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Addressing Rural SanitationEcological Sanitation At a Rural Boarding School in Sarawak, Malaysia-A unique solution to recycling of energy and nutrients while retaining a flush toilet solution

DANIDA

NAt

uRAl RESouRcES

ANd ENviRoNMENt BoARd

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Children are swimming and playing in the water, fishermen are throwing out their nets and lines in hope of making the catch of the day, while others are using the rivers for bathing and washing clothes. Traditionally longhouses and other rural settlements in the East-Malaysian State of Sarawak are situated near rivers, due to their important role in sustaining people’s livelihood. Life in the rural areas seems in many ways to go on the same way as it has done for generations. However, development does impose changes, and not all these changes are beneficial. People’s livelihood is increasingly affected by depleting natural resources and river pollution. In many places, river water is no longer safe for consumption and other domestic uses, while fish stocks are depleting.

One of the main causes of deteriorating water quality is the direct discharge of domestic wastewater. While high economic growth has resulted in reduction in poverty, proper sanitation and wastewater management has not been able to follow up with the fast development.

Grey water – domestic wastewater from showers, sinks and other in-house wash-water outlets besides toilets – is usually directed through storm water drains directly into rivers and waterways without any treatment.

Black water - faeces, urine and flushwater – is in most rural settings served with septic tanks for the treatment. However, these tanks only provide partial treatment. Black water only constitutes 10 percent of the total domestic wastewater, but contains 99 percent of the total pathogens and other parasites, as well as, the main part of the nutrients and organic matter.

In well-functioning septic-tanks, merely 50 percent of the organic matters are retained and there is no removal of nutrients or pathogens at all. To continue to function septic tanks further have to be desludged regularly. This is most often not possible in the rural areas, due to lack of access for desludging vehicles or due to long distances and expensive transportation.

Construction of proper sanitation and wastewater treatment systems is extremely difficult, due to the long distances or lack of infrastructure for transportation. In some places people continue to rely on “hanging toilets,” referring to toilets located above rivers, with direct discharge of untreated wastewater into the rivers.

The conventional sanitation and wastewater management results in high discharge of pollutants into rivers, lakes and oceans, which has a profound impact on ecosystems and the well-being of people.

High content of organic matter in the wastewater may result in low oxygen levels or even anoxic conditions, due to the amount of oxygen consumed by microorganisms in the digestion of the material.

Excessive discharge of nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus likewise affect ecosystems and fisheries negatively, by contributing to plant biomass, which can exacerbate algae blooms and lead to dead zones.

Pathogens and other parasites in the wastewater can cause waterborne diseases, such as diarrhoea and intestinal worm infections, thus negatively

The rural sanitation and wastewater challenge

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affecting public health. This can result in reduced working capacity of people and adversely affect social development and aggravate poverty.

Improper sanitation and wastewater management has a profound impact on the environment and

well-being of people, while well-managed wastewater can lead to significant economic returns due to recycling of resources and a positive influence on ecosystems and public health.

The main purpose of any sanitary system is to hygienically separate black water from human contact, to prevent the spread of infectious diseases. Conventional sanitation systems are based on the notion that human excreta are unpleasant and dangerous. Valuable nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus, as well as energy contained in human excreta, are either discharged into waterways or treated and disposed of using processes with high energy demand. Conventional sanitation systems further requires an extensive sewer network to transport the wastewater to the treatment facility. The short-coming of such sewage systems is the high capital and operation costs, making the systems infeasible for many communities. At the same time no recycling takes place.

Ecological sanitation - ecosan - offers a resource oriented low-cost alternative to conventional sanitation systems. With proper management, black water can be safely recycled into energy and fertiliser, thus providing essential resources for supporting livelihoods and at the same time the wastewater is being fully sanitized. Using sanitized black water as a resource in agriculture is not a new phenomenon. It has been applied around the world for centuries to sustain food production.

Ecosan is not a specific technology but rather a concept covering a range of technologies, aimed at closing the nutrient loop and maintaining ecosystems. On-site treatment is a common component, whereby expensive piping network can be avoided. Traditionally such on-site systems have been based on dry toilets to avoid the use of water and thereby reduce the size of the recycling facilities, and increase the concentration of the products. For the same reason source separation of black- and grey water is practised, as the grey water requires lesser treatment and the black water is easier treated without the excess water from the grey water.

This report presents a new type of ecosan, allowing flush toilets for ecological sanitation.

Ecological sanitation – recognising wastewater as a resource

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While the need for proper sanitation and wastewater treatment is evident, appropriate solutions are not clear-cut. No single system is suitable for all conditions, it has to be ensured that the implemented technology is socially and culturally appropriate, as well as economically and environmentally viable.

In pursuing appropriate solutions, the Government of Sarawak has therefore initiated studies on conventional wastewater systems, as well as implemented several ecological sanitation pilot projects in urban and rural areas. The pilot projects apply different methods ranging from wetlands and bio-filters to biogas facilities connected to low-flush toilets or modernized dry-toilets, providing valuable information for tailoring the solutions to the local physical and social conditions.

One of these pilot projects is the ecological sanitation project at a rural boarding school – SMK Tebakang, Serian, Sarawak.

The rural areas of Sarawak are immense. At the same time the areas are scarcely populated and providing proper wastewater solutions for these areas is a challenge.

Lack of access and long distances makes desludging of septic tanks difficult, while

construction of piping networks and treatment facilities for conventional sewage systems is not only very costly, but also extremely difficult to establish.

Establishing of centralised boarding schools in rural areas has aggravated the waste water issues, due to the high concentration of people discharging at one point, leading to a very high pollution load. On top of that, children are the most vulnerable age group, when it comes to illnesses related to improper sanitation and wastewater management.

At the same time the lack of access makes wastewater solutions difficult to establish, it also hampers the access to energy and fertilisers for the local communities. Although expensive and difficult to purchase due to the inaccessibility, liquefied petroleum gas is still the typical source of energy for cooking. And chemical fertilisers, although similarly difficult to acquire, are still the main source of nutrients for farming.

Introducing ecological sanitation for rural schools is therefore very attractive. At the same time as wastewater is sanitized it provides additional benefits to the community. Biogas produced from wastewater can easily substitute liquefied gas and the recycled nutrient can be used as fertiliser to grow vegetables and fruit trees.

Different solutions for different conditions

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From septic tanksto ecological sanitation

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Early morning, time for the boarders at SMK Tebakang to wake up, shower and proceed to the school’s canteen for breakfast, before a day of classes begins. Situated in Serian District of Samarahan Division, Sarawak, near the Indonesian border and approximately 75km from Kuching city, the government secondary school of SMK Tebakang, lies in a beautiful hilly rural area. A total of 1900 students, from the nearby villages, mainly from the Bidayuh community, are enrolled at the school.

Besides mathematics, sciences and other regular subjects, the school has a long tradition of actively promoting environmental awareness to its staff and pupils, which among others entail the practice of segregating food waste for recycling. Since 2007, the school has also been working as a demonstration site for ecological sanitation including on-site wastewater treatment using biogas technology. The ecosan pilot project is part of the Danida/Sarawak Government Urban Environmental Management System Project, which is implemented by the Natural Resources and

Environment Board (NREB), Sarawak.

With full cooperation of the school, NREB together with international experts and local engineers discussed the development of an appropriate wastewater system for the school. Many factors had to be considered, including local climate, existing constructions, social and cultural habits, functionality etc. Biogas technology was chosen, because of its high treatment efficiency, as well as, the benefits obtained from the generation of valuable by-products in the form of fertiliser and biogas.

However, biogas solutions usually require the use of dry toilets. As the waste has to be retained in the digester for 45 days before discharge, to ensure proper destruction of all pathogens, it would have to be huge if traditional flush toilets were to be used. As the use of dry toilets would not be acceptable due to local cleansing habits, a new method for reducing the amount of flushwater was required. The result was a very innovative design, the first of its kind, combining waterborne transfer of black water with a biogas plant.

Ecological sanitation and biogas plant at SMK Tebakang

Photos taken at SMK Tebakang, Serian

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Many places around the world a main objective for introducing ecosan is to reduce water usage to save water. However, with a very heavy annual rainfall at 4 meters, people in Sarawak do not seem to be too concerned of facing water scarcity. Nevertheless, it makes sense to reduce usage of flushwater, in order not to contaminate clean water and decrease the amount of black water generated. For direct connection and treatment in a biogas plant, such flushwater reduction is moreover a prerequisite. In conventional sanitation systems, the black water are diluted through flushing before flowing through the sewers, however diluted black water are unsuitable for a biogas plant.

For Tebakang, a traditional Chinese canal-flush system were selected, modified and adopted for the new function to enable such reduction in flushwater usage. The canal-flush toilet system,

enables this combination of flushwater and biogas by only flushing once a day. The system combines dry- and flush-toilet technology, replacing the water consuming flush system at each individual toilet, with a common flush system using an underground water canal.

The toilets are installed with locally designed and manufactured ceramic squatting pads with an enlarged 20 cm piping hole (see drawing above).

From the toilet pipes, urine and faeces drops into a canal underneath. Like ordinary flush-toilets, the canal system incorporates a water lock, which establishes a permanent water level in the canal, preventing unpleasant odour. The water lock consists of a weir placed at the end of the canal. The mouth of the toilet pipes is placed in the canal underneath the water level.

Sanitation system with black water transfer

Drawing of the canal-flush toilet

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The canal is flushed once a day by opening the butterfly valve below the water tanks placed outside the toilet buildings, whereby water will flush out the canal and the black water will flow directly into the biogas plant through underground pipes. After flushing, the valve is closed and the tank automatically fills up with the water volume required for the following day’s flush.

The canal-flush toilet system has been installed at two toilet buildings with a total of 15 toilets, catering for approximately 250 pupils. The reduction in flush water volume is not to be missed. It results in 6,500 litre of clean drinking water being saved each day, reducing water consumption at the two toilet buildings with more

than 80 percent.

To avoid running water taps, and further reduce the volume of water usage, water taps at the toilets were replaced with water sprays.

Although the system was specifically designed to reduce the volume of flush water, it still allows for usage of water for cleansing. Some communities in Malaysia, where anal cleansing is preferred to toilet paper, this is an important feature as true dry toilets would not be acceptable. Another great advantage compared to dry toilet is the waterborne transfer of black water, whereby direct contact with human excreta is avoided and risks of health hazards prevented.

Photos from the left: (1) Canal during construction, (2) Squatting pads with pipes into underground canal, (3) row of squatting pads during construction, (4) Toilet after construction

Toilet system Flushwater

Faeces and urine*

Total blackwater/day*

Full flush toilets

(10L x 4 flushes/day)

Canal-Flush Toilet System**Total black water reduction

7,500L

1,000L

225L

225L

7,725L

1,225L

6,500L

Estimation of black water reduction

* Estimation based on 250 pupils using the toilets 75% of the day (school time and weekends are partly excluded)

** Flushwater volume of 450L for 6-toilets building and 550L for 9-toilets building

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Due to local cooking habits, Malaysian grey water contains large volumes of oil and grease. This, together with the food waste, has a high concentration of organic matter, Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), which refers to the amount of oxygen used by microorganisms in the digestion of the material. If discharged into waterways, it can result in low oxygen levels or even anoxic conditions, in turn affecting ecosystems and fisheries.

Each day, the school kitchen prepares three meals for the pupils and staff. A study by NREB showed that this food preparation results in a daily generation of approximately 37kg left-over oil and grease, and 300kg of food waste.

To reduce the discharge of grey water pollutants to the river and instead use the organic matter

as additional input for the biogas plant, a 1700L oil and grease trap was installed at the school kitchen’s grey water outlet.

The oil and grease trap consists of three compartments located underground, with only the lids of the compartments visible. Grey water flows into the first compartment, where the oil and grease is trapped. From here the remaining grey water flows to the second and third compartment for settling of the organic matter, before it is finally discharged into the storm water drains. The trapped oil and grease is collected and transported manually together with the left-over organic food, to the biogas plant for treatment. Not only does this have a great environmental benefit, due to a substantial reduction in grey water pollutants, it also has a positive effect on the treatment process in the biogas plant.

Oil and grease trap

Oil and grease trap during and after construction

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Anaerobic digestion (biogas production) refers to the process of degrading organic matter in the absence of oxygen. In an airtight digester, avoiding oxygen to enter, organic materials are decomposed by bacteria, eliminating pathogens and other parasites and at the same time producing biogas and organic fertiliser.

Biogas digesters may operate at different temperatures, either termophilic (50-55 degree Celcius) or mesophilic (35 degrees Celsius), utilizing different combination of bacteria for the degrading process. Small biogas plants, as is the case here, works mesosphilic, making it especially suitable for (sub)tropical countries. Many different models of biogas plants have been applied, from household digesters

providing gas for only one family to large-scale industrial or agricultural digesters. In finding the right design, various factors have to be considered, including treatment rate, waste composition and concentration, temperature, soil conditions, cost, maintenance and operation requirements.

At SMK Tebakang, a traditional Chinese Dome structure constructed of bricks was chosen. The advantage of the technology is the low-tech character. It can be constructed locally without assistance of any specialists, heavy machinery or special equipment, and it is very reliable, requiring nearly no maintenance.

The main part is a 100 m3 half-circular digester

Biogas technology for wastewater treatment

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placed underground, with only the top of the dome visible. The food waste and oil and grease are fed into the digester through an inlet pipe located on the ground at the top of the digester, while the black water flows directly into the digester through another pipe located underground. At the other side, the digester is connected through pipes at the bottom to two expansion chambers. When gas is produced in the digester, the pressure pushes the fermented waste into these two chambers for stabilisation and storage.

Feeding of additional input material further pushes the degraded waste. Eventually, the end product is pushed into a drying bed located on the ground behind the digester. The process takes approximately 45 days at 35 degrees Celsius.

Under these conditions, treatment in the biogas plant is highly effective in destroying pathogens and other parasites. Thus providing an immense improvement compared to the zero removal rate in the previous septic tanks.

Photos of biogas plant during construction

Sketch on wastewater treatment processes using biogas technology

drying bed

expansion chamberexpansion chamber

digester chamber

water

biogaspipemixing

chamber

from canal-flash toilets (under

ground pipe)

food and oil

grease

black water

*The drawing is notaccording to the scale

Soil

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While the main reason to establish the biogas plant at SMK Tebakang, was the elimination of pathogens and other parasites in the black water, it has the further advantage of producing valuable by-products in terms of biogas and fertiliser. These resources can play an important role for sustaining livelihoods in the rural areas.

When the fermented waste is discharged into the drying bed, liquids and solids are separated by a sand bed filter. The solids are trapped by the sand bed filter and left-over in the drying bed, for the sun to dry it; creating a solid nitrogen and phosphorus rich fertiliser, that can be transported for use anywhere.

Valuable by-products

Fertiliser

Phosphorus (P) is an essential nutrient for plants to grow and availability thus plays an important role in fooad production. Mining of P deposits made artificial P available in large-scale from the second half of the 19th century. Together with nitrogen (N)-fertiliser this allowed for intensification of agriculture.

With the existing consumption, economically exploitable P resources will be exhausted within 125 years. However, with the expected global population growth depletion will be reached within 70-100 years.

No alternatives to P exist, solutions require either less consumption, more efficient use or reuse. Globally 3 million tonnes of P is produced a year in urine and faeces, which has the potential to be recycled back to agricultural land.

(Source: A.L. Smit et al. 2009. ”Phosphorus in agriculture: global resources, trends and development”, Plant Research International, The Netherlands)

Phosphorus

Fruit garden, SMK Tebakang

From the sand bed filter the liquid slurry flows through pipes with the aid of gravity into a fruit tree garden, for fertilising of the trees. Crops growing on the ground were not proposed, due to the risk of pathogens, in case the biogas plant would not be functioning.

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Biogas

The biogas produced in the digester is transferred though pipes for the final use. At SMK Tebakang, the biogas was originally transferred to the school canteen, for use as a supplement for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as cooking gas.

With the aim of trying out alternative uses, the gas pipe was later redirected to the girls’ quarters for heating the water in the showers.

As this application has previously never been applied in Sarawak, the equipment was imported from China where it is commonly used. The efficiency will now be monitored by NREB, to estimate the required amount of biogas needed for heating the water.

Biogas is a renewable energy consisting of primarily two-thirds methane (CH4) and one-third carbon dioxide (CO2). The gas production depends on the composition and volume of the

input material with which the biogas plant is fed. The Carbon/Nitrogen (C/N) ratio is one of the key parameters for the process. In case of too much carbon, the biological digestion process will slow down and biogas production will lessen significantly. On the other hand, with too much nitrogen the digestion ceases and the fertilizer value of the end product will decrease. As carbon is consumed around 30 times faster than nitrogen, an optimal treatment rate and biogas production is achieved with a C/N ratio of approximately 30/1.

Although black water provides nitrogen and phosphorous necessary for the biological digestion and biogas production, it is not optimal on its own due to the low carbon content. The organic food waste, oil and grease are therefore necessary to achieve the most favourable C/N ratio.

A baseline survey was carried out in 2006 to estimate the daily average input material available for the biogas plant at SMK Tebakang, which showed that it consists of approximately 132kg Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), potentially producing 132m3 biogas a day. The gas can be used as a fuel alternative for various purposes such as cooking gas, electricity and

Potential biogas productionInput : 1 kg BODOutput : 1 m3 biogas

(Source: Dr. Suporn Koottatep)

36.7 kg oil &grease:

25.9 kg BOD

Totalpotential

BOD input:132 kg/day

Urine/feaces from 250 students:

6.3 kg BOD

305 kg foodwaste:

98.7 kg BOD

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Equivalence of 1 m3 biogas

Fuel Quantity

Petrol 0.800 LCrude oil 0.600 LCommonly manufactured city gas 1.500 LCharcoal 1.400 kgElectrical energy 2.2 kWh

(Source: S. Koottatep et al. “Biogas: GP Option for Community Development”)

Biogas is a safe fuel for private homes, explains biogas expert from Thailand, Dr Suporn Koottatep. “There is no danger what so ever in using biogas. Biogas with its methane concentration of 60 percent can be ignited, but if it comes into atmosphere the percentage will be reduced to lower than 50 percent, which cannot be easily ignited”.

With only a few biogas plants established in Sarawak, the technology is relatively new for the region. Dr. Suporn Koottatep, was therefore consulted for his expertise, to assist with the design and construction of the biogas plant. He started working with this particular biogas design in 1999, and has since assisted the construction of more than one thousand in Thailand and a few hundred in Vietnam. The advantage of this particular biogas design is the simple design, which can easily be constructed and operated.

Although biogas technology has been used for treatment of many kinds of waste, direct

Safe using biogas

waterborne transfer of black water into a biogas plant has never been tried before. Usually the problem is the volume of water. To achieve an effective retention time, water can only make up a small percentage of the input material. “If you use less than 2 m3/day, (for a 100 m3 biogas plant), the retention time will be enough. If you use more the treatment efficiency will be much less.”

With just over 1 m3/day of black water generated with the canal-flush toilet system at SMK Tebakang, this problem has thus been overcome.

Dr. Suporn Koottatep

heating water in showers.

Due to traces of Hydrogen Sulphide, the gas has a slight barn-yard smell, whereby leaks can be detected. When ignited, the gas burns with a pale blue flame and the smell is almost unnoticeable. Since the composition of biogas is different than LPG and other fuels, burners need to be adjusted to provide an optimal air/fuel ratio. With such, biogas has an efficiency of approximately 60 percent.

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User experiences

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“I would like the project to become an educational base, whereby students studying here would know about wastewater and how it can be used to produce gas,” Principal at SMK Tebakang, Mr. Carter Ballang, says.

“It would be a waste not to use this as a platform for teaching the students. It is free advertisement,” he says and adds, “A lot can be done on the educational part. We need more creative thinking and fresh ideas for how to include this in the education. We are considered a rural school, but we have road access. The project can be used for students from other schools to come and see and

learn.”

After having exposed the project in the newspaper, people started calling him up. “They are interested and want to know more. I think this is good. Someone is interested in the fertiliser, as a businessman he can see money in this.”

“The students have a different mindset; they need to see the value of it. The water heater provides a purpose for them to believe in it. They can see it is a living system, ‘we have hot water’. It is about seeing and feeling. I am sure then that more people would want this.”

Educational base

Mr. Carter BallangPrincipal

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“Using the toilets does not require any change of habit from the students,” Senior Assistant at SMK Tebakang, Henry ak Silang, says and adds “the toilets are the same as before.”

Making the students understand the reasons for saving water and raising their awareness of the problems caused by improper sanitation and wastewater management is more difficult. “The boarders at the school come from really remote rural areas upstream. They do not really understand.” Acknowledging the importance of awareness, the school has held briefings on the project for students and their parents, published an article in the local newspaper and placed information on the school’s website for students to read. “We have received no complaints. People are accepting the project,” Henry says.

The project is also used to illustrate new practices for the students. As a member of PALS (a school environmental club) flowers have been

planted all around the school to beautify the area. “We got the students to collect the dried sludge from the drying bed, and use it for fertilising the flowers” science teacher Christina Kon explains. There is no tradition of using recycled human wastewater as fertiliser in Sarawak, and it was, therefore, an entirely new experience for the students. The biogas plant likewise provides a useful practical example for teaching of wastewater treatment. “At the school’s Science Club, we explain the children about the project and the treatment of human waste by the anaerobic process in the biogas plant,” says Christina. Although it is not easy to change the students’ perception of human wastewater, Henry finds that “the ecosan project is a good exposure to the students.”

“It is also a good opportunity for the school to have the biogas as energy source,” he says and Christina adds “the children are very excited about the hot water.”

No change in user habits

Photo left, Mr. Henry ak Silang, Senior Assistant, right, Ms. Christina Kon, Science Teacher

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Lessons-learnedand the way forward

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The Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), Sarawak, has had a strong focus on water quality and wastewater management for more than a decade. Mr. Peter Sawal, Controller of Environmental Quality, explains, “We started monitoring water quality and pollution sources and found that the existing septic tanks were not functioning well. Water quality was deteriorating, we had to take initiative to address water pollution.”

The aim of the different ecosan pilot projects was to find best-practices for improving water quality and to meet the State policy of Class IIB water quality for rivers in Sarawak. With the existing wastewater management this is not possible. “Class IIB represents water suitable for body contact and human consumption after treatment. Currently, only 29 percent of rivers in Sarawak are in this category, while most have been assessed as slightly polluted to polluted.”

The different pilot projects provide important knowledge on how to adapt new technology to local conditions. “Not all systems that are successful in other countries will be successful here. Many considerations have to be taken. It has to go along with social acceptance and changing the mindsets of people. It is a long process and there are no short-cuts”.

“People take water quality for granted. With septic tanks, the wastewater is gone the moment you flush and people forget about it. We need people to advocate strong social responsibility for protection of the environment, without being forced to do it.” Along with investments in wastewater management, the state Government through the NREB has, therefore, expanded

the environmental program, focusing on school students and community leaders who can have a positive influence on other people.

Another issue in the development of sanitation and wastewater management is the cost. Ecosan might provide a cheaper alternative to centralized systems. “The Tebakang project is the way to move forward. It can be replicated in other areas.” However, “cost is still a factor.” NREB is now looking into funding from the Federal Government for expansion of ecosan systems to rural areas.

Addressing the wastewater challenge

“We need people to feel corporate responsibility for the protection of the environment, so that without being forced they just do it”

Mr. Peter SawalController of Environmental Quality

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“The good thing about ecosan is that you can build it almost everywhere”, he says and adds that it does not require heavy machinery. Furthermore it is non-destructive to the environment, because you do not have to dig up large areas for underground piping. This, together with available land for on-site treatment and agricultural land for usage of recycled nutrients in the wastewater as fertiliser, makes ecosan suitable for suburban and rural areas.

On the canal-flush toilet system and biogas he adds, provided that there is a continuous flow of input material, he would recommend this system to other rural areas. “Especially schools are good, because they produce large amounts of food waste. Longhouses, as well as, resorts with an environmental profile would also benefit from this system. Another option might be chicken farms, where the manure can be used as additional input in the biogas plant and the gas can supply nearby residential areas.”

“Everyone generates wastewater. With ecosan it can be used to produce useful resources for the people.” The potential of ecosan, thus, seems to be there to explore.

Practical experience from working with the different pilot projects, each using different ecosan technologies, has provided him with important knowledge on what works and what does not. To him, “working with ecosan is a learning experience.” And the technology is still developing, also in other places in Malaysia. “We have just finished construction at a resort on Mamutik Island in Sabah a few months ago” he says, adding that the results so far look promising.

A learning experience

“The good thing about ecosan is that you can build it almost everywhere”

Mr. Henry SebastianLocal Consultant

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“Conventional systems are costly and not sustainable when looking from a long-term perspective. At the end of the day you do not solve the problem.” With ecosan, “the energy input is low and you get the maximum output. It is therefore both cheaper and more sustainable than conventional systems.”

“As scientists we got enthusiastic about the functionality of the technology.” However, adapting the technology to user demand requires

an inter-disciplinary approach involving social scientists and anthropologists as well.

In this sense, the ecosan pilot project plays an important role. “The students are now aware of the need for treatment of wastewater and for protecting the environment. On top of that it has opened the eyes of decision makers towards alternative approaches for wastewater management.”

Sanitation and wastewater – a dirty issue

“The students are now aware of the need for treatment of wastewater”

Prof. Lau SengLecturer

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“When I explain to people about ecosan, they all say they have never heard of it before, but I find that it is a really good solution. If only I had time to tell everyone, I am sure we would have ecosan all over Malaysia.” He further explains, “The ecosan pilot projects were important to demonstrate whether or not it was a viable system to be extended to other areas. And to me they have proven just that.” Targeting schools are important, “It is the best place for children to learn, then they can influence their parents, and in turn affect whole communities”.

He is not in favour of installing septic tanks in rural areas. “At the end of the day they are not useful. Because when full, they are not desludged and therefore contribute to pollution of the environment.” However, sanitation and wastewater treatment is not only important for the environment, but also play a key role in poverty reduction and the government’s vision of becoming a developed country in 2020. “The government must assist the rural poor with proper sanitation and wastewater management. This will improve people’s health, make them more productive at work, thus earning more money and reducing poverty.”

Ecosan is catching on – Next step whole of Malaysia

“The government must assist the rural poor with proper sanitation and wastewater treatment. This will improve people’s health, make them more productive at work, thus earning more money and reducing poverty.”

YB Dato Dr. James Dawos MamitDeputy Minister of Tourism, Malaysia cum

State Environmental Advisor

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1st Edition (1st Print) November 2010Copies: 1000©The NREB and Danida CopenhagenQuotations permitted with source credit

Implementing agency : Natural Resources and Environment Board (NREB), Sarawak Consultants : Chemsain Engineeering Sdn. Bhd., Kuching, Sarawak and Dr. Suporn

Koottatep and Mr. Manit, Thailand Supported by : Danish International Development Assistance (DANIDA)

The pilot project is a component of the Sarawak Government-DANIDA Urban Environmental Management System (UEMS) Project

Drawing of Canal-Flush Toilet System provided by Chemsain Engineering Sdn. Bhd.All photos provided by the Author

Addressing Rural Sanitation

Ecological Sanitation and Biogas Pilot Project at SMK Tebakang, MalaysiaBy Marie Sigvardt

ISBN 978-983-41919-1-7

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Natural Resources and Environment Board18-20th Floors, Menara Pelita

93050 Petra Jaya Kuching, Sarawak

MALAYSIA

Tel: +60 82 447488Fax: +60 82 312800

Webpage: www.nreb.gov.my