Piloting ecological sanitation toilets in peri-urban community of Nepal

Concept of Ecological Sanitation; referred as ECOSAN, integrates sanitation and agriculture by using human waste as fertilizer and soil conditioner. The ECOSAN concept has been applied in Siddhipur village of Lalitpur District, which is nearby urban settlement of the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal. The project, initiated on a small scale as a pilot project, is first of its kind in the country. The ECOSAN toilets in this village have been implemented after the demand from the community for proper management of their wastes. Main thrust of constructing ECOSAN toilets is due to their potential of preventing groundwater pollution, reuse in agriculture and management of sanitary waste. The acceptance, active participation, sharing of cost for building ECOSAN units and use of urine in agriculture are few of the indicators of sustainability of the project. The significant impact on the whole community has given impetus for replication to other areas as well.