Concepts of Ecological Sanitation
Ecological sanitation (Ecosan) is based on an overall view of material flows as part of an ecologically and economically sustainable wastewater management system tailored to the needs of the users and to the respective local conditions. It does not favour a specific sanitation technology, but is rather a new philosophy in handling substances that have so far been seen simply as wastewater and water-carried waste for disposal.
According to Esrey et al. (2003) ecological sanitation can be defined as a system that:
- Prevents disease and promotes health
- Protects the environment and conserves water
- Recovers and recycles nutrients and organic matter
Ecosan offers a flexible framework, where centralised elements can be combined with decentralised ones, waterborne with dry sanitation, high-tech with low-tech, etc. By considering a much larger range of options, optimal and economic solutions can be developed for each particular situation.
Thus, the most important advantages of ecological sanitation systems are:
- Improvement of health by minimising the introduction of pathogens from human excreta into the water cycle
- Promotion of safe, hygienic recovery and use of nutrients, organics, trace elements, water and energy
- Preservation of soil fertility
- Contribution to the conservation of resources through lower water consumption, substitution of mineral fertiliser and minimisation of water pollution
- Improvement of agricultural productivity and food security
- Preference for modular, decentralised partial-flow systems for more appropriate cost-efficient solutions adapted to the local situation
- Promotion of a holistic, interdisciplinary approach
- Material flow cycle instead of disposal of valuable resources
Read more about this topic: Ecological Sanitation
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