Your search found 2 records
1 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Evans, B.; Ahmed, R.; Habib, A.; Asad, N. S. M.; Vuong, L.; Rahman, M.; Hasan, M.; Dey, D.; Camargo-Valero, M.. 2016. Pump it up: making single-pit emptying safer in rural Bangladesh. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 6(3):456-464. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2016.049]
Rural areas ; Faecal sludge ; Faecal coliforms ; Sewage effluent disposal ; Sludge treatment ; Latrines ; Sanitation ; Health hazards ; Helminths ; Liquid wastes ; Public services ; State intervention ; Pumping / Bangladesh
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H047856)
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Safe emptying and disposal of fecal sludge from pit latrines in rural areas has become a priority for the Government of Bangladesh. In this paper, we calculate the volume and characterize the hazards of managing sludge to identify technologies for safely emptying rural single pits. In Bhaluka subdistrict, an estimated 15,000 m3 of sludge is produced annually. Physical, chemical, and microbial analysis of samples of sludge taken from pit latrines indicate that the sludge has a high moisture content of around 90%, a C:N ration of 10:1, and a helminth presence of 41 eggs/g. In a field test of alternative emptying technologies, simple pumps such as the gulper emerged as feasible for use in rural areas, due to the liquid nature of the sludge, narrow roads, and limited incomes of rural households. The results suggest that current practices of emptying liquid sludge manually without any protective equipment poses risks to those who handle sludge, and the process needs to be semi-mechanized with immediate effect. These results are being used by the Bangladesh government to design policy for sludge management. In the near future, an organized service that safely empties single pits and transports sludge for treatment needs to be urgently designed.
2 Balasubramanya, Soumya; Evans, E.; Ahmed, R.; Habib, A.; Asad, N. S. M.; Rahman, M.; Hasan, M.; Dey, D.; Camargo-Valero, M.; Rao, Krishna Chaitanya; Fernando, Sudarshana. 2017. Take it away: the need for designing fecal sludge disposal services for single-pit latrines. Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development, 7(1):121-128. [doi: https://doi.org/10.2166/washdev.2017.073]
Faecal sludge ; Waste disposal ; Waste management ; Pit latrines ; Sanitation ; Rural areas ; Household wastes ; Transport infrastructure ; Public health ; Health hazards ; Environmental health / Bangladesh
(Location: IWMI HQ Call no: e-copy only Record No: H048079)
The government of Bangladesh is increasingly paying attention to the safe collection and disposal of fecal sludge from pit latrines in rural areas. In this paper, we report on current sludge disposal practices from single-pit latrines, by conducting a survey of 1,091 households with pit latrines in a rural subdistrict of Bangladesh. Almost all households were using their pits, and 90% reported that hiring pit emptiers to empty the pit for reuse was the dominant pit management practice. However, 90% of households also reported that the sludge from these pits would be disposed of in the vicinity of their homes, by digging wide and shallow troughs in the soil to absorb the sludge. These results indicate an urgent need to design an organized service that safely transports fecal sludge away for treatment. The National Committee for Fecal Sludge Management, constituted by the government of Bangladesh, is using these results to design policy for sludge management.
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