Appropriate Sanitation Alternatives

Book excerpt: The United Nations has designated the 1980's as the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade. Its goal is to provide two of the most fundamental human needs - safe water and sanitary disposal of human wastes - to all people. Since the technology for supplying water is better understood, the emphasis in this volume is on sanitation and waste reclamation technologies, their contributions to better health, and how they are affected by water service levels and the ability an willingness of communities to pay for the systems. This manual presents the latest field results of the research, summarizes selected portions of other publication on sanitation program planning, and describes the engineering details of alternative sanitation technologies and how they can be upgraded. The guidelines, procedures, and technologies are based on the World Bank's own research in nineteen countries. The twenty-two chapters are divided into three parts: socioeconomic aspects of sanitation program planning, sanitation program planning, and sanitation technology options. The manual is extensively illustrated with the technical diagrams of the recommended sanitation systems and their components.