Thanks Marjin, for your response. My study has two objectives

1. why do farmers use or don't use fecal sludge?
2. Why do business transport or don't transport fecal sludge to the farms?

Nepal may be a good case study to understand why farmers and septic tank cleaning truck operators are not using fecal sludge.

I have been trying to get in touch with several people who are working on this issue. But no response so far. Will send you an email regarding this.

Dear Sharada,

I have been working in Nepal for a while now and would also be very interested to learn of any working examples of sludge re-use. It is quite possible there are some, but I have not heard about any in the Kathmandu valley. Could be that I missed it, because I am less connected with the ecosan community these days.

Anyway, I think you are already trying to contact people here, but otherwise I would advise you to contact the people behind the report you posted (Enpho and UN-Habitat) before you get here to make sure that this project actually got of the ground.

Regards

Marijn

PS if you have a hard time contacting people, do send me a mail (address below), and I will try put you in touch with some folks.

Will let Chhabi know. Also, I will be compiling all the information / contacts I am going to collect in the process and share the same with the consent of the people involved.

Dear Sharada,

Could you please encourage Chhabi to write his answers directly into the forum (or ask him if you can copy his e-mail reply to the forum)? Then we could all benefit from the exchange.
There is so much happening with ecosan and reuse in Nepal, it would be great to read more from Nepali people in this forum!
I hope he responds.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Thanks a lot. I just now wrote to Chhabi. I am curious about the factors that enable such businesses. Is it the distance, volume of FS, social acceptability, transportation costs, types of crops etc.

Hi Sharada

I recommend you contact Chhabi Goudel who works on reuse of faecal sludge with the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project in Western Nepal in Pokhara, Nepal.

His presentation from FSM2 is at www.susana.org/images/documents/07-cap-d...sanitation-nepal.pdf. I am pasting below his abstract.

You can reach him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Regards

Bobbie

The RWSSP-WN has been implemented since 2008 in 54 VDC´s (Village Development Committees) of nine districts in western Nepal. The project piloted an approach called "Community Led Total Behaviour Change (CLTBCHS) in Hygiene and Sanitation" in these VDC´s. In this approach, local bodies are facilitated and local people are trained to ignite awareness and trigger people to build ECOSAN toilets, and to use human shit (after composting) and urine as an organic fertiliser. A total of 553 community level structures and systems were mobilized for the purpose. In total, 6 700 community level sanitation triggers (49% female) were trained from a population of 430 000 in 5 6000 households in the project VDC´s. Included in the project are economic development and energy saving by using human shit to produce bio-gas.

Activities focussed on integrated community led ecological sanitation and sustainable livelihoods have been implemented, helping to mitigate the diverse pressures on the unique Agriculture Ecosystem, and helping to ensure that the needs of local community members are adequately addressed. This includes the development of improved agriculture, energy saving and environmental management practices. The ecological sanitation promotes agricultural products, encourages a hygienic and sanitized community, supports income generation and thus improves the livelihood of the people.

Research shows that the use of human shit and urine demonstrates agricultural production four times that of chemical fertilizer (imported urea in Nepal). Each VDC of Nepal spends approximately USD 5800 (i.e. on average 10 kg/HH x USD 0.58 = USD 5.8 x 1000 HHs = USD 5 800) to buy chemical fertilizer per year. For 3 915 VDCs the annual cost will be USD 227 600 00.

As a result, it is assumed that faecal sludge management, food security and energy saving within the project working area has greatly improved, resulting in a reduction in morbidity and mortality from hygiene and sanitation related diseases. In one example, Mr Bal bahadur Thapa of Mahendrakot VDC of Kapilvastu district has been able to make a profit of about USD 580 per year utilizing shit and urine in his kitchen garden. These profits have enabled him to educate his daughter and son at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.

The lesson learnt from this approach can be replicated in other districts aiming to overcome problems of sanitation coverage and to reduce poverty in Nepal.

Thank you all for your responses. I will keep you posted on what I find out.

Hello Sharada,

Thanks for sharing the report, is very interesting. You might want to check the one I'm attaching by the Gates Foundation in Asia and Africa.

I will also add, splash.org they are working on water in Nepal, they might help connecting with people in the ground.

Also, I'm co-founder of tansa, a social enterprise, monetizing fecal sludge in India by collecting septage from homes and selling it to biodigester operators for conversion into energy and compost. I will like to know more about your research.

Best,

Mario Varon


This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Hello Sharada

Three contacts that may help you:
UN-HABITAT Water for Asian Cities Programme Kathmandu (the Authors of the report you already have)
SANDEC at Eawag : they have done extensive work on urine (e.g STUN ) and compost (see this document ) and probably also on Fecal Sludge.
ENPHO (Environment and Public Health Organisation) had a good library some years ago and was working on FSM.

Regards, Dorothee

Hello All,

This is my first post to SuSanA and I am excited to be a part of the group.

This summer I am planning on going to Nepal to understand the existing business practices that aid the resuse of fecal sludge in agriculture. I came across this report " Status and Strategy for faecal Sludge Management in the Kathmandu Valley ". The document does not provide any specific details about the number of farmers or the area of farms that use fecal sludge. I could not find any reliable source that indicates current reuse. I don't need exact locations. I just need some evidence of reuse to plan my research trip to Nepal

I wanted to know whether any of you have any ideas about how to get more information about current reuse. I was thinking of getting the phone number of the septic tank cleaners and talking to them. Any comments?

Is anyone on the forum aware of current reuse in a specific farm in Kathmandu Valley?

Have a good weekend.

Thanks and Regards,
Sharada