Dear Pawan,
I remembered tht we had in the Forum some discussion, I used the seach function "groundwater pit latrines" because I did not remember when.
I found lots of topics. one is exactly what you looked for
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/64-wg-...-groundwater-quality

I hope that helps.
Christoph

There is this from South Africa: www.sapork.biz/wp-content/uploads/2011/0...ting-groundwater.pdf

Guidelines on Protecting Groundwater from Contamination by the South African Department of Water Affairs and Forestry from 2004

Hi Pawan,

This is a review of groundwater pollution from pit latrines in an open access journal: ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1206028/

Pit Latrines and Their Impacts on Groundwater Quality: A Systematic Review by Graham and Polizzotto

On Indian guidance/advice, I found this:

India
The Manual on Sewerage and Sewage Treatment (Second Edition), published by the Central Public Health and Environmental Engineering Organisation, Ministry of Urban Development, New Delhi in December 1993 states:
“If the distance between the bottom of the pit and ground water table is 2m or more throughout the year, the pit can be located at a minimum distance of 3.0m from the water source (tube well or dug well) for the effective size (E.S.) of the soil 0.2 mm or less.
If the effective size of soil is greater than 0.2 mm, same distance can be maintained by sealing the bottom of the pit by an impervious material such as puddle clay or plastic sheet and 500mm thick envelop of fine sand of 0.2mm E.S. around the pit.
If the distance between the bottom of the pit and ground water table is less than 2m during any part of the year, the above shall be increased to 10.0m.”
Informants: Aqbal Husain Khan, Principal Engineer, Water and Waste Water Group, Halcrow Consulting India; VR Baghirathan, Project Director, WSUP"

That is probably less than helpful, I will keep looking for something from WHO etc.

Dear All

There is no doubt that leach pit causes ground water pollution, particularly in high ground water table areas. There are some literature available on the topic. However, I don't have much information on scientific data or published papers in journals on the topic. There is no standard paper/ review available on this topic from India, where leach pit toilet is most commonly used.
Elisabeth can help me with some published papers/ review, if available in library. Is there any paper / guidelines from WHO on safe distance from leach pit to drinking water sources or pollution of ground water from such toilets.

Best

Pawan


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Note by moderator:
This thread has a spin-off thread which is foccusing on nitrate as a pollutant: "Elevated nitrate concentrations in groundwater - causes and health implications":
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/193-gr...-health-implications