The Department of Water and Sanitation is calling on stakeholders to make suggestions to the draft National Faecal Sludge Management Strategy framework.

The Department held the Faecal Sludge Management Strategy national consultation in Boksburg on 15 November, where various stakeholders got a chance to make inputs into the draft strategy.

Stakeholders attending the workshop included higher learning institutions, the private sector, government departments affected by faecal sludge and Non-Governmental Organisations.

The National Faecal Sludge Management (FSM) Strategy encourages sustainable sanitation management along the sanitation value chain to prevent health hazards and protect the environment.

It also enhances the operation and maintenance of on-site sanitation systems and prevents groundwater contamination.

Sanitation has an economic value, and South Africa has recognised the need to pursue sanitation resource recovery, recycling, and reuse.

The strategy, therefore, creates a transition from treating sanitation as waste to treating it as a resource and using it to create economic activity and value, as well as job opportunities.

Professor Alfred Odindo from the University of KwaZulu-Natal opened the session with a presentation on how-to Transition Towards a Circular Economy in Sanitation.

Professor Odindo said to transition waste to waste resources to create economic opportunities relied on the circular economy.

This would use resources available in cascading systems, thus creating multiple values of economic growth and sustainability the goods of today become the resources for tomorrow.

"The circular economy replaces the extractive 'take-make-dispose' linear system, which is constrained by resource availability, with the 3R approach", the professor explained. "Definitions focus on either raw materials or on system changes."

He said one of the challenges that could impede implementing the strategy would be a lack of financial capital, a sentiment echoed throughout the workshop.

The workings of the strategy will rely on the four pillars of the sanitation value chain namely: capture and containment, emptying and transport, treatment and end-use, and disposal.

In each of the pillars, challenges were identified, and strategic management solutions were suggested.

With capture and containment, it was found that technical aspects of on-site sanitation, such as design, volume, and location, would be a challenge. This could be rectified by installing private household functions.

While under the emptying and transporting pillar, it was noted that more pits were being built when existing ones are already full, giving an impression of a lack of planning.

It was suggested that Water Service Authorities (WSAs) appoint service providers or provide services to clear out pits themselves.

Written submissions on the FSM are to be provided before 5 December 2022 and sent to [email protected](link sends e-mail)

Enquiries:
Sputnik Ratau
Cell: 082 874 2942

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