Thanks for posting this catalog.

Two quick comments:

1. The soakaway for the septic tank is huge and thus very expensive. It seems to have been designed for systems with grey-water connection and 150l/p/d water consumption and/or areas with very low soil infiltration capacity.

Edit: The dimensions for the septic-tank itself are also huge. Was this designed for a commercial building with lots of people using it? The mentioned mortar mix ratios will also be very weak, which is maybe ok for a superstructure or a open bottom pit-latrine, but not for a septic-tank that will hold nearly 7 tons of water. Same for the almost non exisitng amount of rebar... I would honestly suggest to just cut that part from the catalogue as such a septic tank design is not going to full-fill the functionality of a septic tank at all and just wastes a lot of money.

2. The license (CC-by-NC) prohibits the use by local entrepreneurs etc. due to the "non-commercial" part. I don't think this is what you had in mind when choosing that license and I think that defeats much of the purpose of such a book.

Dear Forum Readers,

I would like to introduce you this catalogue (2014) of improved sanitation solutions adapted to Kongwa District population needs. (rural area Tanzania).
It is a response to the artisans needs in order to have a compendium of adapted solutions to population requirements. For them, this baseline is a tool both for consulting technical and logistics issues, and favoring the sale of products through promoting household confidence in the artisans and product quality.

For ease to use, the catalogue is divided into three chapters:

(1) Supply chain and useful contact: To Identify whole seller and retails in the villages. To included a list of reference persons, in order to establish a linkage between themselves easily.
(2) Technological solutions: Technical drawings of the four improved sanitation solutions are: simple pit latrine, VIP, VIP latrine with traditional pour flush and pour flush latrine.
(3) Options and costs: The toilet is broken down into four parts: pit, slab, superstructure and hand-washing system. Each component has different solutions with technical specifications, materials and cost.

This catalogue is one of the main outputs from the project “Improving access to sanitation for the most disadvantaged, through applied research on appropriate solutions” funded by the “Water and Sanitation Systems for Development Cooperation Group”(SASD-Sistemas de Agua y Saneamiento para el Desarrollo) of the Polytechnic University of Madrid. Its main objective is to identify, analyse, develop and promote a range of affordable, suitable and sustainable sanitation solutions, in the context of Kongwa district (Tanzania). Its implementation was carried out by a partnership between the SASD and ONGAWA in collaboration with the Ardhi University of Dar es Salaam. That project is complementary to UMATA program, funded by the Global Sanitation Fund, that aims to increase the access and use of improved sanitation facilities with changed sanitation and hygiene behaviours at scale. It is designed to strengthen the Tanzanian National Sanitation Campaign.

Catalogue: English , Swahili

This year we would like to publish a new version with the feedback from the use of this catalogue in the field.
We would really like to have some feedback from you, so, if you have any comments on the catalogue please let us know.

Kind regards,