Roland SchertenleibSwiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag) / W+S Consult

Urban Sanitation systems – building on the Household Centred Environmental

Sanitation approach (HCES)

SEI/EcoSanRes 2 Workshop on: “Planning and Implementation of Sustainable Sanitation in Peri/Semi-

Urban Settings – A Need for Development of Existing Tools”25 - 26 August 2008, Stockholm

Content

- Development of the HCES planning approach

- Main characteristics of HCES

- Enabling environment for HCES

- 10 step planning process

- Validation of the HCES approach

- Successes and challenges

Basis for future approaches in ES

- People and their quality of life should be at the centre of any environmental sanitation system

- Solutions of ES problems should take place as close as possible to where they occur

- Any ES system must be designed in such a way to balance economic with environmental good

- Wastes, whether solid or liquid, should be regarded as a resource

- ES systems should be ‘circular’ designed in such a way as to minimize inputs and reduce outputs

- Problems relating to ES should be handled within an integrated framework, and this framework should itself be part of a wider system of integrated water resources, waste management and food production

HCES Approach is based on ……

1. Human dignity, quality of life and environmental security at household level should be at the centre of any sanitation approach.

2. In line with good governance principles, decision making should involve participation of all stakeholders, especially the consumers and providers of services.

3. Waste should be considered a resource, and its management should be holistic and form a part of integrated water resources, nutrient flow and waste management processes

4. The domain (zone) in which environmental sanitation problems are resolved should be kept to the minimum practicable size (household, community, town, district, catchment, and city).

The Bellagio Principles for sustainable sanitation:

What is environmental sanitation?

excreta management

wastewater management

solid waste management

control of disease vectors

washing facilities

stormwater drainage facilit

ies

beh

avio

urs

interventions to provide a hygienic environment

Interventions to reduce people's exposure to disease by providing a clean environment in which to live, with measures to break the cycle of disease.

Involves both behaviors and facilities which work together to form a hygienic environment.

Drainage

WATER SUPPLY AND ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION

• Healthy and productive life• Ecological integrity of aquatic systems

• Protection of natural resources

Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation

Solid Waste Management

Drinking Water Supply

Excreta and Wastewater Management

HygieneHygiene

Household Centred Environmental Sanitation (HCES) Approach

… places the household and its neighbourhood at the core

of the planning process

… is a multi-sector approach: accounting for excreta

management (sanitation), storm water drainage, solid waste

management and water supply

… is a multi-actor approach: emphasising the participation of

all stakeholders, beginning at the household/neighbourhood

or community level, in planning and implementing integrated

urban environmental sanitation services

Main characteristics of HCES

HCES is based

… on the concept of ‘zones’, and solving problems within the ‘zone’ nearest to where the problems arise

(V)

Nation

District / Province

(IV)

Town / City

(III)

Neighbourhood

(II)

Household(I)

Main characteristics of HCES

HCES is based

… on the circular model, emphasising resource conservation and reuse (rather than linear model)

Concept of zones with bottom-up and top-down component

From linear to „reuse oriented“

From centralized to decentralized

centralized …

...decentralized

Permits stepwise development

and investment of sanitation system

Permits stepwise development

and investment of sanitation system

Potential of decentralized sanitation systems

Responsiveness to local demandsResponsiveness to local demands

Permits waste segregation

at source

Permits waste segregation

at source

Increases local wastewater reuse

opportunities

Increases local wastewater reuse

opportunities

Tailoring to local conditions

Tailoring to local conditions

Minimizes waste of freshwater

for transportation

Minimizes waste of freshwater

for transportation

Lower risks system failsLower risks system fails

Decentralized and tailored solutions

Structure of the HCES Guideline

- How to create an ‘Enabling Environment’

- 10-STEP planning processNeed for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Enabling Environment

- Elements necessary to support the application of the HCES approach:

– Government Support– Legal Framework– Institutional Arrangements– Required Skills– Financial Arrangements– Information and knowledge management

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Government support

Political will and support at all levels

Objective: secure agreement that HCES should proceed in the program area; doesn’t have to be an unconditional endorsement of HCES by the government.

Favourable national policies and strategies

Ensure that the HCES approach does not contradict existing policies and strategies

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Legal Framework

Many existing standards are inappropriate, but cannot be rejected by public sector officials (personal liability).

Examples:– Service delivery standards– National and municipal codes (e.g. health or building codes)– Technical standards (water supply and sewer standards)

► Secure a moratorium on the application of existing

standards to the program area

► Try to identify more appropriate standards

► Upgrade existing standards

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Institutional arrangements

Institutional arrangements are required that suit the highly decentralised and zone-by-zone approach used in HCES

Arrangements across zones: support of local organisations (providing the services) from organisations in larger zones with greater capacities, such as:– direct provision of services– technical assistance, capacity building, information dissemination

Arrangements between institutions at municipal level: close collaboration between various organisations involved in environmental sanitation services

Arrangements legitimising and supporting the participation of small-scale private sector entrepreneurs

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Required skills

Effective training and communications, ensuring that all participants understand and accept the HCES concept, including its pre-conditions and implications, e.g.:

• Householders must understand implications of different options to them, e.g. convenience, costs, O&M requirements, etc.

• Professionals must be familiar with existing legal framework, regulations, codes, range of technical options etc.

• Municipal officials must be reoriented towards a better understanding of the social, institutional, financial and other factors that have to be addressed (paradigm shift)

• Private service providers must be trained in business management, bidding, analysis of market demand etc.

► resource centres, short courses, curricula development, etc.

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Credit and other financial arrangements

Credit and other financial arrangements that facilitate household participation and community involvement

Strong advocacy is required to convince different levels of government (from national to local) that:

a. HCES programmes require (initially) an increase in investment in the WATSAN sector, which have to be covered by increased budget allocation.

b. Allowance needs to be made for funding the full range of costs: administrative and hardware costs; software costs (e.g. training, social marketing programmes, O&M needs).

c. Local private initiatives must be supported through setting up of micro-credit schemes (rather than grants and subsidies).

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

Information and knowledge management

- Guidelines are required, providing information on a comprehensive range of technical and software options, addressing questions such as:

– benefits and limitations of different technical options– user friendliness – impact on environment, potential for resource recovery– traffic and land use implications– potential for income generation– impact on service for the poor– ...

- Basis for locally developed guideline: “Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologie”, ‘state of the art’ texts, national and regional resource centres, academic institutions, experienced sector professionals etc.

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

1. Request for assistance

2. Launch of the planning and consultative process

3. Assessment of the current status

4. Assessment of user priorities

5. Identification of options

6. Evaluation of feasible service combinations

7. Consolidated UESS plans for study area

8. Finalising of consolidated UESS plans

9. Monitoring, evaluation and feedback

10. Implementation

The 10 STEP Process

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

1. Request for assistance

2. Launch of the planning and consultative process

3. Assessment of the current status

4. Assessment of user priorities

5. Identification of options

6. Evaluation of feasible service combinations

7. Consolidated UESS plans for study area

8. Finalising of consolidated UESS plans

9. Monitoring, evaluation and feedback

10. Implementation

The 10 STEP (iterative) Process

Need for a change

Bellagio Principles

HCES approach

HCES planning GL

Enabling Environment

10 STEP process

What next?

VALIDATION SITES:

Successes

- Forum to meet local and other authorities

- Formulation of community priorities especially in environmental management

- Discussion of valid options & prioritization

- Real ownership of interventions

- Willingness to invest and to address priorities step by step

- Sanitation as an entry point to community development !

Challenges

- Sometimes priorities not high on local authorities’ agenda

- Setting high expectations amongst communities

- The communities tired of planning processes and searching for solutions

- Issues of land tenure and investment

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One-for-all solution in cities with highly heterogeneous physical and socio-economic conditions ??

Main challenges in planning for sustainable environmental sanitation systems

High growth rates

Insecure tenure

Low funding priority

Extreme socio-economic heterogenity

High settlement

densities Unplanned and informal settlements

The conventional planning approach

- In the conventional planning approach, utility planners & engineers develop demand projections based on demographic and economic indicators (e.g. Maser Plans)

- Infrastructure planning and service delivery continue to be supply-driven with a high degree of centralised control, little local accountability and low end-user involvement

- The supply-driven model is a top-down approach, built around bureaucratic mechanisms and implemented by govt bureaucrats and engineers.

Failures of the conventional planning model

– Inflexibility in form and content– Procedures to amend plans are bureaucratic– Restrictive nature of master plans– Regulations and legislation favour planning

of centralized sewerage systems – carry with them technology lock in…

Common elements…