the environment. Some 56

households were involved in this exercise in Yaounde

Analysis of faecal sludge management in Cameroon


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and 27 in Douala within a perimeter of 300 m around the

emptying or decanng site.

Subsequently, focus groups were organised together

with the riverain populaon, council authories of

the two cies and the local services of the Ministry of

Public Health, Environment and protecon of Natureetc. In the case of Douala for example, the convenon of

managing the Bois des Singes site was analysed signed

between HONDAE CIG and the Urban Council (These

two structures are linked by convenon N18/CUD/SG/

DEGCO/2010).

Materials and implementaon

Engaging in this study necessitated the use of materials

such as GPS for precise locaon, use of individual

protecon materials (gloves, helmets, boots and

protecon eye glasses), plasc containers for sampling,

icebox, long ladle, bactericide gel, camera, quesonnaire,

guides with resource persons etc. This hypotheco-

deducve and praccal methods resulng in eld

vericaon led to the achievement of results with a high

degree of accuracy.

Management of sewage in Douala and

Yaound

The collecon and transportaon of sewage

About 18 trucks were idened in Yaound that belong

to 9 enterprises involved in the sewage business. Among

these, 3 trucks are owned by hotels which serve in

emptying their own cesspits and other customers whenneed arise, while 3 others are owned by individuals.

The volumes of these trucks vary between 8 and 16 m3.

Yaound has two parking points for the trucks and these

points are only known by potenal customers who come

there at their convenience to negoate for services and

prices with the drivers. Other customers get to them

through intermediaries.

In Douala, the economic capital of Cameroon, 49 trucks

were idened that are distributed in volumes (Table 1).

The 49 trucks are owned by 16 dierent enterprises (witha maximum of 4 trucks per enterprise). It should be noted

that some district councils in the city also own sewage

trucks (e.g. Douala 1 and 4 district councils). Nine other

truckss are owned by individuals. There are no ocial

parking points for the trucks in Douala but most of them

can be found staoned behind the Guarantee bus stop

in Akwa where they pay no parking fee. The problem of

parking presently put scavengers and the Douala Urban

Council in conict.

The three ways of emptying sewage presented for

Yaound equally applies in Douala. However, manual

emptying here is a lucrave acvity where some people

have specialised in it. These specialists mostly intervene

aer mechanical sucking has taken place in order to

remove solid waste in the pit that cannot be removed

mechanically (sand and other objects).

In Cameroon, the work of a mechanical scavenger is

guided by an accord issued by the Ministry of Public

Health, but in Douala one would noce that out of the 16

enterprises and 9 individuals operang in this business,

only 4 are in possession of the ministerial authorisaon

and 9 funcon with an authorisaon from the Urban

Council. Such a situaon clearly illustrates the lukewarm

atude of local and naonal authories in controlling

the handling of faecal material.

The management of sewage in Douala and Yaound

faces the problem of lack of instuonal and legislavecoordinaon. There is no centre that can actually boost

the development of this acvity but there are centres

whose objecves are to extract as much money as

possible even if nothing is reinvested back in the acvity.

That is why the urban councils, district councils and

state de-concentrated services go out in the eld to

collect taxes from the scavengers. Repeated inspecons

without concertaons with the actors or programming

of their passage in the eld appear as inconvenience

to the scavengers who revolt and are pushed to carry

out clandesne acvies at nearby depressions. To this

eect, the nervous atudes of the controllers whoorganise patrols at the convenience hinder the smooth

funconing of the sewage corporaons in the two cies.

Addionally, legislave texts and the in-adaptaon

of exisng ones hinder beer organisaon of sewage

handling in Douala and Yaound. One should equally

denounce and deplore the exisng texts which expose

scavengers and especially drivers to risks of contracng

diseases. These people handle faeces without wearing

EPI such as gloves, boots, working are, protecve eye

glasses, helmets, scarfs, etc. The texts in force do no

oblige them to respect minimum hygiene condions

or carry out regular medical check-ups. Today the

reformulaon of texts in regards to the treatment of

sewage in Cameroon is imperave which has to be taken

seriously.

Inadequate nancial means is another handicap to the

scavengers. Most of them are owners to their enterprises

and they operate with old trucks that are subjected

to constant breakdowns. During transport of faecal

material, the cover of some sewage tankers remains

Table 1: Distribuon of trucks according to their volume (in m3) in Douala

Volume of truck 4 6 7 8 8.5 9 9.5 10 12

Number of trucks 1 6 1 16 4 4 1 10 6


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village people come to sh. At mes, the tankers emptythe waste on the way to the site.

The Bois des Singes dumping site in Douala

Huge quanes of sewage are actually collected in the

town of Douala, transported and dumped in a place

called Bois des Singes. The collected sewage is dumped

in nature without appropriate treatment, thereby

creang severe public health risk, sight and olfactory

nuisance and contaminang water.

This zone, which is situated within mangroves and close

to the Wouri Estuary, the main river that drains the town

of Douala, is known as the green zone following the

urbanisaon plan of the town. That is, a zone prohibited

for house construcon, although that is not the case

today as people have constructed there and are living

under precarious condions due to interacon pathogens

in the sewage, with neither electricity nor potable water.

Within a radius of 300 m around the site, we found about

26 already inhabited houses and many others under

construcon. This dump site is situated in the south of

the town and unlike Yaounde, this site is found within the

urban space of the town of Douala (gure 3).

Unlike the Nomayos dump site in Yaounde, the Douala

dump site has been carved out and managed by the

Douala Urban Council (DUC) since 2003 (Compeng,

2007) and the site is managed a private body (HONDAECIG) that signed an exploitaon convenon with DUC.

An obligatory ccess fee of FCFA1500/trip is the lone

condion required from those dumping sewage in the

site. Part of this fee (75 %) serves as running cost of the

operator, while 25 % of the royalty is deposited with the

DUC to ensure maintenance of the site and the access

road in theory.

DUC built a ferry-boat for the recepon of sewage, which

suddenly went bad. The sewage is actually dumped

before the ferry-boat and it ows towards the mangrove,

which is situated below the site (gure 4).

Although the volume of sewage dumped in the Bois

des Singes site is twice as much as that in Yaounde, the

revenue generated in this site is too lile (23000 EUR).

Some scavengers refused to pay the fee on grounds that

DUC does not maintain the access road to the site as

spulated in the protocol accord signed with HONDAE

CIG.

The impact of this dump site to the surrounding

populaon is enormous and the rate of squang in the

site by the surrounding populaon is high. In the eld,

we observed that 126 inhabitants had already occupied26 houses within 300 m round the site, while 112 other

houses were under construcon. If nothing is done, the

populaon living around this site will move up to 900 by

the me the rest of the houses under construcon must

have been completed (Figure 5).

All land occupaon in this site is recent in the sense that

the rst households censored in the site were constructed

in 2009. 89 % of household occupants around the site

Figure 3: Locaon of the Douala dump site (in red)

(Berteigne, 2012)

Figure 4: Dumping lorry at the entrance of the ferry and the outlet of the sewage


16/36


armed to have witnessed poor health during the last

two weeks before the passage of the researching team.

Aer enquiry it was observed that the most aected were

women (41 %) and children (27 %). This morbidity rate is

twice as high as that observed in Bessek zone (40 %),

a neighbourhood in Douala IV Council characterised by

spontaneous selement and which is very far away from

the sewage disposal site.

Costs of the service

The prices of draining sewage are relavely high in

Yaound. The average cost (based on 130 responses) is

88000 FCFA (134 EUR) when it is the toilet of an individualthat is to be drained (knowing that the minimum wage is

28500 FCFA). The price increases when the toilet drained

belong to the administraon or enterprises.

It should be underscored that some scavengers were

recent to give this informaon. As earlier said, the

scavengers oen depend on hotel, which are owners

of tanker Lorries and the price for draining the toilets

of these hotels is 20000 FCFA. The average price for

draining a toilet was then calculated aer reducing this

amount. The price for draining a cubic meter of sewage

in Yaound is 17000 FCFA/m3.

Toilet draining prices in Douala are lower, ranging from

15000-40000 FCFA (average 33000 FCFA). These prices

are two to ve mes lower than those charged in

Yaound for several reasons.

The distances between the customers and

the dump site are quite reduced on the

average than in Yaounde, the polical capital,

thereby engendering a logical reducon in fuel

consumpon.

The volumes of sepc tanks in Douala are

generally smaller with reduced depths. Thus, less

fuel is consumed by the sucon pumps.

The state of access route to the disposal point is

beer thereby reducing maintenance cost.

Compeon among scavengers in Douala is

relavely higher (as many as 2.5 mes more tanker

lorries than in Yaounde although the populaons

are almost the same). In eect, some scavengers

pracse price cuts, reducing them to as much as

15000 FCFA per trip.

Dumping fee is only 1500 FCFA with no access tax,

unlike in Yaounde where each tanker lorry pays

50000 FCFA/month.

Average draining price per m3

is 8500 FCFA in Douala,or half of the price charged in Yaound (17000 FCFA). In

Douala there is greater price dispersion around a mean,

which is 35000 FCFA per draining trip. A reconstuon of

exploitaon cost of scavengers based on data got from 7

tanker lorries that responded to the survey instruments

in Douala and Yaound respecvely, showed that average

draining cost in Douala is 28000 FCFA per trip and 55400

FCFA per trip in Yaounde. The net surplus saved in Douala

is only 7300 FCFA as against 33300 FCFA in Yaound.

We can therefore armed that the steep compeon

between operang scavengers in Douala and their poor

organisaon prot households, which benet sewage

draining services at lower costs. This conclusion may

vary slightly in the sense that in Douala, customers need

to request the services of a scraper aer the passage of

the tanker if they want to completely get rid of sand and

other debris that remain in the sepc tank aer draining.

Sewage producon and collecon

A considerable quanty of sewage produced is not

drained

Specic sewage producon as of lower value

quancaon is 0.69 km/inhabitant/day in Douala and

0.74 km/inhabitant/day in Yaound. On the average, thestandard deviaon is higher in Yaound (Table 3).


Figure 5: Concrete foundaon (on the le) and an earth-lled one in a valley (on the right)


17/36


Depending on the method of evaluaon used, total

sewage producon in Yaound varies between 1850

and 2300 m3/week. In Douala, this producon varies

between, 2444 and 3432 m3/week (Table 4).

Upper value quancaon in Yaounde indicates thatthere is a consequent deviaon between the potenal

quanty of sewage produced in the town and that

collected and dumped in Nomayos. In Yaounde, only 2/3

of sewage in sepc tanks is drained. This can be explained

by many factors. First of all, eld observaon was done

during the dry season, whereas, all stakeholders in the

sector acknowledge increase of acvity during the rainy

season. In addion, a growth rate of 5 % per year was

aributed to the enre populaon of Yaounde, whereas,

even if this value was to be true, it would hold for the

neighbourhoods at the outskirts of the town and not the

centre and the old neighbourhoods where the populaonis relavely stable.

In Douala, on the contrary, the volumes calculated at the

dump site were coincided with the potenal producon

evaluated using the specic producon method.

Sewage produced mainly by households

Households are the main customers of manual sewage

draining in the two towns: 56 % of the customers in

Yaound and 77 % of those in Douala (Figure 6).

In Yaound, restaurants and hotels represent 17 % ofthe customers or the third highest proporon aer

administraons and households. Administraons

represent close to 25 % of the sewage draining

customers in Yaound. In Douala, on the contrary,

administraons did not feature among the customers

during the me of study. Companies and others such as

restaurant and hotels made up 12 % of the customers.

This observaon is jused by the economic andadministrave funcons of the towns of Douala and

Yaounde respecvely. Following the type of sewage

draining works, the draining of sepc tanks is the most

common in the two towns (Figure 7).

In Yaound, 90 % of sewage draining works are on sepc

tanks, followed by latrines and public toilets at a marginal

proporon (less than 5 %). Sepc tanks are by far the

most drained and this can be explained by the cost of

draining. In eect, it is clear that owners of sepc tanks

are among the well-to-do households, cesspits are oen

a reserve of inhabitants of semi-structured or completelyspontaneous neighbourhoods. This last type of toilets is

oen drained manually or is abandoned by the owners

when they are full. Besides, cesspits in Yaounde are very

deep, and therefore have a life span of more than 15

years. Draining of cesspits in Yaounde is dicult since

many of them are stued with solid non-biodegradable

objects that are aspirated with diculty.

In Douala, on the contrary, besides sepc tanks (77 %),

a proporon of pit latrines (23 %) are drained. These

latrines are not deep and are generally wet due to

risen underground water, all of which facilitate manual

draining. Following the quanty of excrement produced

and the sewage dumped in Nomayos in Yaounde or in

Bois des Singes in Douala, there exist a considerable


Table 3: Sewage producon in Yaound and Douala (Berteigne, 2012)

Locality Indicator

Drained

volume

(m3)

Specic sewage

producon

(kg/inhabitant//day)

Number of days

separang two draining

periods

Douala

Mean 7.38 0.69 1451

Standard deviaon 2.34 0.80 1062Maximum 12.25 3.36 200

Minimum 4.11 0.09 2700

Yaound

Mean 7.26 0.74 1885

Standard deviaon 3.73 0.71 2699

Maximum 13.75 1.86 8760

Minimum 2.106 0.04 60

Table 4: Quanty of sewage produced in Yaounde and Douala (m3) (Berteigne, 2012)

Town

Computed quanty at dump

site (m3) Specic producon (m

3

) Request for sewage draining

GrossWith

uncertaintyGross

With

uncertaintyGross

With

uncertainty

Yaound 730 900 1850 1350 2300 1260

Douala 1785 2271 2444 3423


18/36


volume of sewage in the two metropolises that is not

dumped in the cited sites, or which scavengers dump

illegally in depressed zones, thereby increasing polluon

pockets in these towns.

Analysis of the poor funconing of the

sector

Management of sewage by diversied and less

organised actors

In the two cies of Yaounde and Douala, a mulplicity

of actors called scavengers intervene to ensure the

funconing of the sector. They operate as individuals

focusing on the gains to make and expected interests.

First of all, we noce the presence of bosses who are

amateurs that have succeeded to render the trade ofscavengers a protable business from which they can

even feed. These are greedy business people who want

to make a fortune or veracious civil servants who invest in

buying lorry tankers, evading administrave procedures

and recruing drivers who help in running their

enterprise. The name enterprise is just for convenience

as the headquarters is oen the home of the boss who is

interest in the daily returns.

The drivers-owners of the lorry tankers are sole

proprietors of their enterprises. They are at the head

of their own business where they reap their essenalallowances. They are keen about the good funconing of

the sewage management sector and they are aenve

to all informaon emanang from State or municipal

services.

The drivers of the tankers are the nerve centre of the

sewage draining enterprise. They embark on the search

for customers and ensure the transportaon of sewage

up to the dump sites. They serve as a link between the

boss and the customers. They charge and collect draining

money, which they subsequently hand to the bosses.

The motor-boys are the stung asses. These are

labourers who carry out odd tasks such as adjusng

and rinsing the tubes, opening and closing the cesspits,

opening the sluice valves at the dump sites, etc. they

are permanently in contact with the excrement and are

exposed to disease aack. In the course of me they turn

the stool without being irritated and without pung on

individual protecve equipment (IPE). Gloves, protecveglasses, boots and muers seems useless to them; being

in direct contact with excrement without IPE, a motor-boy

gets set to open the sluice valve of a lorry tanker that is

ready to dump sewage at the Bois des singes site in

Douala (Figure 8).

There are intermediaries who go aer allowances. They

enter all corners of neighbourhoods to propose sewage

draining services or use their human relaons to capture

as many customers as possible whom they take to the

dierent drivers following their bargaining power or

dealings. They constute an important link in the lifeof the sewage management sector. Carefully aered

by the drivers, they do not hesitate to pracse higher

bid and at the same me, they make prot from the

customer and the driver who pays him the spend that

was negoated in advance.

The customers captured by scavengers are no other

than owners of houses whose toilets are full. They are

constantly searching for beer services at a cheaper


Figure 7: Types of sewage draining works in the two

towns

Figure 6: Distribuon of sewage producers in Douala

and Yaound

Figure 8: Opening a sluice valve of a tanker at Bois dessinges


19/36


price. In Yaounde and Douala, every household has a

potenal sewage draining service provider.

Purported landlords of the dump site, parcularly in

Yaounde, generate substanal income from this acvity

due to the simple fact that they use a piece of vacant

land, which they claim ownership, whereas it is actually

State land. In eect, for each trip, the driver pays a fee of

5000 FCFA in Yaound to dump the sewage collected in

the town, while in Douala, it is 1500 FCFA. The purported

landlords are bent to parcipate in environmental

polluon. Besides the purported landlords, in Yaounde,

the people of the village of Nomayos have organised

themselves to equally benet from the fallouts of the

untreated sewage that is dumped in their village. They

share the dumping fee paid to the Council of Mbankomo

and quite oen do not hesitate to organise strike acons.

Last June, they blocked the site for two weeks, forcing

scavengers aer serious negoaons to increase the fee

to 15000 FCFA/trip.

The municipalies are locally represented by urban

council and the rural councils. Their role is only to sign

authorizaons acknowledging permit to carry out the

acvity when solicited. They also benet from the taxes

paid by scavengers in the sites of Nomayos in Yaounde and

Bois des singes in Douala without carrying maintenance

in return. These local councils parally ensure the parking

of scavengers trucks and the circulaon of these trucks

within the town.

The State assumes just its regulatory role andsporadically regulates the profession of scavengers

by adopng some laws. Through the deconcentrated

services of the Ministries of Environment and Nature

Protecon and of Sustainable Development, it organises

sporadic inspecon missions to the dump sites. These

missions are not backed by any real intenon to have

mastery of the sector, or as a strategy through which the

sewage management sector could be restructured and

organised. No one doubts the fact that growing interest

aached to environmental issues each me, insgates

the government of Cameroon to adopt consequent

legislave texts the following years to re-orientate

development iniaves of the sector geared towards the

treatment of excrement in urban milieu.

It should be underscored that, in the eld, the sewage

management sector is characterised essenally by the

absence of synergy between the stakeholders. In eect,

urban and rural councils at the periphery act in disperse

ranks, in isolated manner and do not have concerted

intervenons. Under such circumstances they phase

out in the eld, undermining the eecveness of their

acons.This is the same situaon with State specialised

services.

Corporave organisaons that scavengers haveaempted to form up to now, be it in Yaounde or

Douala, have been weakened by internal squabbles

and the lack of will power of the members. Due to the

weakened nature of these bodies, they have never been

represented at the level of the administraon or the

promoters of sewage draining sociees.

A sector characterised by muldimensional problems

Subopmal organisaon of sewage management in thetowns of Yaounde and Douala allows for the emergence

of side problems, which hinder locally, the development

of this acvity. From the analysis, some of them are of

interest.

The sewage management sector in the two towns is

characterised essenally by poor organisaon of the

sector due to laxity of the managing authories of these

agglomeraons. In fact, there exists no structures that

co-ordinate the acvies of scavengers. Consequently,

only few of them full the required administrave

formalies. In Douala, for instance, only four enterprises

have obtained approbaons from MINSANTE, which

allow them to operate legally. In Yaound, no sewage

draining enterprise has been approbated. At moment,

it suces to acquire a lorry tanker to go about the trade

with all ease in the two big cies of the country. Thus, it

is understood that the sewage management sector is not

regulated by the competent authories.

The diculty in managing sewage in the two metropolises

of Cameroon engenders anarchy in the prices paid to

scavengers, problems of managing dump sites in Yaounde

and Douala and insgates intenonal dumping of faeces

in depression zones. Following inability of the State tomanage sewage adequately, the current dump sites are

real microbial breeding grounds and these microbes

spread the pollung maer to the immediate and even

far o environment.

The poor organisaon extends to the scavengers who

evolved in isolated or dispersed ranks. As such, they are

powerless and cannot withstand the pressure from their

bosses, police harassment, cheang atude of customers

and bole necks of State agents.

In addion to these organisaonal problems, are notnegligible nancial problems. To start sewage draining

business, it requires that a promoter invests heavily in the

buying of a lorry tanker; acquire administrave documents

such as insurance, technical inspecon, packing permit

etc. Quite oen, the promoter is forced to resort to loans

either from banks, thri and loans or various relaons.

Datelines for repayment are always moments of agony

to the promoter. The amounts gathered, however, are

oen enough to buy only second-handed lorry tankers of

more than 20 years, which oen witnessed break downs

thereby making it dicult to respect the terms of the

agreements contracted when the credits were got.

Amateurism of the promoters of sewage drainingcorporaons is a torn in their esh. Quite oen, they are

less prepared to manage an enterprise and as such do



20/36


not have a viable business plan with confusion seng

in between managing their personal revenue and that

of the enterprise. This atude is jused by the many

interrupons of acvies observed every year or the

non-payment of driver due to lack of liquidity.

In addion to the aforemenoned issues, we can include

the inability to manage the access roads to the sites, an

issue that hinders appropriate dumping of sewage Access

to the Nomayos dump site is almost impraccable due to

permanent presence of pools of water (Figure 9).

Aempted soluons to ameliorate sewage

management in urban milieu of Cameroon

The daily management of sewage in Yaounde and Douala,

characterised by laissez-faire, is not adequate to ensure

sustainability of the acvity despite its importance in

the regulaon of urban life. Counter acons ought to be

taken in order to ameliorate the current situaon.

As a maer of urgency, the State and the two urban

councils need to concert in order to idenfy the main

problems plaguing the sector and manage them following

the required norms and to secure appropriate dump

sites for these two metropolises. This acon will lead tothe build up of a large treatment system that will serve

for the recepon of faeces and to the pung in place of

a mechanism for treang the sewage before disposing it

into nature, as well as managing the access road. These

basic issues, undoubtedly call for a beer handling of

the sector through reinforcement of legislaon, the

pung in place of modalies to protect scavengers who

are in permanent contact with the pollutants, and the

organisaon of the profession of the scavengers.

Such intervenon from the State will surely lead to a

beer internal organisaon of the scavengers of each

town into a corporaon. In the past, aempts to bringscavengers into an associaon were not brought to

fruion. The iniators of the project lacked the required

charisma and wanted to safeguard their immediate

interest as individuals. Scavengers in the two towns

today are expressing that wish to come together in order

to defend their common interest, uphold the principle

of equity in the treatment of customers by all exploiters

or operators in the sector, and ensure the protecon of

use rights in terms of taris pracsed and to oer quality

services. Condions for taking this measure are provided

for by law n90/053 of 10 December 1990 where it allows

for liberty of associaon in Cameroon.

One of the major problems in the management of

sewage is access to funding, which is very necessary in

the running of the enterprise when the lorry tankershave serious break downs. This oen causes the tankers

to be down for long aecng the bosses as well as the

employed sta. We can envisage a mechanism through

which a relaonship is created between banking

instuons and scavengers where loans are granted and

guaranteed by the State under certain condions.

Conclusion

Human selements produce excreta that is either

disposed in nature or stocked in cesspits. This human

waste is repugnant since it is known to be highly pollung

and is the cause of many infecons. It can lead to serious

illness if poorly handled. This is eecvely what is

happening in the towns of Yaounde and Douala. In these

two agglomeraons, excrement that collects in various

cesspits, is at mes drained by professionals and dumped

in sites that are not maintained at urban periphery. This

poor disposal constutes a danger to the surrounding

populaons who inhale the pungent odour, use the

sewage as manure in their farms or come in contact with

it while carrying out their daily chores without foreseeing

the consequences that can ensue.

The scavengers themselves are no longer inure to theexcrement. Due to repeated manipulaon of the sewage,

they become accustom to it and easily accommodate the


Figure 9: Access route to the dump site of Nomayos in Yaound


21/36


situaon. They rarely make use of IPE and this exposes

them to many infecons, some of which are incurable.

The management of sewage requires the intervenon

of the State and the municipalies, not only to collect

taxes, which are oen poorly used, but aer all, to create

enabling condions for the dumping of sewage in well

maintained sites. In this regard, those managing urban

aairs ought to:

put in place realisc and praccal modalies for

draining and dumping of sewage in urban milieu;

favour the grouping of scavengers into associaons

for the defence of their interest;

put in place a concertaon plate-form between

the local stakeholders of the sewage management

sector in urban milieu; and favour intensive

communicaonal acons;

maintain the dump sites following the norms

regulang waste disposal at the peripheries of thetwo big towns;

regulate the contract between customers and

the scavengers by pasng the accepted prices in

public places; and

adequately treat sewage before dumping it into

nature.

An adage says that sanitaon is the dignity of man!

Despite its established importance, this burning issue

does not seem to be currently preoccupying to authories

managing urban aairs in Cameroon.

References

Berteigne, B. (2012): Quancaon et caractrisaon des boues de

vidange issues de Douala et Yaound (Cameroun) et proposions de

traitement. Mmoire daprs Csure, ENGEES. Septembre 2012. 112

pages [in French].

Compeng Bet. (2007) : Etudes traitement des boues vidanges avec

producon dlectricit Ngomb, Douala. Rapport de bureau

dtude, 257p [in French].

Name:Benot Mougou

Organisaon: Department of Geography,

University of Yaound 1

Town, Country: Yaound, Cameroon

Name: Emmanuel Ngnikam

Organisaon: Naonal Polytechnic Higher

School in Yaound



Name: Adrien Wanko

Organisaon: ENGEES

Town, Country: Strasbourg, France

eMail: [email protected]

Name: Roger Feumba

Organisaon: ENGEES

Town, Country: Strasbourg, France

Name: Issidor Noumba

Organisaon: Faculty of Economy, University of

Yaound 2

mailto:awanko%40engees.u-strasbg.fr?subject=mailto:awanko%40engees.u-strasbg.fr?subject=


22/36


Key facts:

Three years of collaboraon between ONEA and Eawag/Sandec to assist the planning process for faecal sludge

treatment plants in Ouagadougou

Need for an increased communicaon among the local stakeholders to allow an opmized management scheme

for the faecal sludge

Need for an increased recognion of faecal sludge collecon and transport operators by the ocial stakeholders

and the populaon in order to ensure the sustainability of the management chain

Design of several ocial documents (partnership agreement, decree, license, ) regulang the collecon andtransport of faecal sludge to ensure its discharge at the treatment plants in environmentally acceptable condions,

and the coordinaon of the local stakeholders.


23/36


The current sanitaon policy in Burkina Faso comprises

four main components that unfortunately do not dene

the responsibilies and quality standards for the FS

supply chain, or their enforcement (Bassan et al., 2012):

The code of environment requires everyone to

dispose of urban waste properly (Assemble desdputs du peuple du Burkina Faso 1997).

The decree regulang urban waste storage,

collecon, transport, treatment, and disposal,

requires FS to be transported to treatment or

discharge sites in special vehicles.

The discharge standards set limits for pollutants

release into the air, water and soil.

The code of public hygiene appoints local

authories to manage urban waste and provide

sanitaon services.

The analysis revealed that the collecon and transport

operators require strong recognion at the instuonal

level, as well as capacity strengthening. This is a

crucial condion to ensure the sustainability of the

FS management chain. Indeed, they face dicules

in disposing of the large quanes of FS produced in

Ouagadougou due to the long distances to illegal discharge

areas and harassment by police and the populaon.

They are not involved in urban planning programmes,

do not benet from government assistance, have poor

business management skills, and oen operate in poor

hygiene condions. On account of nancial dicules,

only 60 % of the FS collecon and transport operatorssurveyed in 2007 were sll acve in 2010. Thus, focus

should be placed on strengthening the organisaon of

these stakeholders.

Instuonal development and capacity

strengthening

The crucial informaon obtained during visits,

interviews, workshops and informal meengs allowed

the organisaon of a consultaon plaorm to dene

an opmized management system for FS. The followingocial dra policies and documents were developed:

1. A decree on FS collecon and transport in

Ouagadougou regulang:

Type of FS and obligaon to discharge in

authorised sites.

Provision of an ocial address by the collecon

and transport operators, registraon of

informaon related to their acvies and payment

of discharge fees at FS treatment plants.

Safety equipment and health measures required.

Right of collecon and transport operators toestablish their service price.

2. A municipal license authorising the collecon and

transport operators who adhere to the above decree

to deliver their services for a period of three years.

3. A partnership agreement between ONEA and the

municipality dening their responsibilies in terms of

awareness raising among the populaon, establishing

discharge and treatment sites, enforcing a regulatory

framework and assisng the collecon and transport

operators (Figure 2).

The consultaon acvies of the collecon and transport

operators conducted from June 2010 to 2012 allowed

to improve their recognion by the other stakeholders.

Several informaon workshops were also held to

discuss their dicules and develop soluons. Their

professional associaon was thus reorganized, and

Faecal sludge management in Burkina Faso

Figure 1: The collecon and transport operators oen lack of management skills, safety measures, and operate in

poor hygiene condions (photo: T. Tchonda)


24/36


Faecal sludge management in Burkina Faso

guidelines developed to provide informaon about

on-site sanitaon, safety, hygiene pracces, and nancial

management of the collecon and transport companies.

This document was used as a basis for a training held to

strengthen their management pracces, improve theircapacity to communicate with customers, and iniate

associave acvies.

Conclusion

The uninterrupted flow of communication throughout

project implementation has created a very strong

collaborative exchange and trusting environment

between ONEA and Sandec. The participative process

has also allowed the official involvement of the

collection and transport operators, who are often

not considered in urban planning, and provided

other stakeholders insight into their difficulties andweaknesses. The exchange between the authorities,

sanitation experts and collection and transport

operators is crucial as it improves the quality standard

of these services in terms of hygiene, safety and

environmental protection. Both the participative

process and the resulting documents may readily be

adapted to other cities and countries and contribute

to adequate and appropriate FS management.

References

Assemble des dputs du peuple du Burkina Faso (1997). Code de

lenvironnement au Burkina Faso. 005/97/ADP, Ouagadougou,

Burkina Faso [in French].

Bassan, M., Tchonda, T., et al. (2012). Processus dlaboraon dun

cadre instuonnel rgulant lacvit de vidange mcanique dela ville de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. African Water Associaon.

Congrs internaonal de lAssociaon Africaine de lEau. 20-23

February 2012, Marrakech, Morroco [in French]..

Koanda, H., Bassan M., Mbgur, M. (2010). Rapport danalyse

instuonnelle de la geson des boues de vidange dans la ville de

Ouagadougou. Eawag, Dbendorf, Switerland [in French].

Pyry (2010). Service de Consultants pour les tudes dtailles

dexcuon, llaboraon des dossiers dappel dores, la supervision

et le contrle des travaux dassainissement collecf de la ville de

Ouagadougou - Avant Projet Dtaille (APD) - Construcon des deux

staons de traitement des boues de vidange. Ouagadougou, Burkina

Faso [in French].

Figure 2: Stakeholders responsibilies (boxes) and their relaonships (arrows).

Name: Magalie Bassan

Organisaon: Eawag (Swiss Federal Instute

of Aquac Science & Technology), Sandec

(Department of Water & Sanitaon in

Developing Countries)

Town, Country: Zurich, Switzerland


Name: Tetouehaki Tchonda

Organisaon: Eawag; Sandec


Name: Mbaye Mbgur



Name: Linda Strande


http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/mailto:magalie.bassan%40eawag.ch?subject=http://www.sandec.ch/http://www.eawag.ch/


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Key facts:

The LaDePa (Latrine Dehydraon and Pasteurisaon) machine produces hygienically safe organic ferlizer from

faecal sludge at low costs.

It is shown that LaDePa technology is nancially feasible when treang more than 2000 tons faecal sludge a year.

A contractual model between eThekwini municipality and service providers for servicing areas using VIPs is

proposed


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Sustainable pit latrine management with LaDePa


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Figure 1 Diagrammac view of the LaDePa machine process

Figure 2 The LaDePa machine assembled in a

container.

Figure 3 The LaDePa machine inside the container.


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Figure 4 Pasteurised maer before drying.

Figure 5 Final product - organic ferlizer from faecalsludge.


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Municipality

Homeowner

Technology

Contractor

Managing

Contractor

Farmer

VIP

Emptying

Subcontractor

TacitService

Sludge

Sales

VIPEmptying

Technology Contract

Main

tenanc

e

Ope

ration

FertiliserSales

Service

Payment

Service

Charge?

Legend

ManagementContract

Contract

Figure 6 Contractual Relaonships


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Table 1: Cost benet analysis

Disposal cost savings

2000 tons at R1012 /ton R 2 259 000Less 20 % detritus R 404 800

Income due to sale of product

Input = 1600 cu m at 20 % solids = 320 cu m solids

Output = 320 cu m at 80 % solids = 400 cu m (ton) product

Income = 400 cu m at R 500 / cu m R 200 000

Total Income and Savings R 2 054 000

Addional Operang Costs (Annual)

Forman at R 10 000 per month R 120 000

Labour 4 No. at R 135/day at 260 work days /annum R 140 000

Diesel at 12 l/hr at 8 hrs/d at 260 work days/annum at R10/l R 250 000

Pickup Truck at R 450 / day at 260 days R 117 000

Total Addional Operang Cost R 627 000

LaDePa Annual Cost

Annualised establishment cost R 500 000

Maintenance and Royalty R 600 000

Total Annualised LaDePa Costs R 1 100 000NETT FINANCIAL BENEFIT R 327 000

Conversion rate: 10 R (Rand) ~ 1 Euro


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Name: John Harrison

Organisaon: eThekwini Water and Sanitaon

Town, Country: Durban, South Africa

eMail:[email protected]


Name: Dave Wilson

Organisaon: eThekwini Water and Sanitaon

Town, Country: Durban, South Africa

mailto:johnha%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=mailto:davewi%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=mailto:davewi%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=mailto:johnha%40dmws.durban.gov.za?subject=


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Next issue:

Issue 14, January 2013: Selected contribuons from the 1st WATERBIOTECH

conference, 9-11 Oct 2012, Cairo, Egypt

Further informaon:

www.ecosan.at/ssp

Contact:

[email protected]

www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitaonPracce

www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustria
http://www.ecosan.at/sspmailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitationPracticehttp://www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustriahttp://www.facebook.com/EcoSanClubAustriahttp://www.facebook.com/SustainableSanitationPracticemailto:ssp%40ecosan.at?subject=http://-/?-http://www.ecosan.at/ssp

feces management usage écologique sustainable sanitation p r a c t i c e eco san club 22010

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