Hello and welcome back to this module on selecting the most appropriate sanitation technology

for a given context.

In this module, we will learn about different criteria that need to be considered in order

to select the most appropriate sanitation technology for a given context.

For this we will have a look at the objectives and goals of sanitation during a humanitarian

response and how they can change over time.

There are many different types of Emergencies.

They differ in duration, in intensity, in destruction, in number of displacements, in

risk and type.

Furthermore a crisis occurs in a specific context.

The compendium of sanitation systems and technologies counts 57 different established sanitation

technologies and 9 systems, not counting the various emerging technologies and service

delivery models.

The task of finding the most suitable sanitation technology for each context is therefore challenging

and requires a lot of experience and expert knowledge of the context.

We will notice how different contexts can be, when looking at the example of the Nepal

earthquake humanitarian response in 2015 and the humanitarian crisis in the Middle East,

where Syrian refugees are displaced in camps in Jordan,

Over the course of this module we will learn how to categorize these different contexts

and find out the relevant criteria that will help to determine which sanitation technology

to select.

When looking at a specific context there is a variety of attributes we need to consider.

On one hand we have the physical environment consisting of the natural and the built environment.

On the other hand, we have the enabling environment consisting of everything we cannot physically

touch, like laws, skills, culture etc.

A lot of different questions will determine which sanitation solution is the most appropriate.

Here are some of the questions you will need to answer during an assessment of the natural

and built environment: What are existing water bodies that can be

used as a source of water or as a receiving water body for treated or untreated wastewater?

What is the demography of the population?

How many men/ women, children, disabled, elderly people are there and what are their needs

in terms of sanitation?

What materials are available right now, in a week from now, in a month from now?

What other resources can be used?

Are there matching skills and capacities?

Is there water available for hand-washing, for flushing, for cleaning?

Is there enough space?

How much?

The example of a destroyed neighborhood in Kathmandu shows how space can be a limiting

factor.

In this case, camps were constructed in available open urban spaces or outside the city, where

more space was available.

As the danger was over within a few days/weeks, the sanitation facilities were of temporary

nature and the focus was on rehabilitating the existing urban infrastructure, once the

threat of a public health crisis due to the lack of sanitation was averted.

Other questions are: What is the condition of the existing sanitation

infrastructure?

Can it be rehabilitated and how fast?

What are the soil properties, for example the infiltration rate of clean water, of greywater

and of wastewater?

And how high is the groundwater table?

What is the topography of the area and the rainfall patterns, as well as temperature?

What are the sanitation products, such as toilet paper, anal cleansing water, menstrual

hygiene products, that need to be dealt with?

For the enabling environment the questions are often more complex and the answers are

not straightforward.

Two initial important questions for a sanitation system are if people are used to sit or squat

and what product they use to clean themselves after defecation.

For example in India most people are used to squat when using the toilet and clean themselves

with water after defecation, while in a European context people usually have sitting toilets

and clean themselves with toilet paper.

This can be found out easily.

What happens if the question of toilet style is ignored was seen in Germany during the

refugee crisis in 2016, when refugees from Syria, used to squatting toilets and water

for anal cleansing, were faced with sitting toilets and toilet paper in German cities.

There were even cases of open defecation due to the lack of appropriate sanitation facilities.

In this case manufacturers reacted and came up with a portable hybrid toilet suiting sitters

and squatters.

Other questions are more difficult to answer and often have a political component.

Who pays for which service?

Can permanent structures be constructed or not?

Are there technologies that are not allowed or that are preferred?

Is there a governmental protocol on emergency sanitation?

Gathering all of this information can be challenging, especially during an emergency when the flow

of information is cut due to the lack of communication methods, the lack of acting institutions and

general chaos.

An assessment should always try to gather information from different sources in order

to cross check information.

In many countries a lot of data already exists in the form of institutional knowledge, governmental

documents, information by sanitation service providers or NGOs on the ground.

This literature can often be accessed before arriving on the ground.

Once in the field, general observations of the natural and built environment are important

as well as measurements and testing of soil, topography and other physical parameters.

Mapping of the area can be done with drones, by hand or maps may already exist.

Finally gathering primary data from key informants, community leaders and the affected population

is crucial, as these people have a lot of knowledge of the area and are the ones that

will use the sanitation system in the end and therefore need to be consulted about sanitation

habits, preferred location of the toilets etc.

Alongside the local context, key criteria to consider are the type and phase of an emergency.

A crisis that requires an acute humanitarian response, but will be over soon, for example

a natural disaster, will require a different and maybe only temporary sanitation system

alongside rehabilitation of infrastructure.

This compared to a protracted armed crisis that is expected to last an indefinite time

period.

The traditional model to look at a crisis is to categorize it into different phases.

A growing number of “chronic crises” are on the rise and make this traditional approach

often unfeasible, as these phases get mixed up and acute humanitarian responses are needed

several times in sequence.

For simplification we will use the terminology of the traditional phases of a crisis again,

while keeping in mind, that these are not as clearly separated or even mixed up in a

chronic crisis It might be that different technologies are

required over the course of a humanitarian response.

With an existing sanitation system, the goal will be to rehabilitate the existing system,

while immediate solutions cover the acute and recovery phase.

With no previous system existing, a completely new system must be implemented.

This can be developed over time.

It has to be noted again, that infrastructure is only part of a sanitation services.

Skills and capacities of staff and institutions have to be developed and their needs also

vary over the course of a humanitarian response.

Furthermore in order to assure the sustainability of services, funding not only for implementation

but also operation and maintenance needs to be secured.

Disaster risk reduction measurements for sanitation services and building up resilience of systems

should be the main task before a crisis happens.

During the acute phase, systems are needed that can be implemented fast with available

material and with the skills and capacities of the staff on the ground.

During the recovery phase, existing services should be extended and upgraded and consideration

should be given to financial sustainability.

Post crisis is to assure that the complete sanitation service chain is covered and that

if infrastructure existed it is rehabilitated or decommissioned.

In this module we learned that not only the built and natural environment will influence

the selection of a sanitation system but also the enabling environment consisting of users,

laws and regulations, skills and capacities, the government, financial arrangements and

institutional arrangements.

An assessment of the context is therefore crucial and should be done as soon as possible.

Furthermore the nature of the humanitarian crisis and the context will influence the

technology that is chosen.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Let us know in the forum if there are any questions left or if you want to share your

own experience of selecting sanitation technologies in the field.

We are looking forward to exchange with you in the forum.

Thank you very much.

Sanitation technology selection

Introduction to Public Health Engineering in Humanitarian Contexts

Conoce a los instructores