From Yusuf Kabir, United Nations Children’s Fund, Kolkata

Posted 15 December 2008

I am Yusuf Kabir, working with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Kolkata, in the Water and Environmental Sanitation Department. I am involved in demonstrating and scaling up of Solid and Liquid Waste Management (SLWM) under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in rural West Bengal, in partnership with panchayats, the West Bengal State Rural Development Department and several NGOs.

From S. Janakarajan, Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) Chennai

Posted 5 June 2007

I work with the Madras Institute of Development Studies (MIDS) in Chennai.

In recent years, there is a growing emphasis on promoting Ecological Sanitation (ecosan) due to a number of factors:

1. Wider realisation that modern sewage-based sanitation uses up a tremendous amount of drinking water quality water for flushing, and requires large costly plants for treatment.
2. Mixing of faeces and urine makes treatment difficult, as both these need different treatments.
3. Wastage of urine and faeces, which could be a rich source of fertiliser. Proper management of these will reduce treatment as well as fertilizer costs.
   

Providing environmentally-safe sanitation to millions of people is a significant challenge, especially in the world’s second most populated country. The task is doubly difficult in a country where the introduction of new technologies can challenge people’s traditions and beliefs.

“Experiences with Ecosan Systems to Provide Sustainable Sanitation for Schools in Kenya and India” written by Rahul Ingle, Christian Rieck and Elisabeth v. Münch published in 2009 by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) and Ecosan Services Foundation (ESF), paper describes the experiences and lessons learnt from using ecosan systems in some schools in Kenya and India.

CLTS:The Sanitation Story of the Millennium
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“Community Eco-Sanitation Toilets India” which have been developed and published in 2008 by the Wherever the Need (WTN) with support from the Industry’s Humanitarian Support Alliance (IHSAN), the case study seek to encourage self sustaining, ecological projects generated through the self empowerment of the people themselves.

Basic Services in Urban Slums of Delhi- A Baseline assessment of four slums in Delhi
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The paper highlights various issues relating to sanitation solutions such as reasons for failure septic tanks systems and associated pollute ground water.  On the other hand, flush toilet system and the sewage system, which goes with modern day personal hygiene and cleanliness, are part of the environmental problem and not the solution. Consider the huge amount of clean water that is used to carry a small quantity of human excreta, S.Vishwanath and Chitra Vishwanath titled “Composting toilets – the future of sanitation?” writes that in such a scenario one emerging solution is a dry composting toilet.

“Understanding the Urban Poor's Vulnerabilities in Sanitation and Water Supply ", is an article written by Barbara Evans published in July 1-6, 2007 by of the Center for Sustainable Urban Development. This paper argues that one of the root causes of this exclusion has been the long-standing inability of utility and city managers and their advisers to plan and implement water and sanitation systems which respond to the reality of the lives of the urban poor.

“CPHEEO manuals” is developed and published by The Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation (CPHEEO), is Technical Wing of the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, and deals with the matters related to urban water supply and sanitation including solid waste management in the country. The Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, is nodal Ministry in charge of various aspects of Urban Development including Urban Water Supply and Sanitation in the Country.