- Email: [email protected]
Sanitation services for the informal settlements of Cape Town, South Africa
Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337
Sanitation services for the informal settlements of Cape Town, South Africa A. Melsab , D. Castellanoab , O. Braadbaarta, S. Veenstrac, I. Dijkstrac, B. Meulmand, A. Singelse, J.A. Wilsenachf a
Wageningen University, Urban Environment Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 500, 6700 AM Wageningen, The Netherlands email: [email protected], [email protected], www.wageningenuniversiteit.nl b Lettinga Associates Foundation (LeAF), The Netherlands; www.LeAF-water.org c Vitens-Evides International, The Netherlands; www.vitens.nl d Landustrie Sneek BV, The Netherlands; www.landustrie.nl e Cape Town Water Services Department, City of Cape Town, South Africa; www.capetown.gov.za f The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Cape Town, South Africa; www.csir.co.za Received 31 January 2008; revised accepted 15 May 2008
Abstract Sanitation coverage in the informal settlements of Cape Town is severely lagging behind. A recent inventory showed that the main barriers to the implementation of proper sanitation systems are unsuitability of the location of many settlements (more than 40% of the sites are located on private land, wetlands and flooding prone areas), high settlement densities (55%), the nonpermanent status of the informal settlements and the distance to existing sewerage networks. The technical feasibility of 14 different sanitation systems was related to these general constraints. The feasibility assessment showed that only chemical toilets and container toilets were systems that could be applied on a larger scale. Both toilet systems, however, have high service and maintenance costs. Based on the evaluation, an innovative pilot project consisting of a mobile sanitation unit (MobiSan1) is being developed and will be piloted. Keywords: Sanitation services; Informal settlements; Mobile sanitation; MobiSan1
1. Introduction During the last decade Cape Town as well as other cities in South Africa have experienced a huge increase
Corresponding author.
in the number of informal settlements. Urban areas are growing rapidly as they are perceived as a potential area of income and the only way to take advantage of the limited developments in the country. The Water Services Department of Cape Town is responsible for water and sanitation services in the city including
Presented at the Water and Sanitation in International Development and Disaster Relief (WSIDDR) International Workshop Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 28–30 May 2008. 0011-9164/09/$– See front matter © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2008.05.072
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337 services provision in the informal settlements. With respect to water and sanitation, the municipal council of Cape Town has defined two main goals [1]: To ensure access to a basic water supply to all informal settlements by 2008. To ensure access to a basic sanitation services to at least 70% of all the informal settlements by 2010. Both targets will be difficult to achieve considering the already existing gaps in services’ delivery and the difficult socio-economic, cultural and environmental constraints in the informal settlements. Also, they will be extremely challenged because of the constant flow of people immigrating from rural areas, poorer provinces and neighbouring countries. An additional challenge is that the city of Cape Town has agreed to provide basic water and sanitation services free of charge. This paper presents an analysis of the current situation in the informal settlements and investigates which sanitation options are feasible within the majority of these areas. In addition it presents a pilot project consisting of a mobile sanitation unit (MobiSan1). This system is designed based on field data with the aim of assisting the Water Service Department to meet its ambitious goals with respect to sanitation coverage. 2. Situation description Cape Town currently has more than 220 informal settlements spread throughout the city with an estimated population of about 900,000. Most of these informal settlement have been established in the
331
post-Apartheid period due changed laws and regulations with respect to land-squatting and entering Cape Town. In most cases, the residents of the settlements are squatters. According to South African law, somebody who has build a dwelling on a certain piece of land and lives in it for a day, can not be removed, unless a house is offered in another area. The inhabitants of these townships are characterised by low-income profiles, living under extreme poverty conditions, lacking the proper financial means and urban infrastructure to cover their basic needs. A general policy to decrease the number of informal settlements is to relocate the inhabitants settled in the restricted areas to city owned land. Relocation is however a complex issue. The affected communities generally offer massive resistance to be moved (unless the relocation provides more suitable land, better conditions and closer to the economic activity of the city). In addition, there is growing concern about the land availability in the city. The accessible space is rapidly decreasing and thus the options for proper relocation. A recent inventory of the actual state of services delivery in Cape Town that was prepared by the Water Services Department concluded that most of the informal settlements in this city are severely lagging behind in sanitation coverage. According to official statistics 36.5% of the population in the informal settlement are serviced with basic sanitation [1]. Fig. 2 shows the most common sanitation options used nowadays in the informal settlements [3]. The main systems are container1 and bucket toilets, which number 4500 and 3000 respectively.
5000 4500 Number of toilets
4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Container Bucket toilet Water borne Porta potties toilet (100 L) (25 L) toilet (poor / full flush)
Chemical toilet
Pitliners
Dry sanitation (incl. ecosan)
Fig. 1. Sanitation options used in the informal settlements according to a survey in 2006 [3].
Other
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Fig. 2. Poorly or not-maintained toilets in the informal settlements in Cape Town.
It should be mentioned that the officially accepted number of people living in the informal areas is lower than the actual counting, thus leading to unreliable statistics. In addition, the Water Services Department of Cape Town aims to eradicate container and bucket toilets in a few years as they are not considered as basic sanitation. Taking both of these facts into consideration, the percentage of the informal settlements provided with basic sanitation decreases dramatically to less than 15%. The current approach of the Water Services Department aims to supply toilets in the informal settlements to be shared within five households. Each toilet is assigned to five families and in most of the cases they are locked; subsequently a copy of the key is provided to each family. Therefore the facility maintenance relies on its users. The toilet types that are mostly used are container and bucket toilets. Both types need to be emptied at least twice per week. The costs for the emptying services are significant and are a heavy burden on the operational budget of the Water Services Department. Because of the non-formalised situation of the settlements these services are considered as emergency services that however tend to remain in those categories for a long period of time. This approach reaches a better performance in small communities in periurban areas than in high dense settlements where the cohesion of its dwellers is much lower. Shared toilets do not take into account the population growth and the consequent increasing rate of households per toilet. As such newcomers are excluded from any sanitation facility. Shared toilets do not consider either the consistency between neighbours; in several cases conflicts among sharing households such us unequal maintenance care have led to destruction of the sanitation facility or either change of the lock for its private use
thus excluding the rest of the households. Reduced social acceptability as well as political bias and complains for the poor quality of sanitation facilities results in some cases with the damage, vandalism and destruction of the systems. 3. Methodology An analysis was made of the situation in the informal settlements of Cape Town through data collected from the Water Services Department and GIS data of the Cape Town city council. The gathered information was complemented by interviews with city officials, working groups and community leaders as well as by field observation work. Information on the individual settlements was compiled in a database. The database includes important information for selecting feasible sanitation systems such as housing density, access routes, water table and availability, topography, soil type and anal cleansing material. Based on the database a decision support tool (DST) was developed with the purpose to assess the technical feasibility of sanitation options to a given site layout. 4. Analysis 4.1. Location, ownership and density of the informal settlements Many of the settlements are located on unsuitable lands and are difficult to access for water and sanitation servicing. As shown in Fig. 3, more than 80% of the informal settlements are located in low lying, flooding prone areas, like wetlands. Others may be found on steep slopes. Only 22% of the settlements are fully accessible for trucks and tankers (Fig. 4). Seventy
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337 100%
100% 85%
90%
90%
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60%
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9%
7%
75%
23%
10%
2%
0%
0% Below 1:50 year
Low laying areas
Not flooding prone
Private
Municipal
Other
Fig. 3. Flooding prone areas [2].
Fig. 5. Land ownership [2].
percent have only partial access (only a part of the settlement is reachable for trucks and tankers). Most of the settlements (75%) are located on land that is owned by the municipality (Fig. 5). Still, a large share (22%) is located on private lands. For private lands the Water Services Department needs to obtain the consent of the owner in order to deliver services on-site. Many land owners do not give that permission because they are afraid of making the settlement on their land even more permanent. As Fig. 6 shows, the density of the settlements is generally high and this is a major constraint for sanitation services provision. Around 42% of the sites have densities between 150 and 300 households per hectare while more than 10% even rise above the 300 households/ha. Servicing high-density informal areas is difficult because of limited space, the unplanned layout and limited accessibility. Providing waterborne or equivalent sanitation
services such as water flush systems are often not possible under these conditions.
100%
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
90% 80%
70%
70% 60% 50% 40% 30%
22%
20% 10%
5%
3%
Peripheral
Inaccessible
0%
4.2. Social dynamics and community organization The social dynamics and community organization in the settlements differ significantly from site to site. Most of the people living in the informal settlements are immigrants from the Eastern Cape Province at the same time that there is a growing number of rural–urban migration and incoming people from neighbouring countries. Most settlers identify the informal neighbourhoods as a temporary shelter along with their existing homes in the rural areas. Therefore, while some inhabitants reside permanently in the settlements, the remainder constantly shift either between residencies or that of family members depending on their requirements. Strong migration patterns in the poorer urban districts lead to irregular settlements
42% 28% 19% 10% >300
Full
Partial
Fig. 4. Land accessibility [2].
150−300 50−150 households/ha
Fig. 6. Housing density distribution [2].
<50
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A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337
composed of a wide variety of cultural backgrounds as well as ambiguous socio-economic conditions. Consequently these areas generally have a low level of social cohesion and community organization. 4.3. Institutional aspects Post-Apartheid institutional reforms and constant political changes in the City Council led to rapid replacement and dismissal of key personnel in the Water Services Department (WSD) without a transition period and generally without the transfer of information. This resulted in loss of knowledge and skilled workers. At the same time most informal settlements were established during the post-Apartheid period. At this moment it is clear that the Water Services Department is lacking the sufficient manpower as well as qualified and experienced staff to deliver sanitation services in all the informal settlements. Moreover, WSD has difficulties in coordinating between the different departments that are responsible for the provision of water and sanitation services. One of the results is a lack of updated and reliable data about the number of sanitation facilities and conditions within the informal settlements. Finally, the informal settlements are not high on the political agenda. The population in the informal settlements lack the ownership of the land where they live and are frequently considered as illegal occupants or squatters by the responsible authorities and policy. 4.4. Water borne wastewater systems Water borne wastewater systems based on pour and full flush toilets and a sewerage network were evaluated as a sanitation option for the informal settlements. The sewer networks of Cape Town are generally not far from the settlements, because most of the informal areas are located in the middle of the municipality, next to highways or formal areas. Important barriers are the high costs and the uncertain future of most settlements. Even with relatively small distances to the sewer network, the required investment and expected operational costs exceed the WSD budget by far. Moreover, investments in sewers are questionable in areas that that lack a formal status. A practical barrier to implementing water borne sewers
is the cleansing material used by the settlers. The informal settlements are linked to low-income communities lacking the financial resources to afford the monthly basic needs required. Therefore materials other than toilet paper such as vegetable leafs, stones or hard paper are commonly used. These materials are likely to lead to high rates of blockages and failures of the system. Secondary arguments that make implementation of water borne systems in the informal settlements unlikely are the fact that the current water supply and wastewater infrastructure in Cape Town is at the limits of its capacity and needs re-investments because of aging. Large investments are expected if the informal settlements are connected to the current water infrastructure. The current water losses in the distribution systems stands at 25% of the total amount of drinking water supplied to the reticulation system. Sewer pipes are ageing which is visible through frequent collapses of the pipe systems. Almost 40% of the waste water treatment plants are working near or over their designed capacity and most of them do not comply with some of the effluent disposal standards. 5. Appropriate sanitation options Based on the database a DST was developed with the purpose to assess the technical feasibility of sanitation options to a given site layout. The DST compares the specific conditions (key limitations) of the informal settlements to the technical characteristics of a given sanitation option. In order to be feasible, a sanitation option should not have a single any limiting criterion; failing one single criterion limits its appropriateness for a certain location. The Water Services Department uses a list of 14 options in selecting a feasible sanitation system for a selected informal settlement. For this study, we matched the feasibility of this list of options with the conditions in an ‘average’ informal settlement in Cape Town. A full description of this study is described in [2]. Based on the analysis the ‘average’ settlement in Cape Town is characterised as follows: it has a high density (>150 households/ha), only partial access for trucks and tankers, communal standpipes for water supply, a shallow water table, a mixed soil composition, a terrain slope lower than 25 and hard or bulky material as anal cleansing method.
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337
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Settlement aspects from database Access Tracks
Density
Water supply
Partial
High
Communal standpipe
Water Soil type table depth 2–5 m Loam/Sand
Flooding prone
Slope
Low laying areas
<25
Anal cleansing method hard or bulky materials
Technical Feasibility
1 Container + Manual emptying + WWTW
Green
Feasible
2 Chemical + Mechanical emptying + WWTW
Green
Feasible
3 VIP + Mechanical emptying + WWTW
Green
Red
Red
Green
Green
Green
Unfeasible
4 VIDP + Manual emptying + Reuse
Red
Red
Green
Green
Green
Unfeasible
Composting/Urine diversion + Manual emptying + Faecal matter 5 composting + Urine drainage/reuse
Red
Green
Green
Double Composting/Urine diversion + Manual emptying + Faecal matter composting + Urine reuse/reuse
Red
Green
Green
6
7 Pour-flush + Lined Pit + Mechanical emptying + WWTW Pour-flush + Aquaprivy + Soakaway + Mechanical emptying + WWTW (sludge) Pour-flush + Conservancy Tank + Mechanical emptying + 9 WWTW NOWAC + Anaerobic upflow filter + Soakaway + Mechanical 10 emptying (sand) 8
Green
Red
Green
Red
Red
Red
Green
Green
Red
Green
Red
Red
Red
Green
Green
Red
Green
11 Full flush + Conventional sewer + WWTW Full flush + Septic Tank + Small bore sewer + (Conventional 12 sewer) + WWTW + Mechanical emptying (sludge) Full-flush + Septic Tank + Soakaway + Mechanical emptying + 13 WWTW (sludge)
Green Green
Green
Red
Green
Green
Red
Green
14 Low-flush + Shallow sewer + (Conventional sewer) + WWTW
Green
Unfeasible Unfeasible Unfeasible
Green
Green
Red Green
Red
Red
Red
Unfeasible Unfeasible
Green
Red
Unfeasible
Red Green
Red Red
Unfeasible Unfeasible Unfeasible Unfeasible
Fig. 7. Assessment of the feasibility of various sanitation options for the ‘average’ informal settlement in Cape Town [2]. Explanation of colours: a green box indicates a not-limiting constraint, a red box a limiting constraint and a white box a none differentiating constraint.
The characteristics of the ‘average’ informal settlement were matched with the technical constraints of the 14 sanitation options. Fig. 7 shows the result of this analysis. The result of our assessment was that only container toilets and chemical toilets were systems that could be applied on a larger scale. These systems are only constrained through (partial) accessibility because of a general lack of access tracks to service the settlements. Container toilets and chemical toilets are however expensive to operate because of the frequent emptying and generally have a low level user acceptance and satisfaction. As is shown in Fig. 7 the main constraining factors are settlement density, water table depth and the anal cleansing method. Settlement density is the main constraint and is based on practical experiences of WSD and on various literature sources that indicate that
individual (household-based) solutions are not feasible for informal settlements with a high density. There is simply no place for toilets for each dwelling in these areas. The only way to overcome this constraint is the provision of community-based toilets. A water table depth of <5 m is taken as a constraint for systems that ultimately discharge liquids to the subsoil. The rationale behind this assumption is that ground water pollution by nutrients and pathogens should be prevented, in order not to endanger water resources in the long run. As for the anal cleansing method, we assumed that bulky material may clog the discharge pipes of flush and poor flush toilets. This problem could be overcome by collecting the cleansing material in a separate bucket. This will require awareness raising, since in the current situation most people in the settlement throw the material in the toilet (if they have one).
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Fig. 8. Artist impression of the MobiSan1 system.
6. Mobile sanitation systems Based on the evaluation an innovative pilot project was started with the support of the Dutch government. The design, development and demonstration of a mobile ecological sanitation unit (MobiSan1) with the aim to increase services flexibility, reduce servicing costs, improve the delivery of emergency services, enhance user satisfaction and release some pressure from water resources and wastewater treatment works. A partnership consortium has been created involving Water Services Department of Cape Town, VitensEvides International, Landustrie Sneek BV and Lettinga Associates Foundation (LeAF). The pilot project includes construction and operation of a MobiSan1 unit that will serve approximately 500 people in an existing informal settlement. During the demonstration period the system needs to prove its competitiveness with existing sanitations systems in terms of local community acceptability, costs and easiness in operation and maintenance affordability. The pilot project will also support capacity building within Cape Town Water Services Department for the right enabling environment to facilitate large-scale implementation of these systems in the informal settlements. This will include the requirements for setting up an infrastructure for operation and maintenance services of the system, the community involvement and participation, the potential for employment of local entrepreneurs, training to operate and maintain the units and
hygiene promotion. The system will be monitored through technical aspects (functioning of the system), social (e.g. number of people, age groups and gender of people visiting the units) and economical (operational costs, etc.). The first demonstration unit of MobiSan1 will be operational in August 2008 and will be monitored for 15 months until October 2009. It consists of a 20 feet ship container equipped with 13 toilets and 13 urinals as well as hand washing facilities (Fig. 8). The toilets are based on urine diversion and faecal matter composting and dehydration. The demo unit will have special toilets for children and is distributed in a 2/3 rate designated to women and 1/3 to men. Urine and faecal matter will be collected in separate storage tanks for potential reuse (on/off-site the settlement). The MobiSan1 unit will be continuously staffed with a team of local caretakers, previously trained, that will be responsible for the cleansing, operation and maintenance of the system. It also provides a small caretaker room that can be used as a shop. MobiSan1 is independent from sewer networks, is able to deal with higher toilet rates thus higher densities and it fits in most unsuitable locations. It provides easiness to implement in poor accessible as well as in privately owned settlements. Finally the added value of its mobility facilitates the fast and easy insertion, transfer or replacement in case of an emergency situation, a settlement’s relocation or failure of the system.
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337 7. Conclusions The inventory of the actual state of services delivery in Cape Town shows that most of the informal settlements in this city are severely behind in sanitation coverage. The main barriers to the implementation of proper sanitation systems are the non-permanent status of the informal settlements, high service and maintenance costs, unsuitable location of the settlements (more than 40% of the sites) such as on private land, servitudes, wetlands and flooding prone areas, high settlement densities (55%) and distance to existing sewerage networks. The technical feasibility of 14 different sanitation systems was related to these general constraints. The assessment showed that only chemical toilets and container toilets were systems that could be applied on a larger scale. These systems, however, have high service and maintenance costs. Based on the evaluation an innovative pilot project
337
consisting of a mobile sanitation unit (MobiSan1) is being piloted.
NOTE A container toilet is toilet without an outlet to soil or a sewer. It fills up and should be regularly emptied. Emptying services in Cape Town are performed by or on behalf of the WSD.
References [1] City of Cape Town, Water Services Development Plan, South Africa, 2006. [2] D. Castellano, Decision Support Tool for the Appropriate Selection of Sanitation Systems, M.Sc. Thesis, Wageningen University, Urban Environment Group, The Netherlands, 2007. [3] Water Services Department of Cape Town, Servicing Informal Settlements (SIS): Draft Situation Report on the Provision of Services, 2006.
Sanitation services for the informal settlements of Cape Town, South Africa A. Melsab , D. Castellanoab , O. Braadbaarta, S. Veenstrac, I. Dijkstrac, B. Meulmand, A. Singelse, J.A. Wilsenachf a
Wageningen University, Urban Environment Group, Department of Environmental Sciences, P.O. Box 500, 6700 AM Wageningen, The Netherlands email: [email protected], [email protected], www.wageningenuniversiteit.nl b Lettinga Associates Foundation (LeAF), The Netherlands; www.LeAF-water.org c Vitens-Evides International, The Netherlands; www.vitens.nl d Landustrie Sneek BV, The Netherlands; www.landustrie.nl e Cape Town Water Services Department, City of Cape Town, South Africa; www.capetown.gov.za f The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research of Cape Town, South Africa; www.csir.co.za Received 31 January 2008; revised accepted 15 May 2008
Abstract Sanitation coverage in the informal settlements of Cape Town is severely lagging behind. A recent inventory showed that the main barriers to the implementation of proper sanitation systems are unsuitability of the location of many settlements (more than 40% of the sites are located on private land, wetlands and flooding prone areas), high settlement densities (55%), the nonpermanent status of the informal settlements and the distance to existing sewerage networks. The technical feasibility of 14 different sanitation systems was related to these general constraints. The feasibility assessment showed that only chemical toilets and container toilets were systems that could be applied on a larger scale. Both toilet systems, however, have high service and maintenance costs. Based on the evaluation, an innovative pilot project consisting of a mobile sanitation unit (MobiSan1) is being developed and will be piloted. Keywords: Sanitation services; Informal settlements; Mobile sanitation; MobiSan1
1. Introduction During the last decade Cape Town as well as other cities in South Africa have experienced a huge increase
Corresponding author.
in the number of informal settlements. Urban areas are growing rapidly as they are perceived as a potential area of income and the only way to take advantage of the limited developments in the country. The Water Services Department of Cape Town is responsible for water and sanitation services in the city including
Presented at the Water and Sanitation in International Development and Disaster Relief (WSIDDR) International Workshop Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 28–30 May 2008. 0011-9164/09/$– See front matter © 2009 Published by Elsevier B.V. doi:10.1016/j.desal.2008.05.072
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337 services provision in the informal settlements. With respect to water and sanitation, the municipal council of Cape Town has defined two main goals [1]: To ensure access to a basic water supply to all informal settlements by 2008. To ensure access to a basic sanitation services to at least 70% of all the informal settlements by 2010. Both targets will be difficult to achieve considering the already existing gaps in services’ delivery and the difficult socio-economic, cultural and environmental constraints in the informal settlements. Also, they will be extremely challenged because of the constant flow of people immigrating from rural areas, poorer provinces and neighbouring countries. An additional challenge is that the city of Cape Town has agreed to provide basic water and sanitation services free of charge. This paper presents an analysis of the current situation in the informal settlements and investigates which sanitation options are feasible within the majority of these areas. In addition it presents a pilot project consisting of a mobile sanitation unit (MobiSan1). This system is designed based on field data with the aim of assisting the Water Service Department to meet its ambitious goals with respect to sanitation coverage. 2. Situation description Cape Town currently has more than 220 informal settlements spread throughout the city with an estimated population of about 900,000. Most of these informal settlement have been established in the
331
post-Apartheid period due changed laws and regulations with respect to land-squatting and entering Cape Town. In most cases, the residents of the settlements are squatters. According to South African law, somebody who has build a dwelling on a certain piece of land and lives in it for a day, can not be removed, unless a house is offered in another area. The inhabitants of these townships are characterised by low-income profiles, living under extreme poverty conditions, lacking the proper financial means and urban infrastructure to cover their basic needs. A general policy to decrease the number of informal settlements is to relocate the inhabitants settled in the restricted areas to city owned land. Relocation is however a complex issue. The affected communities generally offer massive resistance to be moved (unless the relocation provides more suitable land, better conditions and closer to the economic activity of the city). In addition, there is growing concern about the land availability in the city. The accessible space is rapidly decreasing and thus the options for proper relocation. A recent inventory of the actual state of services delivery in Cape Town that was prepared by the Water Services Department concluded that most of the informal settlements in this city are severely lagging behind in sanitation coverage. According to official statistics 36.5% of the population in the informal settlement are serviced with basic sanitation [1]. Fig. 2 shows the most common sanitation options used nowadays in the informal settlements [3]. The main systems are container1 and bucket toilets, which number 4500 and 3000 respectively.
5000 4500 Number of toilets
4000 3500 3000 2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0 Container Bucket toilet Water borne Porta potties toilet (100 L) (25 L) toilet (poor / full flush)
Chemical toilet
Pitliners
Dry sanitation (incl. ecosan)
Fig. 1. Sanitation options used in the informal settlements according to a survey in 2006 [3].
Other
332
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337
Fig. 2. Poorly or not-maintained toilets in the informal settlements in Cape Town.
It should be mentioned that the officially accepted number of people living in the informal areas is lower than the actual counting, thus leading to unreliable statistics. In addition, the Water Services Department of Cape Town aims to eradicate container and bucket toilets in a few years as they are not considered as basic sanitation. Taking both of these facts into consideration, the percentage of the informal settlements provided with basic sanitation decreases dramatically to less than 15%. The current approach of the Water Services Department aims to supply toilets in the informal settlements to be shared within five households. Each toilet is assigned to five families and in most of the cases they are locked; subsequently a copy of the key is provided to each family. Therefore the facility maintenance relies on its users. The toilet types that are mostly used are container and bucket toilets. Both types need to be emptied at least twice per week. The costs for the emptying services are significant and are a heavy burden on the operational budget of the Water Services Department. Because of the non-formalised situation of the settlements these services are considered as emergency services that however tend to remain in those categories for a long period of time. This approach reaches a better performance in small communities in periurban areas than in high dense settlements where the cohesion of its dwellers is much lower. Shared toilets do not take into account the population growth and the consequent increasing rate of households per toilet. As such newcomers are excluded from any sanitation facility. Shared toilets do not consider either the consistency between neighbours; in several cases conflicts among sharing households such us unequal maintenance care have led to destruction of the sanitation facility or either change of the lock for its private use
thus excluding the rest of the households. Reduced social acceptability as well as political bias and complains for the poor quality of sanitation facilities results in some cases with the damage, vandalism and destruction of the systems. 3. Methodology An analysis was made of the situation in the informal settlements of Cape Town through data collected from the Water Services Department and GIS data of the Cape Town city council. The gathered information was complemented by interviews with city officials, working groups and community leaders as well as by field observation work. Information on the individual settlements was compiled in a database. The database includes important information for selecting feasible sanitation systems such as housing density, access routes, water table and availability, topography, soil type and anal cleansing material. Based on the database a decision support tool (DST) was developed with the purpose to assess the technical feasibility of sanitation options to a given site layout. 4. Analysis 4.1. Location, ownership and density of the informal settlements Many of the settlements are located on unsuitable lands and are difficult to access for water and sanitation servicing. As shown in Fig. 3, more than 80% of the informal settlements are located in low lying, flooding prone areas, like wetlands. Others may be found on steep slopes. Only 22% of the settlements are fully accessible for trucks and tankers (Fig. 4). Seventy
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337 100%
100% 85%
90%
90%
80%
80%
70%
70%
60%
60%
50%
50%
40%
40%
30%
30%
20%
20%
10%
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9%
7%
75%
23%
10%
2%
0%
0% Below 1:50 year
Low laying areas
Not flooding prone
Private
Municipal
Other
Fig. 3. Flooding prone areas [2].
Fig. 5. Land ownership [2].
percent have only partial access (only a part of the settlement is reachable for trucks and tankers). Most of the settlements (75%) are located on land that is owned by the municipality (Fig. 5). Still, a large share (22%) is located on private lands. For private lands the Water Services Department needs to obtain the consent of the owner in order to deliver services on-site. Many land owners do not give that permission because they are afraid of making the settlement on their land even more permanent. As Fig. 6 shows, the density of the settlements is generally high and this is a major constraint for sanitation services provision. Around 42% of the sites have densities between 150 and 300 households per hectare while more than 10% even rise above the 300 households/ha. Servicing high-density informal areas is difficult because of limited space, the unplanned layout and limited accessibility. Providing waterborne or equivalent sanitation
services such as water flush systems are often not possible under these conditions.
100%
100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0%
90% 80%
70%
70% 60% 50% 40% 30%
22%
20% 10%
5%
3%
Peripheral
Inaccessible
0%
4.2. Social dynamics and community organization The social dynamics and community organization in the settlements differ significantly from site to site. Most of the people living in the informal settlements are immigrants from the Eastern Cape Province at the same time that there is a growing number of rural–urban migration and incoming people from neighbouring countries. Most settlers identify the informal neighbourhoods as a temporary shelter along with their existing homes in the rural areas. Therefore, while some inhabitants reside permanently in the settlements, the remainder constantly shift either between residencies or that of family members depending on their requirements. Strong migration patterns in the poorer urban districts lead to irregular settlements
42% 28% 19% 10% >300
Full
Partial
Fig. 4. Land accessibility [2].
150−300 50−150 households/ha
Fig. 6. Housing density distribution [2].
<50
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composed of a wide variety of cultural backgrounds as well as ambiguous socio-economic conditions. Consequently these areas generally have a low level of social cohesion and community organization. 4.3. Institutional aspects Post-Apartheid institutional reforms and constant political changes in the City Council led to rapid replacement and dismissal of key personnel in the Water Services Department (WSD) without a transition period and generally without the transfer of information. This resulted in loss of knowledge and skilled workers. At the same time most informal settlements were established during the post-Apartheid period. At this moment it is clear that the Water Services Department is lacking the sufficient manpower as well as qualified and experienced staff to deliver sanitation services in all the informal settlements. Moreover, WSD has difficulties in coordinating between the different departments that are responsible for the provision of water and sanitation services. One of the results is a lack of updated and reliable data about the number of sanitation facilities and conditions within the informal settlements. Finally, the informal settlements are not high on the political agenda. The population in the informal settlements lack the ownership of the land where they live and are frequently considered as illegal occupants or squatters by the responsible authorities and policy. 4.4. Water borne wastewater systems Water borne wastewater systems based on pour and full flush toilets and a sewerage network were evaluated as a sanitation option for the informal settlements. The sewer networks of Cape Town are generally not far from the settlements, because most of the informal areas are located in the middle of the municipality, next to highways or formal areas. Important barriers are the high costs and the uncertain future of most settlements. Even with relatively small distances to the sewer network, the required investment and expected operational costs exceed the WSD budget by far. Moreover, investments in sewers are questionable in areas that that lack a formal status. A practical barrier to implementing water borne sewers
is the cleansing material used by the settlers. The informal settlements are linked to low-income communities lacking the financial resources to afford the monthly basic needs required. Therefore materials other than toilet paper such as vegetable leafs, stones or hard paper are commonly used. These materials are likely to lead to high rates of blockages and failures of the system. Secondary arguments that make implementation of water borne systems in the informal settlements unlikely are the fact that the current water supply and wastewater infrastructure in Cape Town is at the limits of its capacity and needs re-investments because of aging. Large investments are expected if the informal settlements are connected to the current water infrastructure. The current water losses in the distribution systems stands at 25% of the total amount of drinking water supplied to the reticulation system. Sewer pipes are ageing which is visible through frequent collapses of the pipe systems. Almost 40% of the waste water treatment plants are working near or over their designed capacity and most of them do not comply with some of the effluent disposal standards. 5. Appropriate sanitation options Based on the database a DST was developed with the purpose to assess the technical feasibility of sanitation options to a given site layout. The DST compares the specific conditions (key limitations) of the informal settlements to the technical characteristics of a given sanitation option. In order to be feasible, a sanitation option should not have a single any limiting criterion; failing one single criterion limits its appropriateness for a certain location. The Water Services Department uses a list of 14 options in selecting a feasible sanitation system for a selected informal settlement. For this study, we matched the feasibility of this list of options with the conditions in an ‘average’ informal settlement in Cape Town. A full description of this study is described in [2]. Based on the analysis the ‘average’ settlement in Cape Town is characterised as follows: it has a high density (>150 households/ha), only partial access for trucks and tankers, communal standpipes for water supply, a shallow water table, a mixed soil composition, a terrain slope lower than 25 and hard or bulky material as anal cleansing method.
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Settlement aspects from database Access Tracks
Density
Water supply
Partial
High
Communal standpipe
Water Soil type table depth 2–5 m Loam/Sand
Flooding prone
Slope
Low laying areas
<25
Anal cleansing method hard or bulky materials
Technical Feasibility
1 Container + Manual emptying + WWTW
Green
Feasible
2 Chemical + Mechanical emptying + WWTW
Green
Feasible
3 VIP + Mechanical emptying + WWTW
Green
Red
Red
Green
Green
Green
Unfeasible
4 VIDP + Manual emptying + Reuse
Red
Red
Green
Green
Green
Unfeasible
Composting/Urine diversion + Manual emptying + Faecal matter 5 composting + Urine drainage/reuse
Red
Green
Green
Double Composting/Urine diversion + Manual emptying + Faecal matter composting + Urine reuse/reuse
Red
Green
Green
6
7 Pour-flush + Lined Pit + Mechanical emptying + WWTW Pour-flush + Aquaprivy + Soakaway + Mechanical emptying + WWTW (sludge) Pour-flush + Conservancy Tank + Mechanical emptying + 9 WWTW NOWAC + Anaerobic upflow filter + Soakaway + Mechanical 10 emptying (sand) 8
Green
Red
Green
Red
Red
Red
Green
Green
Red
Green
Red
Red
Red
Green
Green
Red
Green
11 Full flush + Conventional sewer + WWTW Full flush + Septic Tank + Small bore sewer + (Conventional 12 sewer) + WWTW + Mechanical emptying (sludge) Full-flush + Septic Tank + Soakaway + Mechanical emptying + 13 WWTW (sludge)
Green Green
Green
Red
Green
Green
Red
Green
14 Low-flush + Shallow sewer + (Conventional sewer) + WWTW
Green
Unfeasible Unfeasible Unfeasible
Green
Green
Red Green
Red
Red
Red
Unfeasible Unfeasible
Green
Red
Unfeasible
Red Green
Red Red
Unfeasible Unfeasible Unfeasible Unfeasible
Fig. 7. Assessment of the feasibility of various sanitation options for the ‘average’ informal settlement in Cape Town [2]. Explanation of colours: a green box indicates a not-limiting constraint, a red box a limiting constraint and a white box a none differentiating constraint.
The characteristics of the ‘average’ informal settlement were matched with the technical constraints of the 14 sanitation options. Fig. 7 shows the result of this analysis. The result of our assessment was that only container toilets and chemical toilets were systems that could be applied on a larger scale. These systems are only constrained through (partial) accessibility because of a general lack of access tracks to service the settlements. Container toilets and chemical toilets are however expensive to operate because of the frequent emptying and generally have a low level user acceptance and satisfaction. As is shown in Fig. 7 the main constraining factors are settlement density, water table depth and the anal cleansing method. Settlement density is the main constraint and is based on practical experiences of WSD and on various literature sources that indicate that
individual (household-based) solutions are not feasible for informal settlements with a high density. There is simply no place for toilets for each dwelling in these areas. The only way to overcome this constraint is the provision of community-based toilets. A water table depth of <5 m is taken as a constraint for systems that ultimately discharge liquids to the subsoil. The rationale behind this assumption is that ground water pollution by nutrients and pathogens should be prevented, in order not to endanger water resources in the long run. As for the anal cleansing method, we assumed that bulky material may clog the discharge pipes of flush and poor flush toilets. This problem could be overcome by collecting the cleansing material in a separate bucket. This will require awareness raising, since in the current situation most people in the settlement throw the material in the toilet (if they have one).
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Fig. 8. Artist impression of the MobiSan1 system.
6. Mobile sanitation systems Based on the evaluation an innovative pilot project was started with the support of the Dutch government. The design, development and demonstration of a mobile ecological sanitation unit (MobiSan1) with the aim to increase services flexibility, reduce servicing costs, improve the delivery of emergency services, enhance user satisfaction and release some pressure from water resources and wastewater treatment works. A partnership consortium has been created involving Water Services Department of Cape Town, VitensEvides International, Landustrie Sneek BV and Lettinga Associates Foundation (LeAF). The pilot project includes construction and operation of a MobiSan1 unit that will serve approximately 500 people in an existing informal settlement. During the demonstration period the system needs to prove its competitiveness with existing sanitations systems in terms of local community acceptability, costs and easiness in operation and maintenance affordability. The pilot project will also support capacity building within Cape Town Water Services Department for the right enabling environment to facilitate large-scale implementation of these systems in the informal settlements. This will include the requirements for setting up an infrastructure for operation and maintenance services of the system, the community involvement and participation, the potential for employment of local entrepreneurs, training to operate and maintain the units and
hygiene promotion. The system will be monitored through technical aspects (functioning of the system), social (e.g. number of people, age groups and gender of people visiting the units) and economical (operational costs, etc.). The first demonstration unit of MobiSan1 will be operational in August 2008 and will be monitored for 15 months until October 2009. It consists of a 20 feet ship container equipped with 13 toilets and 13 urinals as well as hand washing facilities (Fig. 8). The toilets are based on urine diversion and faecal matter composting and dehydration. The demo unit will have special toilets for children and is distributed in a 2/3 rate designated to women and 1/3 to men. Urine and faecal matter will be collected in separate storage tanks for potential reuse (on/off-site the settlement). The MobiSan1 unit will be continuously staffed with a team of local caretakers, previously trained, that will be responsible for the cleansing, operation and maintenance of the system. It also provides a small caretaker room that can be used as a shop. MobiSan1 is independent from sewer networks, is able to deal with higher toilet rates thus higher densities and it fits in most unsuitable locations. It provides easiness to implement in poor accessible as well as in privately owned settlements. Finally the added value of its mobility facilitates the fast and easy insertion, transfer or replacement in case of an emergency situation, a settlement’s relocation or failure of the system.
A. Mels et al. / Desalination 248 (2009) 330–337 7. Conclusions The inventory of the actual state of services delivery in Cape Town shows that most of the informal settlements in this city are severely behind in sanitation coverage. The main barriers to the implementation of proper sanitation systems are the non-permanent status of the informal settlements, high service and maintenance costs, unsuitable location of the settlements (more than 40% of the sites) such as on private land, servitudes, wetlands and flooding prone areas, high settlement densities (55%) and distance to existing sewerage networks. The technical feasibility of 14 different sanitation systems was related to these general constraints. The assessment showed that only chemical toilets and container toilets were systems that could be applied on a larger scale. These systems, however, have high service and maintenance costs. Based on the evaluation an innovative pilot project
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consisting of a mobile sanitation unit (MobiSan1) is being piloted.
NOTE A container toilet is toilet without an outlet to soil or a sewer. It fills up and should be regularly emptied. Emptying services in Cape Town are performed by or on behalf of the WSD.
References [1] City of Cape Town, Water Services Development Plan, South Africa, 2006. [2] D. Castellano, Decision Support Tool for the Appropriate Selection of Sanitation Systems, M.Sc. Thesis, Wageningen University, Urban Environment Group, The Netherlands, 2007. [3] Water Services Department of Cape Town, Servicing Informal Settlements (SIS): Draft Situation Report on the Provision of Services, 2006.