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Is manure from ecological sanitation latrines safe for use to fertilize crops? A review of evidence from literature

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conference contribution
posted on 2018-02-12, 15:10 authored by Save Kumwenda, Chisomo Msefula, W. Kadewa, B. Ngwira, Tracy D. Morse
Studies have shown that manure harvested in ecological sanitation (ecosan) latrines has more thermo tolerant bacteria and helminthic eggs than the World Health Organisation (WHO) recommendation. The review was aimed at assessing adequacy of available guidelines on use of ecosan to produce safe manure. Relevant literature was searched and critically reviewed. Literature on effect on pathogen die off was not consistent from one study to the next and in some situations conflicting results have been found. Guidelines on waiting period after pit is sealed differed from one country to the next and there is an agreement that six months waiting period is not enough to produce safe manure. There is need for further research in real latrine situation to investigate all potential factors that affect pathogen die off. These may assist to explain inconsistencies in literature on pathogen die off and assist to develop specific guidelines for different locations.

History

School

  • Architecture, Building and Civil Engineering

Research Unit

  • Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC)

Published in

WEDC Conference

Citation

KUMWENDA, S. ... et al, 2014. Is manure from ecological sanitation latrines safe for use to fertilize crops? A review of evidence from literature. IN: Shaw, R.J., Anh, N.V. and Dang, T.H. (eds). Sustainable water and sanitation services for all in a fast changing world: Proceedings of the 37th WEDC International Conference, Hanoi, Vietnam, 15-19 September 2014, 7pp.

Publisher

© WEDC, Loughborough University

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Publisher statement

This work is made available according to the conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) licence. Full details of this licence are available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

Publication date

2014

Notes

This is a conference paper.

Other identifier

WEDC_ID:21900

Language

  • en

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    WEDC 37th International Conference

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