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Faecal Sludge and Septage Management

Using learnings from Smaller ULBs to build a Rural ecosystem

Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat

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Faecal Sludge Management Value Chain

Assessing the containments and needs
Assessing the desludging mechanism, equipment's and HR
Transport and affordability
Developing a cluster for treatment system
Treatment technology identification

Understanding key stakeholders and their roles- Demand and service delivery

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Learnings from Smaller ULBs

Rapid assessment of FSSM value chain (Understand MACRO picture)
Comprehensive baseline assessments (Current sanitation status, status of other value chain elements, Create baseline Shit Flow Diagram)
Development of comprehensive plan (Short term, Medium term and Long Term)
Disseminate plan and get buy-in
Targeted SBCC for promoting desludging and health
Stakeholders engagement plan (Role clarity both Demand Vs Service Delivery)
Financial Planning (Financing model, tariffs, incentives and O&M cost)
Technology and service design (Mix of technology, feasibility assessments, service delivery models (demand driven, vs scheduled desludging)
Upgrading infrastructure and services (including add ons like co-treatment units in Urban STPs)
Monitoring systems (Online service request and tracking, monitoring process and outputs)

Release of State Policy for Used Water and Septage Management and SOP cleaning of sewer and Septic tanks

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Key results in Madhya Pradesh

State Governments advance towards scale-up of FSSM

services

Situation assessment of the FSSM Value Chain in 36 Urban Local Bodies
Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the Cleaning of Sewer and Septic tanks adopted and skilling of Desludging Operators and SEPs
State Used Water and Septage Management Policy rolled out
State Faecal Sludge and Septage Management (SSM) Monitoring Dashboard developed

Increased volume of FS treated and safely managed by 25% in the identified ULBs

FSTPs Retrofitted with increased capacities by 40 KLD in Pithampur and Budhni ULB
Households with safely managed sanitation increased in Pithampur (6.9% to 36.6%) and Budhni (59% to 96%)
Average utilisation of FSTPs increased in focused ULBs in Pithampur (from 75% to 100%) and Budhni (from 20% to 50%)
Scheduled Desludging

State-wide comprehensive IEC and BCC campaign for ODF sustainability and FSM

State SBCC strategies rolled out focusing on Sanitation value chain
2499 stakeholders skilled thorugh 50 training
Evidence-based SBCC strategy and plans for focused ULBs
Mohalla Samiti: Formed and Engaged for demand generation
Short films: Sewer and Septic tank cleaning.
Malasur Campaign: Outreached over 10,000 people

Institutional Strengthening and Capacity Building

State Technical Support Unit (TSU) established
Skilled 81 SEPs and 21 ERSU
Partnerships with AIILSG and WaterAid for capacity assessment, CWIS implementation, SBCC and CB
245 Engineers skilled on Nature-based FSTP technology solutions
1185 ULB functionaries and sanitation workers skilled on the FSSM Value Chain

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A case of Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh

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Pithampur Shit Flow Diagram

93.92% of total on-site systems are inadequate sanitation (i.e. either pits, or tanks with unsealed bottoms.)
2% supernatant carried from on-site systems like STs
18.12% of the city households are connected to a decentralized treatment facility, 15% of which is not addressed by any treatment

93.92% of total on-site systems are inadequate sanitation (i.e. either pits, or tanks with unsealed bottoms.)
2% supernatant carried from on-site systems like STs
18.12% of the city households are connected to a decentralized treatment facility, 15% of which is not addressed by any treatment

Notes:

2% supernatant carried from on-site systems like STs
18.12% of the city households are connected to a decentralized treatment facility , 15% of which is not addressed by any treatment

6.10% Improved containment

93.92% Unimproved containment

16.40% No onsite containers
3.95% Pits
73.57% Tanks with open bottom

-1.32% Openly defecate

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Action Plan- Access to Sanitation and Containment

Short Term Plan	Medium Plan	Long Term Plan
1-2 years	3-5 years	5-15 years
Mapping of HHs requiring new containment systems and retrofitting measures Full filling the gaps for gender segregated and C/PWSN sanitation facilities	Continuing Information, education and communication campaigns	Plan for UGD -Whether integrate the existing containment systems into the UGD or to bypass the septic tanks altogether
Mapping of all other HHs and their containment details – for Desludging Schedule	Continue schedule desludging	Continue with FSM -Keep Continuing action plan of medium plan
Toilet provisioning for HHs with lack of Access
Retrofitting of faulty toilets and norms for new toilet construction- integrating with building permission
Scheduled desludging for households
Differential Pricing for desludging- pro poor tariff
Implement social and behavioural change communication and capacity building plan for all key stakeholders

Inadequacy of toilet sub-structure
Pits/Septic Tanks not constructed as per standards
Only few septic tanks are connected to soak wells while most connected directly to open drains

-Universal Access to toilet (community and public) - to every beneficiary special focus on differently able people, children and transgender.

-Retrofitting includes engaging owners to seal the permeable bottom of septic tank, seal the semi-permeable side walls of septic tank, construction of soak pit, disconnecting outlet of septic tank from drain to individual soak pit or combined soak pit if availability of land is a challenge.

-Awareness regarding containment systems, scheduled desludging, health and safety hazards of open discharge, adverse impacts of open defecation, proper usage of public toilets and urinals, proper desludging services, incentives and penalties, payment of user charge, applying for emergency desludging request, registering complaints and grievances, filling up the records in the manifest forms with the desludging operators.

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Action Plan- Collection and Transportation

Short Term Plan	Medium Plan	Long Term Plan
1-2 years	3-5 years	5-15 years
Improved management of the Transportation with no open disposal	Refresher trainings of key stakeholders	Plan for underground drainage/sewerage
Identification and Capacity building of private cesspool/desludging operators		Continue with FSM -Keep Continuing action plan of medium plan
Licensing, capacity building and monitoring cesspool operators
On-demand desludging for households
Scheduled desludging for households
Scheduled desludging for institutions.

Vacuum Trucks are owned and operated by ULB
No private cesspool operator in present/functioning in the ULB
Currently, ULB is functioning on demand desludging model

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Action Plan- Treatment and reuse of treated water and sludge

Short Term Plan	Medium Plan	Long Term Plan
1-2 years	3-5 years	5-15 years
Augmenting the existing FSTP’s capacity and efficiency Capacity Building of FSTP operator, sanitary workers	FS treatment and O&M	Plan and implement Sewage treatment plant
Creating additional treatment capacity – 50 KLD		Continue with FSSM service for household not connected with sewer Convergence with Rural areas for FS treatment
Setting up the O&M Model of the FSTP
Targeting potential buyers for co-composted sludge – Exploring reuse and recovery options

ULB has one operational FSTP
Nature based technology
Currently, the FSTP is under capacity for the ULB.

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Status Dec. 2024- Pithampur

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Planning Rural FSSM in Gujarat

Capacity building of districts (implementors, planners and decision makers)
Situation Assessment (Understanding sanitation status, containment structures and priority for clustering)
Assessment of Urban treatment facility, co-treatment possibilities and ad-ons for co-treatment)
Feasibility analysis (value chain, stakeholders, tariff and incomes, alignment with technological options)
Developing action plans (Cluster and District-wide plans)
Technology selections based on suitability to the context (climate, space, FS quality and output parameters)
Facilitating implementation (Tender documents, MOUs between Urban-Rural local bodies)
Long-term FSSM roadmap (in progress)

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Cluster based FSSM planning- Kachchh, Gujarat

Cluster already have desludging vehicle with required capacity
Calculated FSTP capacities in Madhapar Navavas cluster- 15 KLD per Day for 4 cluster villages

80303 population

38% Septic Tank (11000)

16% Single pit (4777)

Average Size of containment units – 1.4 cum

Desludging frequency - 5 years

Number of plant operating days- 312 Days

STPs in Urban local body running at almost full capacity

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District wide FSSM planning-Navsari, Gujarat

District wide saturation approach
389 villages, 270,290
Technology suitability to different clusters- FSTP, Co-treatment, MTUs
Total required FS treatment capacity 163 KLD
District receives high rains, difficult terrain

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Desludging, transportation and treatment requirements

Sr No	Cluster	Block	Name of Village for proposed FSTP location*	No. of Villages in a cluster	Capacity (KLD)
1.	CLUSTER-1	Navsari & Jalalpore	Navsari STP	79	20.68
2.	CLUSTER-2	Navsari& Gandevi	Gandevi STP	77	29.82
3.	CLUSTER-3	Gandevi& Jalalpore	Bilimora STP	50	28.59
4.	CLUSTER-4	Chikhali	Chikhali	49	23.33
5.	CLUSTER-5	Chikhali & Khergam	Rumla	39	13.90
6.	CLUSTER-6	Vansda	Bhinar	48	25.89
7.	CLUSTER-7	Vansda	Khata Amba	34	16.62
8.	CLUSTER-8	Vansda	Kanadha	13	4.26
	Total			389	163.08

Sr. No.	Cluster	No. of trips per day	No. of vehicles required
1.	CLUSTER-1	16.00	5.00
2.	CLUSTER-2	18.00	6.00
3.	CLUSTER-3	16.00	5.00
4.	CLUSTER-4	13.00	4.00
5.	CLUSTER-5	9.00	3.00
6.	CLUSTER-6	14.00	5.00
7.	CLUSTER-7	9.00	3.00
8.	CLUSTER-8	3.00	1.00
Total		99	32

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Challenges and Mitigation strategies

Containment

Challenges

Poorly built pits/tanks cause leaks & contamination
Lack of standardization mismatches equipment
Overflows due to irregular desludging

Mitigation

Enforce construction standards (septic twin-chamber)
Disseminate approved-design manuals via bylaws
Use IOT for scheduled desludging

Emptying

Challenges

Insufficient services in Rural areas
Demand for emptying is low
High fees deter safe emptying

Mitigation

Deploy small mechanical emptying units
Subsidize/cap fees; integrate into taxes
Formalize emptier micro-enterprises with PPE

Transportation

Challenges

Illicit dumping without regulated routes
Poor road access increases costs
Limited GPS tracking for enforcement

Mitigation

Implement online monitoring system
Careful planning of clusters and tariffs
Use performance-linked transport contracts

Treatment

Challenges

Non availability of treatments in Rural areas
Urban Plants under-capacity & no arrangements co-treatments
Low resource recovery utilization

Mitigation

Apply district wide approach to look at available capacity, capacity modification and add-ons
Integrate biogas & compost resource recovery (co-composting)

End-use/Disposal

Challenges

Limited markets for biosolids & compost
Regulatory ambiguity on quality standards
Public stigma around fecal-derived products

Mitigation

Brand marketing with certified quality labels
Harmonize standards with agri-extension
Pilot demos with farmer cooperatives

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Way forward

Operationalize FSSM value chain in Kachchh and Navsari district
Finalize Rural-Urban convergence policy and its roll-out
Planning for FSSM for additional 10 districts (targeted for 2025-26)
Operationalize Sanitation Benchmark monitoring (under NG 2.0)
Initiate roll-out of climate resilient Sanitation ( from state fund)
Continued Social and Behaviour Change Communication

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Thank you