II Congreso Internacional Smallwat: Tratamiento de Aguas Residuales en Pequeñas Colectividades

CONCLUSIONS OF THE II INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE SMALLWAT’07
CONCLUSIONS REGIONAL

The following conclusions have been drawn from the session on the state of technologies throughout the world:

1. Regulations
The different regions have regulations setting up the quality levels of the water to be treated. Thus, the EU countries are subject to the Water Framework Directive (WFD), which governs the future of wastewater treatment in the short and the medium term.

Regulations in the rest of the European countries are less restrictive than the WFD, since they are not subject to the above-mentioned set of laws.

2. Coverage of sanitation
In general, the issue of large-scale wastewater treatment “has been solved”. Nonetheless, both the scattered and rural populations and the outskirts of big cities largely lack adequate sanitation systems. Sustainable programmes based upon the following pillars must be developed to achieve an appropriate level of coverage:

To adapt the treatment systems to the population variations.
To increase the average life cycle of existing infrastructure.
To have skilled, trained personnel and enhance users participation in the decision-making process.
To pass on the costs of from water management to the users.
To foster the interconnection between knowledge networks.

3. Management
As for small communities, decentralised management is recommended to further the protection of public health and ensure the maintenance of environmental quality. This management model is the most appropriate for suburban districts and rural areas, since the cost of the connection to the sanitation system cannot be met in such cases. Moreover, in highly run-down areas, deficient urban planning hampers centralised management. Centralised systems must be considered as part of the national infrastructure; therefore, they have to be managed as elements belonging to the general infrastructure (in the same way as, for instance, motorways, reservoirs, etc.).

4. Adapted solutions
In general, there is no one optimum wastewater treatment system, and it is therefore necessary to carry out a specific study in each case to find out the best possible solution for the population in question. It is important to select cost-efficient systems (such as TNC, modular systems for isolated houses, etc.)

1. Supply and sanitation coverage
The situation in Africa varies greatly from Northern to sub-Saharan Africa, where over 95% of the population live in small communities, most of which lack of basic sanitation facilities. Since supply is not 100% guaranteed in a wide part of the territory, problems stemming from lack of sanitation were deemed secondary.

Institutional problems: in general, governments do not consider the sanitation deficit as a priority issue. Consequently, investment goes to other sectors. Moreover, there appears to be a lack of political will and co-ordination among the various administrations and bodies responsible in this field, as well as a lack of specialised personnel and total absence of a legal framework.
Financial and economic problems: poor investments make it difficult to achieve a good balance between a sustainable economy and a reduction of poverty. Likewise, the costs derived from sanitation cannot be met by governments, as there is no culture among the population of having to pay for this resource.
Legal problems: since a regulatory framework is lacking in the building sector, construction companies are not obliged to build the necessary infrastructure for a proper sanitation system. In the same way, both the owners and the tenants fail to invest in such facilities as there are no binding regulations, even if they would benefit from such improvements.
Technical problems: the available data on sanitation is unreliable. The places where the settlements are located (rocky areas, houses very close to each other) hamper the installation of pipes to collect the sewage.
Sanitary problems: the use of wastewater for irrigation purposes is a common practice among this type of populations. However, all this process is carried out without any quality control, despite the sanitary problems involved.

3. North Africa
The north-African situation is different from the rest since, as a rule, water supply is guaranteed in this region. Great efforts are being made on sanitation and wastewater treatment.

The solutions envisaged are basically as follows:
Centralised management is not sustainable from a social, environmental and economic point of view. Thus, the accent must be put on decentralisation. Governments must then concentrate their efforts not only on big villages, but also on peripheral districts and small communities, looking for the best solution in each case.

The technologies to be implemented must be affordable and adapted to the situation of each area, and must solve the problem.
To encourage civic education and awareness-raising among the citizens on the sanitation issues through a participatory process involving the whole community.
To increase the number of bodies or organisations with responsibility in the field and which are able to meet the community’s needs, by enhancing their technical and economic capacities so that they can work to benefit the users.
To foster the existence of a private sector that would take charge of the sanitation works.

The situation in the Asian region is not much different from regions with large areas of poverty, and where the sanitation issue is of secondary importance due to the scarcity of drinking water. The main conclusions that may be drawn from the regional analysis can be summarised as follows.

1. Unequal situation
In Asia, countries like India, Indonesia, China or Bangladesh are a long way from achieving the Millennium Development Goals.
In the outskirts of the cities, the situation is not that unfavourable although it is unequal since some places have a sewer network but no direct connection to the houses, and so the problem is not totally solved. Furthermore, in marginalised areas without sanitation infrastructure, the solutions selected are not very appropriate.

2. Technologies
Government action in the rural areas is focused on the supply-based use of technologies, with no attention paid to the needs and social demand. However, the current trend is to develop appropriate, low-cost designs.

3. Management models
During the past few years, NGO’s have turned out to be competent agents to address the sanitation issue in parallel with government management. In many cases, such actions by NGO’s have been carried out in close collaboration with the private sector. On the other hand, efforts are made to put in place a local administration that would invest in environmental infrastructure, work according to real needs, and raise funds to set up adequate systems.

4. Awareness raising and health
In recent years, an awareness-raising programme targeting the population has been undertaken. The goal is to improve the citizen’s hygienic conditions.

1. Sanitation coverage
Wastewater treatment covers only 14% of the Latin American population. With respect to the Millennium Development Goals (MDG), only three countries have already met the targets: Mexico, Paraguay and Venezuela, whilst another seven are in a position to achieve them by the established deadline. Nevertheless, the data and statistics used are not accurate, and therefore, their reliability is questionable. The main deficiencies as regards sanitation coverage are found in rural areas, where urban solid waste appears to be a problem as well. Consequently, it is necessary to make heavy investments to achieve the MDG laid down for 2015.

2. Management
On one hand, not all the countries have a defined financial policy or a legal framework in accordance with their needs. In general, a gap has been detected in some sectoral policies, as in the case of re-use. On the other hand, the main strategies benefit the richest areas, whilst the needs of the poorest are disregarded.

3. Technology
In some countries, great progress has been made in technological development, which has widened the gap with others. In this respect, the interest shown in the low-cost energy technologies is worth noting, as is the interest in collaborating with academia, in view of the lack of skilled personnel.
Furthermore, it is necessary to promote not only technology transfer mechanisms but also to share knowledge between the different countries. A good example has been provided by Brazil which has put into practice its wide experience in condominium systems in various parts of the region.

4. Citizen participation
Another important issue is that of the poor hygiene education among the population.
Moreover, the characteristics of the Latin American villages make it necessary to promote the population’s participation and involvement in the management of the services derived from water use. Social participation is a key element in the fight against poverty and for access to sanitation systems in the most vulnerable areas. The lack of hygiene education among the population should also be underlined.

Several conclusions may be drawn from the previous considerations to summarise the situation of small-scale sanitation systems worldwide, beyond the specificities of each region:

- Despite all the efforts made by some countries, there still is a lack of legal regulation, stemming from a lack of political will and co-ordination between administrations and bodies responsible for this matter.

- The target seems to be a decentralised management system, adapted to the characteristics and needs of each area. There is also too little investment in general.

- To complete the whole set of actions, it is necessary to launch initiatives aimed at promoting citizens’ awareness and public participation.