WATER, SANITATION AND HYGIENE (WASH)

¡ Xavier University
¡ Sustainable Sanitation Center

THE GLOBAL SITUATION

¡ There are 7.6B people around the world.
¡ An average human being deposits at least
0.8kg of garbage into the environment.
¡ 1.1 Billion No access to clean water
¡ 2.5 Billion No access to improved sanitation
¡ 946 million Practice open defecation
¡ 9 million No access to clean water.
¡ 19 million No access to improved sanitation
¡ 4,200 Die annually due to Diarrheal Diseases
nd
¡ Diarrheal diseases: 2 leading cause of death in
low-income countries. And yet, water is wasted
¡ Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation kills at
least 1.6 million children annually under the
age of five years all over the world.
¡ 1.7 billion children under the age of five have §
malnutrition attributable to diarrheal diseases

Common Infections Related to Poor Sanitation and

Contaminated Water
Viral diseases
rotavirus, hepatitis A
Bacterial diseases
typhoid fever, cholera, shigella, e coli
Protozoal diseases
amoebiasis, giardiasis
Parasitic Worms
ascaris, hookworm, trichuris,
Schistosoma
¡ 2.4 Billion or 1/3 of the global people do not
have access to proper sanitation facilities.
¡ TRASH IS THROWN AND MIXED TOGETHER
¡ Regions with unsatisfactory ratings for their
quality: I, III, NCR, IV & VII
¡ PERCENTAGE OF SEWAGE IN THE
COUNTRY: 80% of water provided to
households is wasted
10% wastewater is treated
58% of groundwater is contaminated
¡ And What about TOMORROW?
¡ Mixing all trash together…
¡ The Great Pacific Garbage Patch
¡ WHAT IS THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
WATER, SANITATION AND HEALTH
¡ WHAT CAN WE DO?
¡ CHANGE THE WAY
¡ We THINK
¡ We ACT
 ¡ RA 9003: Ecological Solid Waste Management
Act of 2000
Ø Waste Characterization and
Segregation
Ø Source Reduction
Ø Collection and Transport of Solid Waste
Ø Recycling Program
Ø Composting
¡ ORO KALIMPYO
This initiative aims to:
1. TO RAISE AWARENESS on the importance and
benefits of Ecological Solid Waste Management
(ESWM);
2. TO ENSURE COMPLIANCE of the barangays with
the mandates of Republic Act. No. 9003 and City
Ordinance No. 8975-2003;
3. TO GIVE APPROPRIATE RECOGNITION to model
barangays with OUTSTANDING PRACTICES ON
ESWM
-END-

WATER

LIFE

HEALTH SANITATION
 SUSTAINABLE SANITATION AND THE LINK TO v The main objective of a sanitation system is to
AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY protect and promote human health by providing a
clean environment and breaking the cycle of
disease.
Sanitation v In order to be sustainable a sanitation system has
• Sanitation generally refers to the provision of to be not only economically viable, socially
facilities and services for the safe disposal of acceptable, and technically and institutionally
human urine and faeces. Inadequate sanitation is appropriate, it should also protect the
a major cause of disease world-wide and environment and the natural resources.’ (SuSanA
improving sanitation is known to have a 2008)
significant beneficial impact on health both in
households and across communities.
• The word 'sanitation' also refers to the
maintenance of hygienic conditions, through
services such as garbage collection and
wastewater disposal. (WHO).
• Sanitation is a human right and a key component
of primary prevention to ensure better health.
Since its inception, WHO has recognized
sanitation as vital to global health.

What does sanitation include?

ü safe collection, storage, treatment and
disposal/re-use/ recycling of human
excreta (faeces and urine) and sewage
effluents
ü drainage and disposal (re-use, recycling)
of household grey water
ü management/ re-use/ recycling of solid
wastes
ü treatment and disposal/ re-use/ recycling
of drainage of stormwater THE LINK TO AGRICULTURE
ü collection and management of industrial
waste products
ü management of hazardous wastes,
including hospital wastes, and
chemical/radioactive and other
dangerous substances.

• Loss of soil fertility inherent to all agricultural

systems
• Nutrients are taken up from the soil through the
harvest, transported, eaten and excreted
• In former centuries common practise to
compensate nutrient loss through application of
animal manure, human excreta, compost or long
fallow periods
URINE AND FECES

URINE
• 500 liter per person/year
• Almost sterile
• Big share of soluble substances in urine are
essential plant nutrients like N, P, K
• Particularly rich in Nitrogen (N)
• Nutrients in a plant available form
• Fertilizer value: 240 Pesos per person/year

FAECES
• 50 liter per person/year
• Carries large amounts of pathogens
• Contain both water and non-water soluble
nutrients
• High organic matter content
• High concentrations of P and K, low in N
• Value: 60 Pesos per person/year

FERTILISER USE
• Farmers worldwide require 150 million tons of
synthetically produced nutrients (IFA 2004)
• At the same time conventional sanitation systems
dump around 50 million tons of fertiliser
equivalents into water bodies
• Production of most common synthetic fertilizer
ingredients (N, P, K) relies on non-renewable
resources

FINITE FERTILISER RESOURCES

• Phosphorus reserves almost entirely from
geological deposits and expected to last for
around 50-100 years
• Potassium reserves expected to last for about
300 years
• Nitrogen can be extracted from the surrounding
air, but very energy-intensive process
• Prices for fertilizer already high & hardly
affordable for farmers
• Fertilizer prices expected to increase in the
years to come

PROPERTIES OF URINE
• Big share of soluble substances in urine are
essential plant nutrients like N, P, K and smaller
fractions of micronutrients
• Particularly rich in Nitrogen (N)
• Nutrients in a plant available form
• Exact nutrient content dependent on the diet
• Varies between countries a well as individuals
• Amount of urine/pax depends on the amount of
liquid a person drinks
• Usually within a range of 0.8-1.5 liter, roughly 500
liter/pax/year

PROPERTIES OF FAECES
• High organic matter content that can give
substantial yield increases especially on poor
soils
 • Contain both water and non-water soluble
nutrients BENEFITS
• N content lower than in urine, high concentrations
of P and K AGRICULTURAL BENEFITS
• P is particularly valuable for the plant in its early • Highly perceptible increase in agricultural yields
development and important for good root especially if directly compared with unfertilised
development crops
• Faeces contain a large amount of pathogens • Vegetables and fruit crops fertilised with urine
(viruses, bacteria, protozoa, hookworms & other produce 2-10 times the amount of crop per weight
parasitic helminths) as those grown unfertilised (Jönsson et al, 2005)
• Barriers are needed against pathogens in faeces • Comparable results as synthetic fertilisers
• Proper treatment • Increase in yield improves availability,
• protective clothing (i.e. gloves) during affordability, access to food and has an impact on
handling and wash afterwards the household income
• Thorough covering during application of • INCREASED FOOD SECURITY
the treated faeces before
sowing/planting
• No fertilization to vegetables eaten raw PROPER URINE APPLICATION
• Etc.

HEALTH CONSIDERATIONS

MULTI-BARRIER APPROACH (WHO)

• WHO recognizes the potential of using excreta in
agriculture
• Promotes a flexible multi-barrier approach for
managing the health risks
• Series of measures/barriers along the entire
sanitation system from ‘toilet to table’
• Each of the barriers has a certain potential to
reduce health risks associated with the excreta
use
• Recommended to put in place several of these
barriers (if needed) in order to reduce the health
risk to an acceptable minimum
Things to remember
• Apply urine 10 cm away from the plant
• Cover immediately after application
• Do not over apply, do not soak the roots
• Avoid foliar application.

PROPER FAECAL APPLICATION

Vermicomposting
• African Night Crawler – worm specie
• Vermicomposting structure
• enough water
• Pre-composted material
• Good carbon-nitrogen ratio
• proper management
• Nutrient rich organic matter – used to improve soil
condition

Problem on Soil Condition

• Low organic matter content
• Low water holding capacity
• Low cation exchange capacity
• Low pH
• Low microbial population/diversity
• Sandy in nature
* These Can be improved through applying/adding
vermicast