Faecal Sludge Management

India faces an acute problem of fecal sludge disposal and management. Faecal sludge
management (FSM) is a management system to safely collect, transport and treat faecal
sludge from pit latrines, septic tanks or other onsite sanitation facilities. The most critical part
of this value chain is lack of proper disposal facilities for faecal sludge forcing improper
disposal into open land and water bodies.
India needs to move beyond the current drive for open defecation-free cities and work
towards faecal sludge management for a safe urban environment without any risk to land and
rivers. About 38,000 million litres per day of sewage generated in India, the existing treatment
capacity is for about 12,000 mld in all the metropolitan cities.
With the current drive to build household toilets, the demand for water at the household
level has gone up. Most of these urban poor collect water from public sources and this only
adds to the existing burden of fetching water, which usually falls on women in the family.
Strengthening the management and hygiene standards of community toilets, adoption of less
water-guzzling technologies in urinals and toilets and an increased awareness to avoid
wastage of water are a few ways to work towards an effective programme.

Collection Treatment and Disposal

Fecal sludge is collected from on-site sanitation systems, such as latrines, non-sewered public
toilets, septic tanks and other sources. Fecal sludge is also discharged into sewerage system
from households connected to sewage lines. Sewage sludge includes both wastewater
generated in toilets and wastewater generated in kitchen, bathroom, and laundry.

Fecal sludge from areas with sewerage access

Across the country, 27 cities have only primary treatment facilities and 49 have primary and
secondary treatment facilities. Only 6% of Indian cities have access to sewerage facilities

Existing practices for disposal of sewage sludge

At present, sewage sludge and effluents from STP (Sewerage Treatment Plant) are frequently
disposed off on agricultural lands for irrigation/manure purposes. However this method is not
recommended unless another level of treatment is done since effluent from STPs also
contains harmful substances that can adversely impact human health. The composition of the
effluent from STPs depends on the wastewater treatment process and on the source of the
sewage. In general it contains both toxic and non-toxic organic wastes.

Harmful substances

 Toxic chemical compounds - pesticides, aromatic hydrocarbons, chloro-benzenes etc

 Pathogens - Bacteria, viruses, and protozoa
  Heavy metals – Zinc, copper, nickel, cadmium etc.
The high concentrations of Nitrogen, phosphorous, and organic compounds in sewage
sludge make it a beneficial fertilizer for plants.
Useful substances

 Nitrogen
 Phosphorus
 Organic compounds
 Materials of plant and animal origin, including proteins, amino acids, sugar and fats.

Faecal sludge from on-site sanitation systems

Areas without sewerage access depend on on-site sanitation (OSS) systems that are currently
limited to septic tanks in urban areas. Most of these systems are emptied manually or by
private operators in a few areas without adequate protective gears and equipment.
However, there are no known treatment facilities in the country Septic tanks receive black
and/or grey water and separate the liquid and solid components. The liquid effluent gets
drained off to a soak pit to dispose it into the ground. The solids remain in the tank and are
decomposed over several months.
Issues faced with septic tanks and septage management in India are summarized below:

 Urban local bodies are not adequately equipped with infrastructures required for
cleaning of tanks
 Contamination of groundwater due to percolation of effluent and sludge.
 De-sludging is mostly done manually, causing spread of faecal borne diseases
 Grey-water containing harsh chemicals such as soap and detergents is also discharged
in septic tanks, which imbalances the waste treatment process done by bacteria.
 Waste is irresponsibly disposed off on open lands, in absence of a strong regulatory
framework and scalable treatment options

Septage collection and disposal

In most cities, septic tank desludging and cleaning services are provided by private players or
municipalities who collect the wastes and transport it to disposal sites. In other cities, it is
done manually by sanitary workers who deposit the septage within the family’s compound,
nearby lanes, drains, open land or waterways. In some cities, it is being supplied to nearby
farmers for use as fertilizer
Commercial re-cycling of faecal sludge, Bangalore

 Private contractors in operation for emptying of septic tanks

 Faecal sludge is then given to farmers for application as fertilizer, farmers currently do
not pay for this service but have reported increased crop yields
  Prices vary from INR 500 to INR 3000, depending upon the size for emptying of one
septic tank
 Though no incidence of diseases was mentioned by farmers, a few reported boils on
feet due to application of raw faecal sludge

Faecal sludge from open defecation

Around 665 million people in India defecate in the open, which is over 50% of the total
population. About 100,000 tons of fecal matter is generated in the open every day. Open
defecation typically happens in one of the three locations:

 Open fields in villages, usually near farms

 Next to water bodies
 Open land areas near residences
The fecal sludge in open fields and in proximity to water bodies usually is not collected and
gets naturally assimilated in the surrounding environment.

Fecal sludge from open Open fields and neighboring

defecation water bodies

Mixed with Municipal Solid Landfills

waste

Key programs and policies

India is a signatory to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) that entail extending access
to improved sanitation to at least half the urban population by 2015, and 100% access by
2025. This implies extending coverage to households without improved sanitation, and
providing proper sanitation facilities in public places to make cities free of open defecation.
The Ministry of Urban Development (MoUD) is responsible for formulating policies,
supporting and monitoring programmes concerning urban development issues in the country.
It also coordinates the activities of various Central Ministries, State Governments and other
nodal authorities. Key policies and programs being implemented by the ministry are described
below.

Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission

Launched by the Government of India in December 2005 and to be implemented for a period of seven
years, the JNNURM aims at providing central grants to ULBs for carrying out urban renewal
projects. The mission has selected 63 cities eligible for receiving assistance for infrastructure
development and aims to invest around USD 20billion. The mission makes it mandatory for
the ULB’s to provide basic services to the urban poor including security of tenure at affordable
prices, improved housing, water supply and sanitation. The ULB’s are also encouraged to
implement projects on the PPP model. Eligible projects under JNNURM are:

 Urban renewal: Widening of roads, replacement of old and worn out pipes by new
and higher capacity ones, renewal of the sewerage, drainage, and solid waste disposal
system etc.
 Water supply (including desalination plants) and sanitation
 Sewerage and solid waste management
 Construction and improvement of drains and storm water drains
 Urban transportation including roads, highways, expressways, MRTS, and metro
projects
 Parking lots and spaces on PPP basis
 Development of heritage areas
 Prevention and rehabilitation of soil erosion and landslides
 Preservation of water bodies

FSM in Odisha
It is highly essential for all urban settlements to come up with solution to deal with faecal
sludge. Having proper disposal and a well-planned faecal sludge management is highly
needed and should be given much importance in the current context.
While addressing a problem also let’s also address the broader sanitation challenges ahead.
According to report by Odisha Water Supply and sewerage board, out of the 60 Lakh people
staying in 23 Urban local bodies, 31 percent approx. are defecating in open, only 49 percent
households have septic tanks.
This is again sad, that only 2 per cent liquid waste are treated in the state and 98 per cent
either percolates to ground water or adjoining water bodies through surface drains without
treatment. Waters from Rivers such as Brahmani, Daya, Kathajori can hardly be used for
further drinking water purpose. Discharge from insanitary latrines, sewage flowing in drains,
effluent from septic tanks, septage, and rampant open defecation are polluting the
environment and having adverse health impacts to all of us residing in the state
Faecal Sludge Management and treatment is the need of the hour. The untreated human
waste what we call faecal sludge needs to be treated. Be it household level or institutional
level, it needs to be treated and an appropriate system needs to be in place if we want healthy
life and healthy community.
There are few things which can major take away for an effective FSM policy and management.
Decentralized FSM can be a good demonstration on these public utilities and possibility to
introduce decentralized FSM in newly developing areas, public institutions like schools,
universities, hospitals, apartment etc is something which needs to be addressed by planning
bodies. A conducive environment for private sector and the promotion of PPP model in FSM
Private Sectors will create more scope for funding opportunity for infrastructural
development. Onsite sanitation solutions seemed necessary to disseminate with sanitation
stakeholders for their possible promotion.
If we look at the government initiatives, now Septage management in nine cities / towns of
the State (Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Rourkela, Sambalpur, Berhampur, Baripada, Balasore,
Bhadrak and Puri has been included by GoI.
Pre-requisite measures like land identification and acquisition are in progress. In order to
regulate construction, cleaning, maintenance, treatment and disposal of septage in urban
areas, government has formulated the Odisha Urban Septage Management Guideline 2016.
There has been experiments with faecal sludge treatment in countries like Nepal,
Bangladesh, Philipines, Argentina, Ghana and Brazil etc. Even in India there have been few
experiments in Bangalore. But no urban local body has come up with a proper plan of action
for the same. However, in Odisha the state government has partnered with few philanthropic
organisations and there has been two pilot projects of faecal sludge management are
happening in Dhenkanal and Angul Municipality. If these proved efficient use of faecal sludge
then Odisha can be the pioneer in setting up a system for disposal of human excreta.
Further to add on, the amount of water being wasted in toilet, if the faecal sludge treatment
is not combined with waste water management then, in coming days, there will be a huge
scarcity of water. This may also lead to dearth of drinking water, which may break the nerves
of any government creating challenge for the urban governance. When a comprehensive
sanitation plan is being developed, faecal sludge management must be integral part of every
sanitation plan, which builds on on-site sanitation facilities. Sludge management is an
indispensable part of the maintenance of these facilities. However, in reality sludge
management is often neglected in sanitation planning because the need for it is less apparent
than it is for the provision of water supply or toilet facilities. Even when a sanitation plan
foresees a component for sludge management, its implementation is often impaired for the
same reasons. Sanitation planners and decision-makers must recognize the importance of
sludge management.

Pit cleaning Scenario in India

In order to reduce sewer deaths and put an end to the unsafe practice of manual scavenging,
the Sulabh International have introduced India’s first sewer cleaning machine. The machine,
which costs Rs 43 lakh, was unveiled on the occasion of World Toilet Day 2018 by the mayors
of all the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi. The new machine is ideal for periodic
mechanical desilting of manholes and to flush out sewer lines using the powerful jetting
pump capable of producing 150 bar operating pressure and a flow of 150 litres per minute.
It is also capable of de-choking sewer lines using specially designed flexible steel rods.

Pit cleaning System in Odisha

When it comes to emptying latrine pits, the mechanical properties of sludge are as important
as its biological and chemical composition. This is particularly so for any mechanical
emptying. Yet there are very few studies that have explored sludge's mechanical properties.
Vacuum tankers have been designed to empty septic tanks and can struggle with pit latrines
as the waste in them is quite different. Within any given pit, the properties vary according to
depth. At the top of pits there can be a lot of water, the sludge within them getting
progressively denser near the bottom. The suckability of waste is determined by five
characteristics: the density, viscosity and thixotropy (the tendency to a material to act like a
gel) of the sludge and the static head and pipe friction of the machine being used. One,
commonly overlooked, result is that the height of the tanker is crucial to its ability to suck out
pit sludge (and many conventional tankers are too high to have much success). Indeed it is
around six times harder to suck sludge from the bottom of a typical pit than from the top.
Currently the kind of machines available with entrepreneurs in Odisha for cleaning of pits is
not adequate to clean toilet pits having above mentioned wastes. Typically a pit cleaning
machine without vehicle costs around INR 10 to 15 lakhs, with vehicle costs INR 25 to 30
lakhs. The pit cleaning machine desired by entrepreneurs in Odisha ranges from INR 40 lakhs
to 1 crore. Such machines have superior quality and no manual efforts are required. On
interviewing such entrepreneurs they showed interest towards superior kind of machines as
with current machines manual efforts are required which is a per month/day cost towards
labour. Whereas, purchasing superior machines kind of machine is a onetime capital
investment

Objectives in financing pit cleaning machines

Though sledge management is the need of the hour, still a large part of the rural population
lacks access to cleaning of filled up toilet pits. In order to facilitate such activities, FI is
currently focused on financing pit cleaning machines with the following objectives -

 To make toilets reusable again by cleaning toilet pits

 Promoting entrepreneurship in sanitary business
 Reducing sewer deaths
 Helping put an end to the unsafe practice of manual scavenging
 Promoting sanitary practices
 Focusing of behavioural change of rural mass by not only helping them in using toilets
but also nurture the habit of maintaining toilets

How it works?
The machine initially blows some air and water into the septic tank (measured in bar, more
bar indicates more pressure), churn the sediments, and create a slurry. The slurry is then
sucked by the machine on suction mode. Storage of slurry depends on the tank capacity. The
responsibility of such entrepreneurs does not end here, the waste is properly disposed off at
designated waste disposal areas, disposed and processed in waste treatment plants or reused
as manures or for other purposes.

Typical Features
 Fully automatic, needs only one individual to run the machine
 No need for manual labour to enter into the pit
 Runs on diesel
 Cleans pits through air and water pressure
  Sucks in wastes and stores it for further use as manures
 Can clean sewers also
 Mobile in nature

Target Clients
 Entrepreneurs in need of capital investment for purchasing pit cleaning machines to
tap the market demand of cleaning toilet pits
 Entrepreneurs already running toilet cleaning business, but desire to expand it by
adding machines
 Manufacturers and marketers of pit cleaning machines in search of financial assistance
for their potential customers

Stakeholders
 Manufacturers and Marketers of pit cleaning machines
 Households with fully utilised toilet pits
 Entrepreneurs desiring to meet the demand for cleaning of toilet pits
 Entrepreneurs already engaged in toilet pit cleaning business

Benefits
 Makes toilets reusable
 Reinforces the habit of using toilets
 Prevents diseases as filled up pits when kept unclean gradually become home to germs
that spread diseases
 Stops pits from overflowing during rainy season
 Prevents manual cleaning of toilet pits
 Helps in ending social stigma pertaining to cleaning of toilets and pits
 Cleaning of toilet pits can be looked upon as a lucrative business opportunity with
growing number of toilets and easy housing loans available from banks and financial
institutions

Below mentioned are some of the companies engaged in manufacturing of machines for
cleaning of pits –

Nature
Features Enviro Green Tools Whale Kores Usha
Engineers and Enterprise Engineering Sebach
Machines
Pvt. Ltd.
Capacity 500 – 2000 – 6800 – 6000 ltr 1000 to 1000 –
12000 ltr 15000 ltr 13600 ltr 12000 ltrs 8000
ltr
Operating 160 bar 180 bar 200 bar 160 bar 150 – 180 150
pressure bar bar
 Bursting 450 bar 520 bar 306 bar 385 bar 470 bar -
Pressure
Length 60 mtrs 80 mtrs 120 mtrs 120 mtr 120 mtr -
Price (INR) 3 to 7 lakhs 7 to 9 lakhs 5 to 9 lakhs 6 to 9 7 to 12 6 to 10
lakhs lakhs lakhs

Product Placement
Currently no other player is operating dedicatedly in the segment of toilet cleaning finance.
FI will be the first financial institution of its kind to enter into such segment and tap the
demand for cleaning of toilet pits. Loans will be for business purpose catering towards capital
investment of entrepreneurs engaged in pit cleaning business. Clients having constructed
toilets with SWASTH loan from FI for more than a year may serve as potential customers for
such entrepreneurs.

Proposed Product Specifications

Financing entrepreneurs for pit cleaning machine upto 180 bar costs around INR 1 to 2 lakhs.
Additionally, accessories such as tank with capacity of upto 12,000 litres and pipes upto 120
metres costs around INR 3 to 5 lakhs. However, for better mobility entrepreneurs usually opt
for second hand vehicles such as trucks or tractors which including the above-mentioned
prices, costs within INR 10 lakhs. Manufacturing companies also assist their buyers in selection
of vehicles and connect buyers with vehicle sellers. Such assistance is offered in case of second-
hand vehicle as well as new vehicles.

Conclusion
Most of the toilets in the rural are of single or double pit. It is a common stigma among the
rural mass that nobody wants to get involved in cleaning of pits once they are full. Such
situations result in resuming to open defecating practices.
A regular toilet has a septic tank that is attached to it. It is made of concrete, fibreglass, plastic
etc. into which domestic waste flows in. After a few years, when the septic tank gets filled, it
needs to be emptied by a special septic tank cleaning vehicle that pumps out the faecal matter
which is then safely disposed off. Though there is encouragement on construction of double
pit toilets, still such solution is temporary in nature. Cleaning is essential at some point of time
for continuous use of toilets
With rapid increased demand for housing loan and Government’s increasing outreach with
toilet and its subsidy attached to it, almost every rural household have started the habit of
using toilets. With such increased number of people using toilets, fuelled by various
Government and Non – Governmental programmes, toilet pits are getting filled with
increased usage. To meet the need of the hour the Government currently does not have a
concrete solution to such problem.
Besides this, due to increase in filling up of toilets manual scavenging jobs have increased
which are equally dangerous and as well as socially demeaning. People of such profession are
looked down with disrespect and are treated like untouchables. Due to increase in demand,
households belonging to such community often indulge their children in the business of
scavenging and follow the family tradition

Sources
https://www.cddindia.org/faecal-sludge-management

https://www.financialexpress.com/india-news/india-needs-to-work-towards-faecal-sludge-
management-expert/594077/

https://practicalaction.org/blog/programmes/climate_change/faecal-sludge-management-in-
odisha-the-new-sanitation-challenge/