Dealing with the sanitation nexus - the need for disruption

There are some 2.5 billion people in the  world lacking access to sanitation,  many aspiring to the conventional reticulated sanitation systems which require high investment costs, skilled personnel to design, implement and operate the system, and adequate access to energy, chemicals and water to operate the system. In unserviced rural and peri-urban areas, as well as developed areas in the developing and developed world the provision of conventional reticulated sewerage systems with their associated intensive resource inputs is not the best technical option in terms of  provision, affordability and sustainability.   The water-wastewater-pollution nexus is beginning to reach a crisis point.  Central to this is how we evolve with sanitation technology.

This event will tackle the need to develop the next generation of off-grid, innovative and novel technological options for sanitation that takes into account available water and energy resources, user preferences, beneficiation and are able to contribute to recovery of waste products or reduce operational and maintenance costs.  Creation of new markets and institutional processes to accelerate uptake and applicsation.  Such interventions can contribute to around 30% savings in water supplied, 60% saving on capital, elimination of sewers and resource-intensive wastewater treatment systems, reduction or elimination of pollution pathways.