Diagnostics for faecal sludge management in poor urban areas

Faecal sludge is the undigested waste from on-site sanitation systems such as latrines and septic tanks. Improving FSM is a pressing concern for cities where a large proportion of the urban population relies on non-sewered toilets. In most developing country cities, a large proportion of human waste is dumped in rivers or wasteland untreated. We are developing diagnostic tools for analyzing the scale of the problem and potential demand for FSM services, in collaboration with the Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University. Data collection will take place in four cities (across Bangladesh, Bolivia, Indonesia, and Sierra Leone) through household surveys, quantitative observation and focus group discussions. The outputs will allow the World Bank to support city authorities to improve FSM services.