Technical guide to EcoSan promotion

The EcoSan Promotion Project (EPP) is a project component of the Water Sector Reform Programme in Kenya co-funded by the European Union, SIDA and GTZ and implemented between November 2006 and June 2010. It was started towards the end of 2006. The project’s aim is to develop, test and promote the Ecological Sanitation concept including development of technical designs for large and small-scale sanitation projects in Kenya. The focus is on: individual households; public places such as markets and bus parks; public institutions such as primary schools, secondary schools and prisons; and informal settlements. Consequently, the potential of sanitizing, recycling or re-using human waste for production of biogas and bio-fertilizers, through closing of the water and nutrient loops is realized while their use gets promoted for economic and social development. In the past decades, many public places such as markets, bus parks, recreational parks, town centre’s et cetera, did not have sanitation facilities. The few that were in use under the management of the local authorities were totally run down to the extent of being unsuitable for human use. They got filthy and overflowed with human waste. No management systems of these facilities, mainly toilet blocks for ladies and gentlemen, were put in place for daily operation. As a result, Kenyans had inadequate access to sanitation in public places. The unmanaged public toilets became dens for gangs ready to pounce and mug people during the day as well as nighttime. The public thus dreaded such sanitation facilities. The problem of unsafe and inadequate sanitation is also being experienced in both primary and secondary schools. Other public institutions in Kenya are experiencing the same sanitation problems. The urban poor in the growing informal settlements have some of the worst sanitation facilities in the country leading to frequent water born disease outbreaks. The centralized sewer system is not providing a sustainable solution for increasing the sanitation coverage in urban areas. The systems are expensive to construct with about 20% of the urban population covered by the sewer lines.

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