This course deals with options for sustainable sanitation in low-income countries, which will contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for sanitation and related fields such as reducing poverty and hunger, reducing child mortality, improving lives of slum dwellers and ensuring environmental sustainability.

The concept of ecological sanitation (ecosan) is presented. Ecosan is not a specific technology but a new approach to sanitation which regards sanitised human excreta and greywater as a resource, e.g. for application as a fertiliser and soil conditioner in (urban) agriculture. Ecosan strives to maximise the sustainability of sanitation systems, taking into account all aspects of sustainability.

Learning objectives

Upon completion of the ecosan course, the participants will:

Know the short-comings of conventional sewer-based ("flush-and-forget") or pit-based ("drop-and-store") sanitation systems, in the context of developing countries (with a focus on urban or peri-urban areas)
Understand the need for a paradigm shift in urban sanitation and the relevance for the MDGs
Have a good overview of the available technology and reuse options within the ecosan approach (collection, transfer and treatment of excreta and greywater; safe reuse; non-technical aspects; rainwater harvesting)

Target group

The course is designed for mid-career professionals who work in low-income countries or countries in transition, and deal with planning, promoting, designing, operating or managing sanitation systems for residents in urban, peri-urban, slum or rural areas.

Participants are typically employed by government departments, private companies, local or international NGOs, universities, research institutions, aid agencies or international bodies such as WHO or UNICEF.

Course structure

Participants complete the course in part-time, distance learning mode over a period of 18 weeks with a total workload of 140 hours (equivalent to a course of 3 weeks full-time). They spend about 9 hours per week on this course by reading, listening to voice recordings, watching video clips, participating in asynchronous discussions, asking questions to the teacher and to fellow classmates, and working on the assignments. After successful completion, participants will receive a certificate issued by UNESCO-IHE.

Course content

Subject	Units	Duration
1. Introduction to ecosan approach	The need for and definition of ecosan and MDGs; Characteristics of urine, faeces and greywater; Overview of technologies for ecosan	4 weeks
2. Transfer and treatment of human excreta and greywater	Treatment aspects for urine, faeces and greywater; Conventional on-site sanitation; Storage and transport logistics; Introduction to anaerobic treatment technologies; Constructed wetlands; Composting; Faecal sludge management; Alternative sewer systems; Urban groundwater pollution	6 weeks
3. Reuse of ecosan products	Introduction to productive sanitation systems; Urban agriculture and reuse research results	2 weeks
4. Non-technical aspects of ecosan	Financial aspects and market considerations; Social, institutional, policy and gender aspects	2 weeks
5. Water supply and ecosan	Urban water demand management measures; Rainwater harvesting	2 weeks

Partners

This course has previously been sponsored by:

Grontmij
Contact person: Bjartur Swart (bjartur.swart@grontmij.nl)
Stockholm Environment Institute
Contact person: Gunilla Brattberg (gunilla.brattberg@sei.se)
Huber
Contact person: Stefania Paris (ps@huber.de)
Vitens
Contact person: Siemen Veenstra (siemen.veenstra@vitens.nl )