Md. Sazedul Islam :
Local Government Division of LGRD and Cooperatives Ministry is going to organize the 6th South Asian Conference on Sanitation (SACOSAN-6) on January 11-13 with a slogan ‘Better Sanitation Better Life’. Participants from SAARC countries are expected to attend the conference to be held in Dhaka. Bangladesh organized the first SACOSAN on October 21-23, 2003 in Dhaka. The goal of the conference, which was the first of its kind in the region, was to accelerate the progress of sanitation and hygiene in South Asia so as to enhance its people’s quality of life.
SACOSAN-I sought follow up action on the Millennium Development Goals and the commitments made at the World Summit on sustainable development. One of the key outcomes of the Conference was the Dhaka Declaration whereby the participating countries committed to organize a SACOSAN meeting every two year with participation of ministries, agencies, development partners and other actors with the aim to nurture and sustain a viable regional cooperation for sanitation.
We can derive huge economic benefits if we can ensure improved sanitation, including proper management of faecal sludge. Combating environmental degradation was one of the eight UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) that all 189 UN Member States agreed to try to achieve.
Realizing its importance, Bangladesh observed the first Sanitation month in 2004. Since then, every October is being observed as sanitation month. In 2005, the government formulated the National Sanitation Strategy. On July 28, 2010, the UN General Assembly formally recognized water and sanitation as basic human rights. In 2011, ‘BanglaSAN’ was organized by Local Government Division of LGRD Ministry on January 5-6 to achieve sanitation for all.
A study revealed that disease prevention, elimination of bad smells, and environmental improvement were identified as principal benefits of being free from open defecation. Now, we look at what sanitation means. Sanitation generally refers to the provision of facilities and services for the safe disposal of human urine and faeces. Inadequate sanitation is a major cause of disease and improving sanitation is known to have a significant beneficial impact on health both in households and across communities.
Though open defecation has been reduced to three percent in our country, JMP report, 2014 revealed that nearly 57 percent of sanitation infrastructure is actually improved. Therefore, the report marked the progress in sanitation as ‘not on track’ towards meeting the MDG target. According to Practical Action Bangladesh, construction of thousands of pit latrines without thinking of ensuring proper hygiene separation of excreta from human contact and faecal sludge management (FSM) eventually emerged as second generation sanitation problem for Bangladesh. Most of our people living in urban areas rely on on-site sanitation, which generates a mix of solid and liquid wastes generally called ‘faecal sludge’. Many of us, even the educated people, are not aware of importance of sanitation and where human excreta is left and how much environmental damage is caused by it. Now, time has come to think over the issue and give importance to it. Massive public awareness is very important.
In the unplanned settlements of rapidly expanding cities like ours, this sludge poses a growing challenge, creating significant public health and environmental risks. The faecal sludge is often allowed to accommodate in poorly designed pits, is discharged into storm drains and open water bodies, or is dumped into waterways, wetland and insanitary landfill sites, said Practical Action, a UK-based international development agency.
There is no proper emptying mechanism for pits and septic tanks. In most of the cases, it is done manually by sweepers when the problem becomes visible due to overflow or creating nuisance. In fact, they dilute the substances with water mixed with kerosene oil and dump it manually to the nearby open drain. Thus faecal sludge pollutes the shallow aquifers.
It is regrettable that no proper attention has been given to FSM issue. Only a small percentage of faecal sludge is managed and treated appropriately. In Bangladesh, about 80 metric tonnes of sludge is generated every day and 24 metric tonnes of sludge generated every day in the urban areas of the country of which only 960 tonnes that means only 4 per cent of urban sludge is being treated at Pagla treatment plant. Now the question appears as what happens to the remaining volume of sludge?
Only about 22 per cent of the total population of Dhaka city is under the coverage of sewer network currently. In the areas where there is no sewerage network, about 55 per cent of the buildings do not have any septic tanks and these buildings directly discharge the sewage into the open drain, storm drainage and/or the environment resulting in pollution of surface water bodies.
If we can go for recycle of human excreta we can get great economic benefit. By converting human excreta into organic fertilizer can be a good idea regarding sludge management. Bangladesh uses around 3.5 million tons of fertilizer every year of which about 2.6 million tons are imported. The government provides subsidy of around 18 taka/kg of fertilisers to the farmers.
If we could convert the entire amount of sludge produced in the country to proper soil conditioner/organic fertiliser, it will turn out to be 3 million tons, which will be more than the amount we import every year. Even if we could utilize a certain percentage of this potential, it would be a huge gain for the country.
Besides the financial perspective, the use of this manure will improve soil texture and most importantly it will save the environment by not polluting the surface water.
Hasin Jahan, a sanitation expert and Country Director of Practical Action, said the government should take up concrete plan on FSM issue and go for operation with due importance. If organic fertilizer is used, soil will be in good condition. We need joint business plan. As the amount of our arable land is decreasing day by day, we have to give importance to increasing the power of soil.
“If our river water is polluted with human excreta, it costs much more in treating this water, because we have to drink the water. Awareness must be created and all concerned have to play a role in this regard”.
Fish feeds and biogas can also be made from human excreta. Electricity can be generated and diesel-driven engine can be run with this biogas. Even generator can be run with this biogas. Biogas is very helpful in cooking.
So, we can see that proper management of faecal sludge has a huge economic prospect for us along with ensuring improved sanitation. Massive awareness among people is imperative and the concerned authorities should come up with positive approach so that we can get effective FSM service.
Recently, different NGOs, including Practical Action, have shown their interest in human waste management and are experimenting on several small scale initiatives. But, there is no proper value chain in our country in this regard. It is important to view sanitation with a new approach and explore new possibilities. It is hoped that the ensuing conference on sanitation would come up with a positive stance on management of faecal sludge, taking into account the importance attached to it.
