Report on the 1st Int. Symposium on FSM Policy, Dakar, 9-12 May 2006 1
Report1st Int. Symposium on Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Policy
Dakar, 9 - 12 May 2006
Duebendorf (Switzerland), 16 June 2006
Co-financed by:
1
Version provisoire du 29 mai 2006
Report on the 1st Int. Symposium on FSM Policy, Dakar, 9-12 May 2006 1
Executive Summary
Faecal sludge management from on-site sanitation systems is a crucial element in public health protection and key to achieving successful water and sanitation projects. Especially since one vacuum truck dumping sludge indiscriminately is equivalent to the open defecation of 5 000 people ! While urban on-site sanitation programmes have been experiencing a major thrust during the past 10-15 years, the management of the faecal sludges (FS) accumulating in these installations has largely remained the stepchild of urban sanitation. As a consequence, the “faecal film” continues to persist in urban areas of the majority of developing countries, with the known health and environmental hazards and impairment of the urban space.
The 1st International Symposium-cum-Workshop on Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Policies in developing countries was therefore held in Dakar, Senegal from 9 to 12 May 2006. This Symposium assembled some sixty participants from 20 Sub-Saharan and European countries (cf. comprehensive list of participants in Annex 1), such as policy-makers, funding agencies and enterprises/NGOs active in the sanitation field. It was conducted under the patronage of the Senegal National Sanitation Agency (ONAS), the International Water Association (IWA) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag-Sandec), and co-financed by UN-Habitat, the World Bank (Bank of Netherlands Water Partnership Program (BNWP), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC). During the four-day Symposium, the participants exchanged their experience and identified key subjects and challenges. The work conducted in groups and the presentations by the participants provided tools and concrete measures to improve faecal sludge management.
Faecal matter is generally regarded as a taboo subject and something dirty to be disposed of as quickly and discreetly as possible. In the context of the Symposium, the discussions on faecal matter ranged from toilet design to faecal sludge emptying, haulage and treatment to its reuse as a source of organic matter and nutrients. Salient elements of the presentations made during the 1st day of “drawing the scene” comprised:
· A new latrine design to facilitate hygienic emptying
· Health risks of “flying toilets” in slum areas
· Faceless emptying entrepreneurs
· Complaints raised by the owner of an emptying company about the ever increasing road toll illegally levied by the police force
· High-ranking policy-makers who constantly speak of latrines, sludges, excrements, the important roles of manual and mechanical emptiers
· Low-cost faecal sludge treatment options producing hygienically safe biosolids are at hand
· Promising approaches in improved FSM currently being developed in sub-Saharan Africa (e.g. Guinea-Conakry, Senegal, Ghana)
· A pertinent short film on on-site sanitation and improvements brought about by proper FS management produced by ONAS (broadcast also on national television)
· A municipal director reporting on sustainable FS management procedures with the private sector playing a prominent role
During the 2nd and 3rd day of the Symposium, six working groups deliberated upon specific aspects of faecal sludge management following the truncation of challenges into six themes. This led to the following results:
· Planning aspects: The problems and health risks associated with poor faecal sludge management are hardly known by the authorities. There is a long list of elements and measures lacking in most settings to date and therefore needed to develop and take into consideration:
Discharge standards; physical town planning (e.g. land acquisition for treatment); ensuring inclusion of FSM in strategic planning at national and municipal level (starts with the ToR for the consultants !); defining participatory planning approaches for urban sanitation, inclusive of FSM; identifying and involving the relevant stakeholders inclusive of households; defined areas and coordination of responsibility; legal framework at national and municipal level (laws and ordinances addressing FSM); strengthening of the professional capacities of municipal services (effective decentralization !); planning for investment financing and sustained money fluxes (fee and premium structure)
· Technical aspects: Well-formed sanitary or environmental engineers are required to devise appropriate FS treatment alternatives and to select the option which best suits local conditions and needs. The main selection criteria for selecting an adequate option include: land requirements, treatment objective and treatment standards (use of biosolids ? discharge of liquid fraction ?), requirements for treating the liquid fraction to set standards, operation and maintenance requirements, cost, skill requirement, risk of failure and potential impact of failure.
Manual pit emptying continues to play an important role for decades to come. Hence, there is great need to develop technologies and collection strategies which reduce the health risks for emptiers and allow to enhance the haulage radius for manually emptied FS (donkey or tractor-drawn collection vehicles, transfer stations ?).
Treatment starts already with emptying of the on-site sanitation systems, which have to be accessed and emptied. A change in latrine design, must therefore be contemplated (e.g. sealing the lower portion of latrine pits and inserting a fixed pipe reaching to the pit bottom hence preventing FS consolidation and easy pumping (cf. presentation of Manus Coffey) or, alternatively, to opt for and promote pits of minor depth, which reduces sludge consolidation and thickening.
· Institutional and jurisdictional aspects: Efforts for decentralising responsibilities has, in many countries, created a vacuum regarding the providing of sanitation infrastructure and services, notably FSM. Responsibilities are not clearly defined, professional skills at municipal level are widely lacking and a legal framework as well as know-how at municipal level are often lacking. Establishment of a ministry having sanitation as one of its major tasks could remedy this situation as this would enable reducing the splitting up of responsibilities among different ministries and authorities; this needs to go hand in hand with creating a regulatory basis dealing with sanitation in general and sludge in particular, including appropriate, i.e. affordable and enforceable standards for biosolides and liquids originating from low-cost FSTP.
The following are elements required for a sound legal framework in the field of urban sanitation / FSM:
- Licensing of FS collection entrepreneurs and FSTP operators (contractees) by the municipality
- National legislation regarding FSM in general and setting the treatment requirements / product quality
- Role and responsibility of each stakeholder
- Tariff system
- Regulations on pit emptying and transport and discharge of FS
· A coordinating body comprising all relevant stakeholders or their representatives (the mayor or his/her deleguee; municipal services; FS collection entrepreneurs; households, CBOs, farmers) is tio be set up and rendered functional. Its task comprises the developing of mutually agreed upon FSM strategies and to supervise and accompany FSM implementation.
· Financial aspects: Sludge collection, disposal and treatment require investment and operating funds. Since responsibilities for faecal sludge management are often unclear, funds are not allocated. Even if a sanitation tax is perceived on the sale of drinking water, these funds are rarely re-injected for sanitation improvements at local level but channelled to central government instead.
Emptying services provided by the private sector (often without any regulatory or financial involvement by the municipalities), function rather well. Nevertheless, the following two crucial questions remain unresolved: “How can mechanical emptying costs be lowered to make them affordable for the most disadvantaged?” and “What financial and regulatory/incentive system needs to be put in place to guarantee that the FS is brought to the treatment site ?” The following strategies and tools were proposed to meet these challenges:
- Freeing collection entrepreneurs from taxes on important good such as vacuum trucks, and truck spare parts
- Entrepreneurs allowing households to pay for pit emptying by instalments
- Remunerating the FS collector upon delivery to the FSTP instead of charging him (would 1), provide an incentive for the FS hauler and 2), allow to partially enable the entrepreneur to lower the emptying fee charged to households (it goes without saying that the money paid to the collector must be generated elsewhere in the cycle
- Introducing a regularly offered emptying services set up in close collaboration between the collectors and the municipality with a possible incentive system for households which observe the maximum emptying interval as set by the municipality or the national regulation
in order to render FSM sustainable and equitable at the same time, subsidies or cross-subsidies are likely to be required, e.g. for investments in FS treatment provided by sources external to the municipality (national or donor).
· Advocacy: The working groups proposed to pass on the message to the policy-makers that sanitation efforts improve public health, reduce poverty and create employment. This message can be conveyed via the media (newspapers, TV, radio) and pressure groups (civil groups; municipal, traditional, religious leaders).
It was proposed that selected high-level leaders / politicians should be approached and invited to lead awareness raising and advocacy in their respective countries as well as among their pairs or other high-level decision makers abroad. Names put forward comprise the presidents of Senegal, Burkina Faso, Liberia, Mali, Uganda or Tanzania; Nelson Mandela; high-ranking politicians or publicly know personalities such as mayors of selected cities. Youssof N’Dour (a well-known musician); association of first ladies.
Following the three-day discussion, several participants to the Symposium drew up The Dakar Declaration with a view to promote the faecal sludge management cause at high level. The declaration, which exists both in English and French, will be widely disseminated through the participants and their organisations (e.g. PDM, CREPA, PS-Eau), as well as through organizations’ websites, electronic newsletters and at upcoming international events in the field of sanitation and hygiene and urban development.
Several participants suggested continuing holding FSM symposia at regular intervals and convening decision and policy makers. Participants from Burkina Faso proposed to organise the next symposium in their country in 2007.
· Capacity building: All participants agreed that technical capacity building alone is not sufficient to ensure that FSM is done in a sustainable manner. There is an urgent need to strengthen the municipal technical services and engineering consulting firms with non-technical competence (financial, legal, institutional, socio-economic, urban planning). At the same time, mechanical and manual emptying entrepreneurs, funding agencies and local stakeholders require capacity building in their fields of activity and responsibility.
Universities and research institutes (e.g. EIER, national universities, CREPA, Eawag/Sandec) are the main potential providers for imparting basic skills and offering continued education to professionals. Target audiences or clients are the private sector (collection entrepreneurs; FSTP operators; consulting firms); officials, technical and social services staff at municipal level; officials, technical staff, planners, and decision makers / politicians at central level and from donor agencies.
A technical visit to the faecal sludge treatment plant of Cambérène in Dakar on the forth day rounded off this Symposium. The Consulting Engineers, the Construction Company and ONAS, as Contractor and Plant Manager, were present to explain its operation and answer the numerous questions and suggestions of the participants. The plant, which has been completed in 2005, awaits commissioning very shortly.
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Report on the 1st Int. Symposium on FSM Policy, Dakar, 9-12 May 2006 1
Table of contents
Executive Summary i
Table of contents iv
1. Introduction 1
2. Opening Ceremony of the Symposium 1
3. Presentation of Programme and Participants 2
4. Synthesis of the Presentation 3
5. Synthesis of the Work by the Working Groups 4
6. Proposals for Concrete Steps 7
7. Evaluation of the Symposium 8
8. Dakar Declaration 9
9. Annexes 9
Report on the 1st Int. Symposium on FSM Policy, Dakar, 9-12 May 2006 1
1. Introduction
The 1st International Symposium-cum-Workshop on Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Policies in developing countries was held in Dakar, Senegal from 9 to 12 May 2006. This Symposium assembled some sixty participants (cf. comprehensive list of participants in Annex 1) from national and municipal institutions and emptying entrepreneurs from 20 Sub-Saharan countries. It was conducted under the patronage of the Senegal National Sanitation Agency (ONAS), the International Water Association (IWA) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag-Sandec), and co-financed by UN-Habitat, the World Bank (Bank of Netherlands Water Partnership Program (BNWP), and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC).
Fig. 1: The 4-step structure of the Symposium
2. Opening Ceremony of the Symposium
It was marked by presentations of the Head of the Faecal Sludge Management Programme of Eawag/Sandec, by a video on faecal sludge management in Senegal and by a speech of the Senegalese Minister for Prevention, Public Hygiene, Sanitation, and Urban Water Management.
During his presentation, Mr Martin STRAUSS of Sandec expressed, on behalf of himself and the organisers of the Symposium, his gratitude to the Senegalese authorities for having accepted to host this event. He then greeted and thanked all the participants at the Symposium for their interest and commitment to the faecal sludge cause: given the fact that in most urban centres FS continues to be disposed of untreated and illicitly, leading to continued transmission of enteric diseases, environmental degradation and impairment of the urban space. He also mentioned that a reason for convening was to counteract the fact that FSM has remained the stepchild of urban sanitation to date.
The 5-min video film presented the dramatic situation caused by people’s lack of access to proper sanitation and by inadequate FS management in the city of Dakar: on-plot burying of FS or indiscriminate dumping onto roads and other public areas, difficulties for vacuum trucks to access Dakar’s central FS dumping site at Bel Air. It further addressed the health risks to emptying entrepreneurs and to the population in general as expressed by families, one physician, and a public health officer. It showed the striking improvements brought about by the citywide on-site sanitation programme, which is being co-financed by the World Bank. The film ended with presenting one of the three new FS treatment units constructed by ONAS in the city of Dakar.