City sanitation ladder: moving from household to citywide sanitation assessment

Abstract

Monitoring sanitation has generally focused on basic access with its implicit links to health impacts. The new thinking on urban sanitation monitoring goes beyond the household level facilities to encompass wider dimensions of equity, public health and natural environment. This requires an assessment of the full value chain from the user interface to storage, conveyance, treatment and disposal or reuse. In developing country context, this also necessitates incorporating other sanitation dimensions beyond excreta management, especially management of greywater, storm water and solid waste as these are often interlinked on the ground. In this context, it is important to revisit the concept of the sanitation ladder, widely used by the Joint Monitoring Programme (JMP), which has focused on household access. This paper suggests a framework for outcome-based citywide assessment of the full sanitation value chain across different sanitation sub-sectors. The ladder is redefined using a city sanitation score to assess city level performance. The suggested outcome-based assessment for different components of the value chain also provides a basis for city level monitoring of overall sanitation performance.

Integrated Functional Sanitation Value Chain

“…From the generation of excreta to its final disposal or reuse, the journey flows through functional groups including conveyance, treatment, disposal and reuse. This approach helps to see the value chain of sanitation services from functional grouping perspectives of user-interface, collection and storage, conveyance, treatment and disposal/reuse for non-sewered sanitation (BMGF, 2011;Mehta & Mehta, 2013). On the other hand, sewered sanitation services examine the value chain of sanitation services from wastewater collection, treatment of wastewater, disposal and recovery of resources as shown in Figure 5.7.…”

Holistically Managing Pathogens and Nutrients in Urbanizing Tropical Towns: Can Sanitation Technologies Create Safer Conditions for Beach Recreation?

“…When sanitation technologies are being selected, considering the impact on human and environmental health in coastal communities that rely on tourism is paramount. − Traditional sanitation planning approaches to prevent surface water contamination frequently lack equal consideration for nutrients and pathogens (Table S1), − even though the World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes harmful algal blooms and wastewater-related pathogens as potential risks to swimmers’ health . To ensure safe swimming conditions, the WHO recommends the use of sanitary surveys, routine monitoring, and quantitative microbial risk assessment (QMRA). , QMRA calculates health risks from exposure to specific pathogens; thus, it is a useful management tool for recreational water quality management , and traditional sanitation system evaluations. ,− Though its use was advocated, it has yet to be used to determine the pathogen log 10 reduction value (LRV) for surface waters to achieve safe swimming conditions .…”

Who’s the cleanest of them all? Sanitation scores in Indian cities

“… 40. Mehta, Meera and Dinesh Mehta (2013), “City sanitation ladder: Moving from household to citywide sanitation assessment”, Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development Vol 3, No 4, pages 481–488. …”