Actions towards improved sanitation to prevent water borne diseases outbreaks

By Clive Mutame Siachiyako

The provision of quality sanitation is problematic in most Zambian towns, resulting into almost annual water borne diseases outbreaks. Many actions to keep Zambia clean have been tried with dismal results and abandoned. People's attitude, lack of skilled persons and lack of facilities to improve sanitation conditions have contributed to the bad performance of the country in sanitation provision. 

To address lack of skilled human capital in addressing sanitation issues, Technical Education, Vocational and Entrepreneurship Training Authority (TEVETA) in collaboration with the German development agency (GIZ) has developed curricula for new training programmes in sanitation and faecal sludge management (FSM). The training programmes have since been approved by TEVETA in line with sanitation programmes in councils in the country. The training programmes are meant to develop suitable skills to improve the management of on-site sanitation and to avert underground water contamination and water/soil pollutions that resulted into water borne diseases outbreaks such as cholera. Cholera at the beginning of 2018 paralysed business operations in most towns mostly Lusaka. The development of sanitation and faecal sludge management skills have been identified to be valuable to improve sanitation conditions in townships in the country.  

Zambia is one the most urbanised and fastest growing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. The rate of urbanisation has come with challenges in accessing sanitation, especially in peri-urban as population growth surpasses infrastructure and service delivery. Most of the people in peri-urban and rural areas rely on on-site satiation, which is predominantly characterised with the use of pit latrines and septic tanks. These facilities store and accumulate faecal sludge, hence posing a threat to human health through unsafe disposal when pits become full or ground water pollution in the areas where ground water table is high.

Lusaka has 35 settlements in peri-urban areas in which 70% of the population lives [more than 2 million] according to the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat). The city’s urbanisation rate increased from 3.3% [from 1990 t0 200] to 5% [from 2000 to 2010]. Rural- urban migration in search of economic opportunities exert more pressure on already stressed peri-urban communities where most rural migrants settle. As a result, access to social services that include safe water, adequate sanitation, energy and health in peri-urban areas is becoming a big challenge. Lack of safe sanitation facilities partly stems from unplanned settings of peri-urban areas that make it difficult to be connected to sewer systems. As a result, more than 75% of sewage and wastewater in Lusaka remain inadequately collected and treated.

The FSM training programmes are aimed at improving sanitation provision and utilisation of faecal sludge. The newly developed curricula in FSM are: Faecal Sludge Management Services, Inspection and Enforcement of Faecal Sludge Management, Manual Emptying of On-Site Sanitation Systems, Occupational Health and Safety in Faecal Sludge Management, Vacuum Truck Operations and Maintenance, and Operation and Maintenance of Faecal Sludge Treatment Plants. The programmes are meant to develop relevant skills in managing faecal sludge and making by-products in the faecal sludge value chain.

FSM is the collection, transport, and treatment of faecal sludge from pit latrines, septic tanks or other on-site sanitation systems. Faecal sludge is a mixture of human excreta, water and solid wastes (such as toilet paper and menstrual hygiene materials) that are disposed in pits, tanks or vaults of on-site sanitation systems. It comes from onsite sanitation technologies, and has not been transported through a sewer. Examples of onsite technologies include pit latrines, public ablution blocks not connected to sewer system, septic tanks, aqua privies, and dry toilets. Sludge management skills are significant to improve sanitation in townships where pit latrines are mostly used and in areas where sewer networks are not connected to sewer ponds.

FSM requires safe and hygienic pit latrine and septic tank emptying services, effective treatment of faecal sludge solids and liquids for possible making of by-products. It includes on-site and offsite treatment options and the dispersal or capture and further processing of the products of the treatment process into biogas, compost manure and energy. Currently, faecal sludge is not well utilised in Zambia. It is landfilled, discharged to the environment or kept underground in septic tanks and pit latrines. On-site sanitation is a system of sanitation whose storage facilities are contained within the plot occupied by people and their immediate surrounding.

Suitable sanitation is imperative in any community. Being rated as one of the most urbanized and fastest growing countries by the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Zambia faces challenges with access to sanitation. High urbanisation levels, lack of equipment, and shortage of skilled persons in sludge management are attributed to compound sanitation challenges. Current estimates place pit latrine usage in peri-urban areas at 90% while 10% are either connected to the sewerage network or use septic tanks. Unlined pit latrines are the ones mostly used in peri-urban areas and emptying them is done by household members or informal-empting individuals.

Broadly, peri-urban communities use improperly managed pit latrines and flushable toilets with poorly designed septic tanks. Illegal empting companies are often engaged when their faecal sludge facilities are full. The sludge tend to be thrown in pits dug next to toilets or thrown into the environment. Faecal sludge dumped into the environment is harmful to ground water. On average, five cubic meters truckload of untreated faecal sludge thrown into the bush is equivalent 5 000 people practicing open defecation and can result in surface or ground water and soil pollution thereby causing water born disease outbreaks. Recently, more than 4000 cholera cases were recorded in Lusaka’s Kanyama, Chipata, Matero, Bauleni and Chainda townships. Most of these townships have high ground water tables polluted by faecal sludge from pit latrines and poorly constructed septic tanks.

Government formulated the Urban Sanitation Strategy for effective management of on-site sanitation facilities in line with the Lusaka City Council (LCC) on-site sanitation catalogue. The LCC is also working on by-laws towards on-site sanitation and faecal sludge management, whilst National Water Supply and Sanitation Council and Zambia Bureau of Standard are developing an on-site sanitation regulatory framework, guidelines and standards. Other programmes such as Lusaka Sanitation Programme (LSP) have been put in place to scaling up sanitation. The LSP aims at improving sanitation services using an integrated approach involving rehabilitation, upgrading, and expanding sewerage. The LSP further focuses on improving sanitation in peri-urban areas, informal settlements, and raising citizens’ awareness around sanitation, public health and environmental protection. Therefore, it is necessary to have suitably skilled and qualified staff to lead and manage the on-site sanitation services business.

TEVETA Manager Curriculum Development, Kennedy Bowa said the training programmes in FSM will ensure full integration of faecal sludge personnel in guiding faecal sludge plant operations. The skilled persons in this area will be responsible for operational excellence in the overall chain including capturing, containment, emptying, transportation, treatment and safe re-use or disposal of faecal sludge. Government and cooperating partners considered decentralised faecal sludge treatment plants as an important component of a comprehensive and efficient FSM chain as they ensure safe treatment of faecal sludge and the subsequent safe disposal of faecal sludge and by-products of on-site sanitation systems. Performance of faecal sludge treatment plants depends on proper operation and maintenance, conditions largely reliant on the availability of relevant skilled human resources deployed for the required operation and maintenance works.

Currently, managing faecal sludge treatment plants in the country experiences major challenges mainly due to lack of adequately trained and qualified staff. Existing skills and knowledge acquired by practitioners in the field are self-taught as there are no formally established institutions for capacity building in this area. The situation jeopardizes public health as practitioners offer services according to their own knowledge and experience in the industry. The training programmes entail systematic emptying of faecal sludge pits, ferry the faecal sludge to designated waste stabilisation ponds for separation and treatment. Public health enforcers of quality faecal sludge management will be up-skilled for them to ensure sanitation standards are adhered to in the whole value chain of faecal sludge management.

Solutions for effective and sustainable FSM presents a significant global need. FSM is a relatively new field, however, it is currently rapidly developing and gaining acknowledgement. Effective management of faecal sludge systems entails transactions and interactions among a variety of people and organisations from the public, private and civil society at every step in the service chain, from the household level user, to collection and transport companies, operators of treatment plants, and the final end-user of treated sludge. Sewer systems and FSM can be complementary, and frequently do exist side-by-side.