Introduction to Sanitary Engineering

Sanitary engineering, also known as public health engineering, is the application

of engineering methods to improve sanitation of human communities, primarily by
providing the removal and disposal of human waste, and in addition to the supply of
safe potable water. Sanitary engineering is the application of engineering methods to
improve sanitation of human communities by, primarily, providing the removal and
disposal of human waste and a supply of safe water.

Significance of Sanitary Engineering

Statistic in Public Health

About 7 million Filipinos in 2015 have resorted to open defecation–85% of which are
from rural areas without toilet facilities. This poses a threat to the safety of food and
quality of drinking water. In the last five years, the Philippines experienced a series of
food- and waterborne disease outbreaks which could have been minimized if
improvement in access to sanitation facilities had been given full attention.
Rural Excreta Disposal
Excreta disposal is an important part of environmental sanitation. Its
provision is listed by the WHO expert committee on Environmental Sanitation among
the first basic steps which should be taken towards assuring a safe environment in rural
areas and small communities, the others being provision of an adequate supply of safe
drinking-water and the control of insect and animal vectors of diseases in places where
these are of significance. Poor excreta disposal is often associated with the lack of
adequate water supplies and of other sanitation facilities and with a low economic status
of the rural population.