Emergency urban sanitation - challenges and solutions

IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and DGIS/ DME (with support from NWP) invited Bob Reed from WEDC to give a presentation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGIS). Reed shared insights on the topic of emergency urban sanitation—shining light on the challenges and solutions. Emergency response has a history of focusing exclusively on rural communities. Carrying out emergency urban sanitation work poses difficult challenges as urban regions are often spread out. 'As emergency urban sanitation workers, we have many technologies to choose from. However, there is not one-size-fits-all solution. We always have to tailor the response to the problem'.

During Bob Reed’s presentation, he also identified several problems while conducting emergency urban sanitation work. They include:

• physical constraints
• logistical problems
• poor service levels
• problems with toilet technologies
• expensive costs
• limited capacity
• poor management

The brief contains more in-depth information on the problems and solutions emergency workers have to deal with concerning urban sanitation. A separate file holds the power point presentation slides.