Rethinking sanitation improvement for poor households in urban South Africa

The massive acceleration in sanitation provision in South Africa has been to the credit of all involved since democratisation. But it comes attended by huge problems which render the situation unsustainable in many locations. The principle parameters are a combination of water scarcity and declining quality arising from an inability to treat increasing amounts of sewage. This, combined with a decline in the numbers of qualified staff plus the strongly held view that only water flushed toilets are acceptable solutions for the citizen of the new South Africa, makes movement away from this paradigm extremely challenging. A seeming failure of condominial approaches makes the search for new technical approaches vital. Decentralised wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) and Integrated Algal Ponding Systems (IAPS) are promising approaches which can have huge value in this context. This plus citizen involvement can create a path out of the current situation.

[Paper to be presented at the IRC symposium Sanitation for the Urban Poor, Delft, The Netherlands, 19 - 21 November 2008]