Business Models for Fecal Sludge Management

Download Business Models for Fecal Sludge Management

With 2.7 billion people currently relying on on-site sanitation and a global cost of USO 260 billion per year due to inadequate water supply and sanitation, financial and institutional strengthening will  be needed  to  ensure that  capital  investments  into the  Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) translate into effective service delivery. This report aims to increase  our  knowledge  about locally  appropriate  fecal  sludge  management  models based on data  from 23 countries.  The SDG indicator 6.2.1  under target 6.2 (sanitation and hygiene) emphasizes the importance of « safely managed sanitation services » which goes beyond the « access to improved sanitation » target of the Millennium  Development Goals (MDGs).  In  the context  of sanitation  services.  on-site sanitation  systems (OSSs), such as septic tanks  and pit latrines,  receive renewed attention as the predominant feature across  rural and urban areas in most developing countries, and due to their continuing  competitive  advantage for future developments.  The SDG target comes well in time, as the management of fecal sludge captured in OSSs remains one of the most neglected challenges of the last few decades. Constrained by limited policy attention and missing  treatment  plants for fecal sludge  from OSSs,  data on pit  desludging,  transport and disposal  thus  remain extremely  scarce.  Given the need  for transporting  of sludge, fecal sludge  management (FSM)  is often  handled  by truck  operators  of the (in)formal private sector or a mix of public and private operators,  and in  many settings the seNice falls in  a grey area outside  regulatory frameworks  or utility jurisdictions.