October 2001 .,p c. . . S LJ\W\~.Z'UUUUU//UUUO i,,,,~~~~~~~~~~~~~~-S .-- - 0St-9BES Africa Region Ecological Sanitation 2 (Ecosan) h-as made little progress in Africa despite decades of promotion by donors. The practical and environmental benefits of S 'closing the loop' (i.e. recyclingj the nutrients in excreta) seem remote to most poor African households. This lack of demand-' for Ecosan in turn makes many sector practitioners question its potential. There are, however, a number of physical conditions - e -- including high water table and hard rocky ground-.which can - increase the comparative k advantage of many forms of Ecosan technology. But beyond .. - these physical conditions there are many factors that influence - demand by households that have o to be considered as well, such as the presence of small local operators involved in excreta handling. This paper examines a number of physical and non- physical demand drivers' that The Sanitation Ch'~allengje in Africa may encourage households to Inadequate sanitation remains a major cause of poor health and poverty in many African adopt Ecosan solutions. It also households. Sanitation coverage in Africa is lower than in any other region of the world-, discusses practical activities and it is declining. Recent data shows that the fraction served in Africa actually decreased within the different segments of over the last decade4.Poor households in fast growing urban areas are exposed to the 'the resource loop'and a number greatest risk. of factors, beyond the household Governments, communities and households are yet to commit adequate financial, material arevel, that affect the communaland human resources to sustain sanitation promotion in pace with population growth. Further level, tha affect th communaldeterioration of sanitary conditions will occur unless diverse solutions for improving sanitation adoption of Ecosan and re-use are adopted. of excreta. These problems cannot be solved by the use of conventional urban sanitation technologies, which cost far more than the urban poor can afford. One of the challenges in increasing coverage is to identify and understand the incentives that will trigger demand by households for improved sanitation. All footnotes on page 4 The Ecosan Argument Figure 1 The organic/nutrient loop: faeces food Ecosan technologies are characterized by a number of Safe and PEOPLE Faeces attributes including those in the box nuPathogen below (See box). Minimal use of A Patcon water and re-use of excreta nutrients Transport - composting are positive characteristics. Limiting Storage s -dehydration water use and increasing nutrient Prcssn 4'Safe fertilizer access for food production are key Harvested X Safe soil conditioner Ecosan objectives. crop : P L - plant health '~¶JPLANTS ater holding capacity ;=_ | Steven Esrey & lngvor Anderson: An Ecosystem Approach to the Manogement of Human WasteiRecent Developmemets in the Ecological Sanitation (Presentation by lngvar Anderson, Roundathle Meeting on Ecoson,aroch 2001, Ndirobi, Kenya) * On-plot * Minimal use of water critical challenges in every day life. addition of ash to faeces is done * Dehydration/aerobic composting But these benefits could be important properly with encouraging results. In (with or without urine separation) in environments where subsistence Kisoro, public Ecosan toilets were * May require drying/bulking farming is significant and the practice observed to have minimal smell and material (ash, dry soil, lime, of excreta re-use is culturally near-zero flies, an improvement over crushed sea shells etc.) acceptable to households, individual many public toilets based on other farmers and communities technologies5. * May be above ground to facilitate contents removal The Vietnamese "double-vault" Assessing Demand Drivers * Nutrients and sanitized excreta as dehydrating toilet was designed and A s gmEcoesn end-products promoted in response to the direct f Eo n agricultural use of fresh excreta by Some promoters of Ecosan stress most farmers. This practice was so As shown in Figure 2, the Ecosan urine and faeces separation for entrenched that public health officials loop contains three distinct segments: nutrient re-use and soil conditioning were hard-pressed to ensure that * Onsite storage and treatment as essential requirements of an households would leave excreta * Offsite transport, storage and Ecoson solution. This reflects the undisturbed long enough to achieve treatment global environmental "vision" of the required dessication and * Application for reuse closing-the-loop (Figure 1) while condtioning before use. Closing the loop requires linking the managing excreta. Unfortunately, Experience shows that many African different conditions, processes and such a global vision does not always households do not yet accept direct activities of each segment, and address the practical requirements of re-use of urine and do not wish to examining how these affect existing its implementation. Detailed analyses undertake excreta-based composting. household coping strategies, of the activities in the segments of the However, there are a few recent preferences, and social arrangements. expanded loop (Figure 2) reveal the cases (eg. Kisoro, Uganda) where The remainder of this paper presents critical drivers that influence urine is diverted to soak-pits and the practical examples of this process. household demand for Ecosan. One of the important lessons that Figure 2 has emerged in sanitation promotion Closing the loop: Segments and Main Activities is that poor households will invest in new latrines for reasons of dignity, Segment 1: Excreta PraduCian, On-Site Starage and Primary Treatment privacy, status, and convenience ----et . rather thlan for benefits of health Excret handling, _ improvement alone. O&M of facilities Just as improved health is not, by itself, sufficient to create demand for Segment 3: uriculture, TSegment 2: low cost sanitation, the benefits of Re-Use, Nutrient uban lancaping Material Recycling Station excreta re-use may not, by Application and ond horticulture Processing, ecycling Tation, themselves, be sufficient to trigger Soil Conditioning re Secondary Treatment demand for Ecosan from poor and storage households who face many more \l Examples of Demand Drivers been used, they demand both Examples of Drivers in Segment 3: Physical Drivers in Segment 1 periodic desludging and skill in Subsistence farming and Geo-hydrological conditions: digging under existing structures. alleviation of household poverty There are examples of households Where there is no room for pits, the (nutrient application and soil building raised pit latrines to VIP option is simply not appropriate. conditioning): overcome flooding in areas that have Examples of Drivers in Segment 2: There is potential for re-use of a high water table. In hard rocky Small local operators: nutrients and sanitized excreta, areas pit digging is difficult and The handling of stored excreta by especially in semi-arid areas, and expensive; if the rock is fissured, individual householders raises peI-urban food corridors adjacent to there is also the risk of contaminating concerns of both safety and cultural large urban towns. Food sufficiency groundwater if unlined pits are used. acceptability. Small-scale operators often contributes to alleviation of In these cases, aboveground can, however, be developed or health-poverty.6 sanitation with offsite removal of encouraged to provide these services It is when all the activities of the waste is required in any event and in a safe and professional manner at segments of the loop are practically Ecosan can be an attractive option. reasonable cost. (Such enterprises achieved, in any given situation, that High-Density Housing Areas: are particularly likely to be viable in closing-the-loop really occurs. informal urban settlements). Small locating pit latrines is difficult operators can also be involved in the Implications for Future because of the digging involvd, ,processing and transportation ecause Of the digging involved. .services required for the marketing of Work The ease of retrofitting Ecosan toilets, manu re d prite oratin above ground, into existing structures mAnure Some private operators, in WSP-AF will identify and study such is an advantage. Accra, Ghana, provide O&M services practical examples of demand drivers for innovative and low-cost In a number of areas, with the twin _ t problem of high water table and technologies that can Improve problemtio of huidighswater tabl an services for the poor. Studies will also congestion of buldings (for example be care u ocopr aiu s_ _ ~~~~~~~be carried out to compare various performance indicators, including costs, for various designs and other technologies (including Ecosan). Understanding the comparative merits of Ecosan and other sanitation technologies is essential if effective - . 3E= sanitation coverage is to be attained. J11, - i Other areas of WSP-AF's work will r 3 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~include: a * - ,> * Country-level studies and consultations on issues of demand .;]|s0 - ot 1 1g-x<_ 8 \ and experiences in the use of ~~~~ ~~~~~~~ I ~~~~~~~~innovative sanitation technologies 31Y jg > I ati; as and their impact. V. w 1 *Follow-up roundtable discussions/ workshops with analysts and 3. .j*-*X . ~subsistence farming and household - ;,* _ * * * *, poverty alleviation and health ** *! * * __ improvement. -.~ _:s _. _*" A * Consulting and networking with organizations and stakeholders after installation, including removal supporting R&D in re-use and low-income areas along the coastline of partially stabilized material, innovative sanitation technologies of Accra), retrofitting of Ecosan toilets replacing materials (e.g. mulch) in to exchange lessons on demand provides desired solutions for toilet chambers and further drivers for improved services. households. While alternating VIP processing and handling of the latrines with offset pits have also compost. Program-Africa Fax: (25 42) 260380 Website: www.wsp.org -An appropriate option Direct your water supply and An appropriate option for high water table conditions (Dor-es-Soloom, Tanzania) sanitation-related queries to: * Sharing and disseminating Carrying out case studies on the roles i i u turi knowledge to influence policies on and effect of small-scale independent !IIL1 L o the appropriate use of innovative providers in innovative sanitation A GLOBAL WATER & SANITATION ADVISORY SERVICE technologies. technologies. i E-mail: whelpdesk@worldbank.org o Documenting and disseminating WSP-AF aims to contribute by sharing its case studies on the impact of experiences in sanitation promotion by sanitation projects that have re-use relying on its comparative advantages of components on subsistence field presence and ability to forge agriculture and how they affect the networks so that more stakeholders poverty and health of poor become engaged on the sanitation Prepared by households. question in Africa. Lukman Y. Salifu October 2001 I This paper summarises main points of the Roundtable Discussion on Ecosan The Water and Sanitation Prograrr organized by WSP-Africa in March 2001 in Nairobi, Kenya I an internatn panership to ' ~~~~~~~~~is an international partnership to 2 Ecological Sanitation, in this paper, refers to the on-plot handling (with or help the poor gain sustained acce! without urine separation) of excreta with minimal use of water so that urine to improved water supply and nutrients and sanitized material are end products. sanitation services. The Program's funding partners are the 3 Demand Drivers refer to "the physical and non-physical factors associated, with Governments of Australia, Belgiun a technology, which influence household (and community) choice and use of Cana ermany, Italy, Japan, that technology° ~~~~~~~~~~~~Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, that technology." Luxembourg, the Netherlands, 4 Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 Report (2000) WHO & Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and UNICEF: Geneva. the United Kingdom: the United Nations Development Programme. 5 Field Notes; L. Salifu, Kisoro April 2000. and the World Bank. 6 "Does Urban agriculture help prevent malnutrition? Evidence from Kampala., FCND Discussion Paper #45, IFPRI, Washington DC, 1998" - Maxwell D, Levin b C, CseteJ., Quoted in Ecological Sanitation - Closing the Loop to Urban Food Green Design Assoiates Security and Well-being, Stephen Esrey & Ingvar Andersson ( Presentation by Prin ed at Ingvar Anderson, Roundtable Meeting on Ecosan, March 2001, Nairobi, Kenya) PS Press Services Pvt. Ltd. gdcopress@bol.net.in