APPROPRIATE TOILET TECHNOLOGIES FOR DIFFERENT TOPOGRAPHIES AND FAECAL SLUDGE MANAGEMENT IN NON SEWERED AREAS

Abstract

India has witnessed a massive sanitation drive in the recent years and 97% of the country’s villages
have attained Open Defecation Free (ODF) status. But the massive number of toilet construction now comes
with its own set of challenges. To mention a few, the ODF drive in manyplaces led to construction of toilets
not suitable according to the topographical characteristics of the region, for example leach pit toilets were
built in high water table and flood prone areas. This in turn pose risk of contamination of water table and
other sources of drinking water. There are also issues with the faulty design of the toilets. In many areas
large number of people also resorted to the construction of septic tanks. Septic tanks have their own set of
second generation problems like desludging, emptying and proper disposal of faecal matter. In the rural
areas these are mainly done manually.
This papers presents the various models of toilets suitable for different kind of topographies- hard rock areas,
high water table areas, flood prone areas. It also talks about the technical solutions for problem of septic tank
based toilets- faecal sludge management. Papers explains details of interventions, relevance, scalability and
challenges. It shares about models used by WaterAid India in their project areas.