Sanitation Portal

This portal describes sanitation technologies which can be applied from the household level to the village level. A complete sanitation system does not consist of only one technology, but rather a chain of technologies, each taking care of a specific function, such as the toilet, transportation, and treatment. Each technology below is dedicated to one particular function in this chain. An example is given at the end of this page.

Below, sanitation technologies are presented in different functional groups: User interface (Toilets, urinals, handwashing), Collection and Storage / Local Treatment, Conveyance, (semi-) Centralized Treatment, and Use of products / disposal.

IRC Sanitation RSS feed

Jump to more Sanitation links and resources below.

Toilet Facilities	Collection and Storage / Local Treatment	Conveyance	(Semi-) Centralized Treatment	Use of Products / Disposal
Dry Toilet Urine Diverting Dry Toilet Urinal Pour Flush Toilet Cistern Flush Toilet Urine Diverting Flush Toilet Communal Latrines Commercial Toilets Pour flush slabs Hygiene - Tippy Tap	Urine Storage Tank / Container Single Pit Single Ventilated Improved Pit Double Ventilated Improved Pit Fossa Alterna Twin Pits for Pour Flush Dehydration Vaults Composting Chamber Septic Tank Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR) Anaerobic Filter Biogas Reactor	Jerrycan - tank Human-Powered Emptying and Transport Motorized Emptying and Transport Simplified Sewer Solids-free Sewer Conventional Gravity Sewer Transfer Station - Underground Holding Tank Sewer Discharge Station Settled sewerage (small diameter)	Pre-Treatment Technologies Settler Imhoff Tank Anaerobic Baffled Reactor (ABR) Anaerobic Filter Waste Stabilization Pond Aerated Pond Free-Water Surface Constructed Wetland Horizontal Subsurface Flow Constructed Wetland Vertical Flow Constructed Wetland Trickling Filter Upflow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket Reactor Activated Sludge Sedimentation - Thickening Ponds Unplanted Drying Beds Planted Drying Beds Co-composting Biogas Reactor Tertiary Filtration and Disinfection Struvite recovery	Fill and Cover - Arborloo Application of Stored Urine Application of Dehydrated Faeces Application of Pit Humus and Compost Application of Sludge Irrigation Soak Pit Leach Field Fish Pond Floating Plant Pond Water Disposal - Groundwater Recharge Surface Disposal and Storage Biogas Combustion Productive Sanitation & the Link to Food Security

Field experiences

These projects are utilizing sanitation techniques and are part of the project listing in Really Simple Reporting (RSR) on Akvo.org.

RSR Project 107 Rainwater harvesting in Guinee Bissau	RSR Project 600 Community-led WASH and Safe Motherhood	RSR Project 830 Scanning and Mapping the WASH Situation	RSR Project 388 WASH Alliance project, AMREF in Ethiopia	RSR Project 351 Cost effective means of financing WASH

RSR Project 459 Upscaling CLTS for Healthy Communities	RSR Project 462 Northern Region WASH Programme	RSR Project 386 Scaling-up using CLTS in Kenya	RSR Project 469 Implementing an IWRM process in Mashuru	RSR Project 361 Improving Communal Health Through WASH

RSR Project 401 Eau, hygiène et assainissement	RSR Project 364 WASH in Gorkha and Baglung	RSR Project 366 WASH Sustainability through Women Led MFI	RSR Project 367 SWASH in Birendranagar, Surkhet	RSR Project 488 Community-based WASH Project in Nepal

Sanitation links

Photo: IRC

• Sustainable Sanitation & Groundwater Protection
• Sanitation as a Business
• IRC Sanitation Pack - IRC Sanitation Pack, SanPack for short, contains an overview of available methods, techniques and tools in a low-cost, non-sewered sanitation service model. The materials have been developed and used by IRC and its long-standing and more recent partners in the South and the North in some 20 countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

• For a helpful sourcebook in the training of professionals for the sanitation and water sector, browse or download the set of animated PowerPoints called Sustainable Sanitation, by clicking the pink box below.

Sanitation systems

• Sanitation Systems & Technology Options
• The Functional Sanitation Ladder
• Planning of Sustainable Sanitation for Cities

Example

This is a complete sanitation system, which consists of a chain of technologies. Reading the icons in the illustration below from the left to the right we have a Urine Diverting Dry Toilet connecting to Storage tanks, where the faeces are taken away through Human-Powered Emptying and Transport to be processed through Co-composting and then finally be used through Application of Compost - Eco-Humus and the Application of Urine.

The table below lists eight different examples of sanitation systems, going from very simple to more complex. Of course, many other systems are possible, depending on the local context.

1 Single Pit System

2 Waterless System with Alternating Pits

3 Pour Flush Pit System without Sludge Production

4 Waterless System with Urine Diversion

5 Biogas System

6 Blackwater Treatment System with Infiltration

7 Blackwater Treatment System with Effluent Transport

8 Blackwater Transport to (Semi-) Centralized Treatment System

9 Sewerage System with Urine Diversion

Acknowledgements

• The majority of the material in this portal was adapted from: Tilley, E. et al. (2008). Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies. Eawag: The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland.

• Currently, WASTE is working on a Sanitation Decision Support tool, which will be integrated in this portal in the near future.

• Smart Sanitation Solutions produced in collaboration with Netherlands Water Partnership, WASTE, PRACTICA, IRC, SIMAWI and Partners voor Water