Honey-suckers

Honey-suckers
Sanitation systems without pipes
Eco-san at work ?

Partially based on a research
Sludge Reuse from Mega-Cities – A
Southern India Case
Elisabeth Kvarnström, Vectura Consulting, Inc.
Joep Verhagen, IRC
Mats Nilsson, MN Context
Vishwanath Srikantaiah, Biome (responsible for this slide show)
Karan Singh, Biome
Shubha Ramachandran, Biome

Bangalore – Population 9 million

Septic tanks and Pit Latrines
India has 102 million septic tanks or
pit latrines . (National Family Health
Survey, 2006)
India has more than 68 million single
pit or double pit toilets in rural areas
(ddws.nic.in 2012)
This represents a massive sludge
management challenge

Current Drivers of Sanitation
The employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry
Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993
• Karnataka has adopted this Act in 1997
• All toilets should have a water seal of at least 20cm.
• No removal of human waste by human hands

Bangalore urban and sanitation
• No. of Households 2,377,056
• HH’s having toilets 2,254,599
• Piped sewer system 1,715,904
• Septic Tank 169,046
• Pit toilets 325,175
• Total 494,221
• Source : Census of India 2011

The city utilities response
• Only 400 MLD out of 1000 MLD sewage
generated is collected
• Of the 400 MLD collected only around 180
MLD is treated
• Sanitation is subsidized. People pay Rs 15 a
month for sewage connection charges
• The externality is pollution of rivers

Foam rivers
Untreated sewage primary cause

From untreated sewage

The informal sector in urban sanitation

Pre-cast concrete rings

In informal vacant sites

Pit toilet connected to WC

The user interface remains conventional

Pit toilets are common in the urban
periphery

The Honeysucker vacum sucks a pit
toilet

Mechanization eliminates manual
scavenging

Trucks are now indigenously
developed

They have a water jetting and vacum
sucking pump (upto 30 H.P.)

Assembling a honey-sucker

The barrels – informal sector body
building works

All over the country –
Mobile Technology

Mobile technology

We estimate nearly 300 honey-suckers
in Bangalore

Protocol for safe disposal needs to be
evolved

The sewage is nutrient rich but also
pathogenic

Cost to building Rs 1200/ to Rs 3000/

Soil as a nutrient recipient rather than
water

In many apartments a daily visit

In the most expensive of buildings

Behind the bushes

BWSSB (Guidelines for discharging domestic waste water from soak pits/
mobile toilets into Board Sewers in the premises of BWSSB STP)
• Non refundable deposit amount equivalent to 6 months as
indicated by the applicant at the rate of Rs 50/kl
• Rs 50/kl charge per month
• Domestic wastewater which will be disposed to the Board
sewer in the premises of STP shall comply for BWSSB
standards fixed for discharging trade effluent
• Till now 75 permits have been issued for 1mld. ( Contrast with
494,221 households having septic tanks or pit toilets.)

The informal sectors response

The composting (?) pit

Diluted grey-water

Compost sells for Rs 2500/- to Rs 3500/- a
tractor load (4 cu mt)

Compost sample being collected for
testing

Fertilizer value of sewage sludge
Kind of Nutrient
1000 kg of sewage sludge
(10% TS) grams
Average nutrient content in
N 5.5 17.5
P2O5 17.5 17.5
K2O 0.75 65
S (Total) 12.5 25
MgO 30 15
Cu (Total) 1.2 0.03
Zn (Total) 1.5 0.15
Mn (Total) 0.6 0.4
Mo (Total) 0.01 0.001
B (Total) 0.03 0.035
1000 kg of farm yard
manure grams
Source: Ludwig Sasse, BORDA, 1998, DEWATS Decentralised Wastewater Treatment in Developing Countries

The city moves in

Application on banana

The crop

The fruits

The soil – alive with alive with
earthworms and ants

Humanure for Arecanut

The Economics
For the truck
• A Honeysucker costs Rs 800,000 /-
• Charges Rs 1500 / per trip
• Can do 5 trips in a day
• Income Rs 7500 a day Rs 225,000 a month
• Income in a year Rs 2.7 million
• Expenditure for O and M - Rs 400,000
• Simple Return on Investment 6 months
• One truck can service a population of 20,000
assuming a 2 year pit emptying cycle

The Economics
for the household
• Rs 1500 / every 2 years
• Rs 60 / a month approx
• Rs 15 a month if you are connected to the
sewage

• Free compost
The Economics
for a farmer
• On labour - expenditure Rs 5000 /
• Savings per acre Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 /- on
manure alone (10 to 25 tractor load per acre
per year )

Land required to absorb nutrients
• 250 tanker loads per Hectare
• 2500 peoples nutrients can be absorbed by 1
Hectare of land
• 50000 population town needs 20 Hectares of
land
• 100,000 - 40 Ha.
• 1 Million 400 Hectares

Way forward…
• Better understanding, from a business and
sanitation perspective, of existing practices
around the country
• Embedding of current practices as an officially
accepted option to sanitation service delivery
for all urban dwellers

Way forward
• Developing a protocol for the inclusion of nonsewerage
based or on-plot sanitation systems in
India
• Developing a protocol and a legal frame-work for
handling, transportation, composting and
application of nutrients from septage and on-plot
systems
• Research on understanding nutrient – pathogens
and safe application for nutrient reuse

Way forward
• Civic authorities to incorporate sewage
disposal systems in building plan approvals
• Land use plans to earmark space for solid and
liquid waste composting .
• Separate systems for toilets and grey-water
• Understanding the pit / groundwater interface
and designing systems for non-pollution.

Guidelines for the safe use of
wastewater, excreta and grey water
Cost-effective strategies for controlling negative health impacts
• Treatment of wastewater, excreta and greywater is used to prevent the contaminants
from entering the environment.
• Crop/produce restriction is used to minimize health risks to product consumers.
• Waste application techniques (e.g. drip irrigation) and withholding periods aim to reduce
contamination of the products or allow sufficient time for pathogen dieoff in the
environment prior to harvest.
• Exposure control methods (e.g. protective equipment, good hygiene) will prevent
environmental contamination from reaching exposed groups.
• Produce washing/rinsing/disinfection and cooking reduce exposures for product
consumers.
• Vector control reduces exposures for workers and local communities.
• Chemotherapy and immunization can either prevent illness for those who are exposed or
treat those who are ill and thus reduce future pathogen inputs into the wastewater,
excreta or greywater.
Source: WHO 2006

Thank you!
zenrainman@gmail.com