Q&A:
South Africa Suffers Sanitation Backlog
Kristin Palitza interviews Gertrude Matsebe and Louiza Duncker, Sustainable Human Settlement group, Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
PRETORIA, Dec 15 (IPS) - Sanitation is a key element of health, and hygiene a basic need for survival. Yet,
millions of South Africans, especially those living in rural areas, do not have
access to basic services, such as clean, running water and sanitary toilet
systems.
Although the South African government has made major strides to improve
water supply within the last decade, much less progress has been achieved
with regard to sanitation. Major hurdles are the financial sustainability of
investments sanitation technologies as well as a lack of attention to
maintenance, experts say.
IPS: What are the main sanitation challenges in SA?
Gertrude Matsebe: The main challenge is reducing the sanitation backlog.
Although almost 11 million South Africans have been served with basic
sanitation since 1994, more than 13.3 million people do not yet have access
to basic sanitation services.
Adding to this is the challenge to halve the number of people without
sustainable access to safe drinking water by 2015 in accordance with the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
Louiza Duncker: Some other challenges include insufficient coordination
between stakeholders, such as government, implementing agents and the
users of toilets, insufficient community participation, non-compliance of
some sanitation projects to policy requirements and minimum design
standards and norms.
Barriers to sanitation are also created through inadequate maintenance of
sanitation infrastructure due to capacity constraints at local and municipal
level.
IPS: Please explain the tight linkage between water, sanitation and health.
LD: Clean water and proper sanitation are crucial to maintain the cleanliness,
personal hygiene and health of an individual. Water, sanitation and health are
totally interdependent as the majority of pathogens and parasites are found
in excreta, which are responsible for a variety of illnesses, such as cholera
and diarrhoea, especially in rural and peri-urban areas. Therefore, the main
risk lies in the contamination of the environment by faeces spread near
places where people and animals live and next to or into drinking water
sources.
GM: For example, people are expected to wash their hands after using the
toilet and before touching their food to ensure that they are free from
sickness and diseases. Furthermore, in areas where people defecate in the
bush, their faeces flow into the river during the rainy season and contaminate
the water. As a result, people who drink this water without boiling it contract
diseases, such as cholera or typhoid.
IPS: How do urine diversion toilets work?
LD: Urine diversion or dry-box toilets are different from other sanitation
technologies in that they do not use water in their operation and they
separate faeces and urine. The South African designed urine diversion toilet
has a specially adapted pedestal that channels urine into a soak pit beneath
the toilet chamber, whereas in other countries, it is collected in containers,
diluted with water and used as fertiliser in home gardens.
GM: Faeces are dropped into a vault and covered with dry material such as
ash, lime, dry soil and sawdust to deodorise decomposing faeces while
controlling moisture and facilitating biological breakdown, which is a form of
composting. A properly used urine diversion toilet eliminates odour, flies and
is low on maintenance.
IPS: How do they contribute to improved sanitation and hygiene?
GM: The urine diversion toilet is based on the concept of an on-site 'closed'
system, as opposed to the linear nature of waterborne sanitation. Human
excreta are treated as a resource and processed until they are completely free
of disease organisms. The nutrients contained in the excreta are then
recycled by using them as fertiliser in agriculture. This does not only save
water but reduces pollution.
LD: The fact that urine is separated from faeces reduces the growth of micro-
organisms which causes the smell that attracts flies and other diseases
carrying insects, which in turn, compromises people's health.
IPS: How can sanitation become ecologically sustainable?
GM: Sanitation becomes ecologically sustainable if it adopts the 'closed-loop'
system by recycling of human excreta. This does not only save water but also
reduces pollution, since our water resources are limited.
LD: Sanitation systems should also meet the needs and interests of people
and be designed in such a way that they complement existing social and
cultural practices. People's choice and sanitation needs should be respected.
IPS: How effective are South Africa's sanitation policies?
LD: The Department of Water Affairs and Forestry has developed several
policies and strategies in the water sector, such as The National Policy on
Basic Household Sanitation in 2001 and the Strategic Framework for Water
Services in 2003. The sanitation policy emphasises that sanitation involves
more than just the provision of toilets; it also includes community
participation in decision-making, safer living environments, greater
knowledge of sanitation-related health practices and improved hygiene.
GM: Despite the existence of good legislation, the challenge lies in the
implementation of these policies and strategies. The push for delivery in
addressing the MDGs and reducing the sanitation backlog put local councils
under immense pressure to provide infrastructure as fast as possible. This
leads to minimum design norms and standards not being met because
quantity is favoured above quality.
IPS: What needs to be done to close the sanitation gap between urban and
rural areas?
LD: Although water and sanitation have been linked for many years,
improvement to water access has made far bigger gains than improvements
to sanitation. People living in urban areas are more likely to have sanitation
facilities than people in rural areas. However, the rapid growth of many cities,
especially in developing countries, has caused pressing challenges in urban
areas, too.
GM: Addressing the sanitation gap requires creating better institutional
environments to promote the development of alternative technologies,
discussing the need to balance environmental concerns against individual
demands for sanitation, a more integrated and demand-responsive approach
and a willingness to place more emphasis on the needs of the people,
sustainable functioning and effective use of the systems.
(END/2008)
Send your comments to the editor |
