Not only does it take six to nine litres to flush a toilet, nearly 60% of household water consumption is used to transport human waste away.
On World Toilet Day — 19 November — we have to learn from the consequences of climate events, both floods and droughts. Many people highlight the water crisis but the issue of sanitation is downplayed.
The failure of infrastructure and interruptions in water supply exacerbate the situation. On the back of this, and together with growing urbanisation, water availability is a growing crisis.
From Johannesburg to San Francisco, to Delhi and Bangalore, there are examples in both the developed and developing world that indicate that to flush is becoming a luxury we can no longer afford. Not only does it take six to nine litres to flush a toilet, nearly 60% of household water consumption is used to transport human waste away. In water stressed environments this is a growing problem — a sanitation timebomb waiting to go off.
It is a sin that in today’s modern times, of growing water constraints, that we continue to flush away our waste. The Achilles’ heel is the lack of sanitation technology and innovation. The sector’s infrastructure-driven culture has blinded us from adopting and driving innovation and solutions.
We are still locked into a 200-year-old “Victorian” technology and this is one of the key factors in the poor and undignified sanitation in urban and rural settlements, rural schools, clinics, hospitals and households.
But this is not the only problem. We have seen reports of the disastrous consequences of the lack of operation and maintenance on modern sanitation systems — the sewers and wastewater treatment plants. The recent Green Drop report paints a bleak picture of the state of sanitation in South Africa and fixing this will take a lot of time and money.
Despite this, politicians continue to make promises that perpetuate this situation. Good examples are the developments in Campbell, Ogies and Emfuleni, to name but a few, which are very water stressed, yet full waterborne sewerage was chosen as the service delivery option. Many also fail to meet the Green Drop status.
Huge strides have been made in conventional waterborne sanitation but these come at a significant financial and energy cost. Climate change puts added pressure on the water resources available for flushing and transporting human waste. Today’s water crisis in the urban world is, in reality, a sanitation-sewerage crisis.
New sanitation technology is urgently needed. That is technology which can safely treat human excreta without the need for sewers, and has minimal reliance on external water, energy and one which has potential for beneficiation of waste streams. Through innovation and smart-chain supply, universal access can be achieved sustainably and link to water security and business opportunities.
This opportunity opens up solutions for growing urban and rural settlements in the developing world, as well as the water-starved developed world, to reduce water consumption, their carbon footprint and eliminate pollutant pathways.
New water-efficient sanitation solutions (WESS) are needed. These next-generation, climate resilient, off-grid, innovative and novel technological options for sanitation need to take into account available water and energy resources, user preferences and variable user populations and be able to contribute to revenue generation through beneficiation of waste products or reduce operational and maintenance costs.
Such interventions can potentially contribute to a 50% reduction in water used and supplied; huge savings on costs of sewers and resource-intensive traditional wastewater treatment systems; reduction or elimination of pollution pathways and a net reduction of non-revenue water as less water will be need to be supplied.
The further benefit offered by WESS is the potential for a sustainable new sanitation circular economy, which offers opportunities for job creation and social upliftment, as well as industrialisation, localisation and a new services industry.
Practical ways of entrenching WESS as part of the existing regulatory process, specifically pertaining to the proposed water and sanitation services norms and standards, the standard water-use licence application process and, ideally, also leveraging the concepts through the Blue and Green Drop incentive-based regulation assessments.
| Key opportunities | Key barriers |
| Efficient resource use in limited water resources and stressed water resource areas | Lack of prioritisation of WESS in regulation |
| Not adding to overstressed sewer networks and wastewater treatment systems | Lack of readily accredited water-efficient treatment technologies |
| Unlocking service extension and blocked bulk related projects | Ineffectual awareness creation and lack of readily available guidelines and standards |
| Having sanitation systems that are effectively designed to manage impact of climate change such as drought and floods | Reluctance to change |
Table : Key opportunities and barriers to entrenching WESS
To achieve this outcome, three approaches for WESS can be considered:
- Rapid adaptation and strengthening of existing regulations by identifying quick changes that can be adapted or strengthened to ensure efficient water use, and where possible, off-grid services form part of the sanitation solutions being investigated for new greenfield developments;
- Entrenching water-efficient sanitation solutions in department of water and sanitation regulations by identifying changes to existing regulations and guidelines or developing new regulations that entrench WESS as part of the sanitation solutions being investigated for all developments (brownfield and greenfield) and
- Entrenching water efficient sanitation solutions in sectoral regulation by strengthening regulations, guidelines and standards or developing new regulatory documentation.
Dr Jeniffer Molwantwa is the chief executive and Jay Bhagwan the executive manager at the Water Research Commission.