Institutional Mechanisms for Sustainable Sanitation: Learning from Successful Case Studies 3 Wastewater Management System Arising out of Such Ordinance
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policy brief No. 2018-3 (December) Key Points • Despite improvements Institutional Mechanisms for in access to improved sanitation facilities, improper decentralized Sustainable Sanitation: Learning wastewater management still causes water pollution. • The majority of septic tanks from Successful Case Studies are improperly installed, and the “on-demand” desludging system is proving inefficient. KE Seetha Ram, Senior Consulting Specialist, ADBI • Japan has successfully Kazushi Hashimoto, Advisor, Yachiyo Engineering implemented an effective Nikhil Bugalia, Intern, ADBI and robust institutional framework to test and approve new technologies as well as ensure the proper Even though access to improved sanitation facilities has improved, progress in access installation of decentralized to safely managed sanitation services is still slow. Globally, 4.5 billion people still lack wastewater treatment access to safely managed sanitation (UNICEF and WHO 2017). Such inappropriate facilities. management of excreta is a main source of pollution of public water bodies, • The experiences of Japan, Malaysia, and Indonesia rivers, canals, and ponds, particularly in the urban areas of many Asian developing show that mandatory countries. According to a survey conducted by the Japan International Cooperation desludging is effective. The Agency (2012), in Jakarta, Indonesia, although the share of residents with access case of Dumaguete in the to improved sanitation facilities has reached 87% (85% to septic tanks and 2% to Philippines demonstrates sewerage systems), the rivers in the city are seriously polluted. that highlighting the benefits of an efficiently working sanitation One of the causes of water pollution may be attributed to improper decentralized value chain can improve wastewater management. According to the United Nations Children’s Fund and willingness to pay. the World Health Organization (2017), about half the global population is using • Systematic training for non-sewered sanitation—and its poor management is among the leading causes desludging workers can help regulate of water pollution. To discuss the innovative ideas on accelerating the progress on them, cultivate their safely managed sanitation through citywide inclusive sanitation and fecal sludge professionalism, and raise management, the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) hosted the Development their social position. Partner Roundtable and Policy Dialogue Session on Sustainable Sanitation in Asia on 20–22 September 2018. More than 40 participants attended, including 25 officials from various development organizations and 9 government officials from Asian countries. Based on the discussions at the event, this policy brief draws out lessons and recommendations for institutional arrangements for sustainable sanitation. The Challenge The majority of urban residents in Asian developing countries are using septic tanks, many of which are improperly installed and sometimes inaccessible for desludging. Septic tanks often do not conform to the desired quality parameters, and many © 2018 Asian Development Bank Institute ISSN 2411-6734 Development Partner Roundtable and Policy Dialogue Session on Sustainable Sanitation in Asia This work is licensed under a 20–22 September 2018 Creative Commons Attribution- ADBI, Tokyo, Japan NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License. Organized by the Asian Development Bank Institute and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. are designed only to handle black water (wastewater areas and used as fertilizer. In the 1950s and 1960s, from toilets containing pathogens) and not gray water however, the increasing amount of night soil from (wastewater from household use other than toilets). growing urban areas became a serious social problem; The prevalent “on-demand” desludging system often is municipalities carried out the treatment of night soil, incapable of improving the condition of water bodies and the government promoted the development of because septic tanks can become inefficient in primary (or advanced night soil treatment technologies. As a result, initial) treatment long before they are full and desludged. by the time the nationwide development of sewerage In addition, the efficiency of the desludging system is often systems started in the mid-1970s, more than 1,100 night poor due to factors such as unaffordable desludging fees, soil treatment facilities had been built across the country. poor quality of desludging services by the unregulated desludging operators, and the illegal disposal of sludge Beginning in the late 1950s, due to the country’s rapid at locations other than sludge treatment plants (STPs) economic growth, the demand for flush toilets became (caused by distance or sludge disposal fees at the plant, high. On the one hand, the lack of running water made etc.). Moreover, the development of STPs is far behind it impossible to use the traditional vault toilets as flush that of sewerage systems in developing countries, and the toilets; on the other, developing the sewerage system level of utilization of such plants is often poor due to the and connecting households to it might have taken a lack of a regular desludging system and the poor design long time. Hence, PAWTP technology was developed of the STPs, among other factors. for use with flush toilets. In the 1970s, together with the sewerage system, PAWTPs became a prominent In such a context, this policy brief explains how Japan’s measure for the dissemination of flush toilets and the decentralized wastewater management system, or improvement of sanitation. At the time, PAWTPs treated packaged aerated wastewater treatment plant (PAWTP only black water. or johkasou in Japanese), evolved and how it works. The following are the key elements that are taken from From the early 1980s onward, the pollution of public the Japanese experience and relevant for wastewater water bodies caused by gray water became highly management in developing countries: visible. In 1983, the Johkasou Act (PAWTP Act) was enacted to overcome this situation. The passing of the • Establishment of a qualification, examination, PAWTP Act is worth mentioning in that the ministry and training system for installation vendors in charge usually drafts such laws and presents them and/or workers of decentralized wastewater to parliament for voting. In the case of the PAWTP treatment facilities Act, however, since its contents affected multiple • Introduction of a regular desludging system ministries and no single ministry took charge of • Establishment of a qualification and training drafting it, it was the parliamentarians who compiled system for desludging vendors and/or workers the draft—with the support of the stakeholders of • Establishment of a qualification, examination, Japan’s decentralized wastewater management system, and training system for maintenance vendors such as the PAWTP operation and maintenance (O&M) and/or operators of PAWTP or similar facilities vendors and desludging operators. They supported for commercial buildings the promulgation of the PAWTP Act since improving • Strengthening of the inspection of PAWTP or the country’s decentralized wastewater management similar facilities for commercial buildings system was vital for them to continue their business. The law clearly defined the legal basis for the installation of manufactured PAWTPs as well as their maintenance, Japan’s Decentralized Wastewater inspection, and cleaning (desludging). To ensure these Management System measures were translated into reality, the law further specified the responsibilities and duties of the PAWTP Evolution of the Non-Sewered Sanitation System operators and established a state certification system. in Japan Accordingly, the state certification of PAWTP installation workers and maintenance operators was created. When Before 1945, vault toilets, which had a watertight the PAWTP Act was amended in 2000, the PAWTP structure and functioned as a temporary storage for definition eliminated the black water-only type, making “night soil” (fecal sludge), were the most popular style it compulsory for all newly installed PAWTP facilities to of toilets in Japan. Night soil was transported to rural treat both black water and gray water. ADBI Policy Brief No. 2018-3 (December) 2 Institutional Structure, Clear Responsibilities, the central government. Moreover, a designated testing and Efficient Compliance institution tests any new type of PAWTP. The institutional arrangement also ensures that only adequately designed The PAWTP Act delineates the roles and responsibilities PAWTP systems are installed during construction. The of various stakeholders of the decentralized wastewater municipality grants permission to build only when the management system in Japan (see Figure 1). In addition proposed PAWTP to be used at a given site is preapproved. to specifying the responsibilities and duties of PAWTP operators, the law also specifies those of users, the central The PAWTP Act also mandates the construction vendor government, municipalities, inspectors, desludging (i) to be registered by the prefectural government; businesses, and training institutions. As mentioned, state (ii) to employ at each business office installation workers certification systems for PAWTP operators, installation who have been licensed (after completing a course workers, and maintenance operators were created. or an examination) by the Japan Education Center of Environmental Sanitation (JECES), the designated Quality Design and Appropriate