Assessment of Technology Options

The process of assessing and deciding on technology options can run as follows: First, planners, consultants and other stakeholders should compile all information that has been generated concerning the various sanitation options, which are technically suitable for the implementation in the project area. These options should be characterised by their technical, financial, institutional, and social feasibility as well as the impact on the environment.

When this information is gathered, a participatory decision-making process (see also deciding with the community category on Decision Making section) can be started. After the participatory decision-making process, the various sanitation options should be ranked reflecting the decision-makers’ priorities for every single criterion (or group of criteria). This ranking process will result in one or several systems, which is (are) considered most appropriate for the project area.

Each sanitation system represents a configuration of different technology components that carry out different processes on specific waste flows and have particular management, operation and maintenance conditions. Starting at the household level with waste generation, a system can include storage and potentially also treatment and reuse of the different waste streams. However, it might not be feasible to manage the human waste on-site, and therefore it is necessary to transport the waste to a larger jurisdiction, where it is usually treated in large installations.

There are 7 main systems divided in dry/wet, degree of product separation (source segregation) into various flow streams and the spatial level of treatment (on-site <-> off-site). Each system includes various system alternatives (find the complete system overview in ZURBRUEGG and TILLEY 2007). Whilst in theory there is a wide range of infrastructure options, in practice the choice is limited by 1) existing infrastructure and 2) physical characteristics of the site.

A holistic approach to assess sanitation systems includes criteria regarding the following aspects:

• Health criteria,
• Environmental and resource criteria,
• Technical and operational criteria,
• Financial (see PPT) and economical criteria,
• Social, cultural and gender criteria.

Find the table of evaluation criteria in TTZ and TUHH ny . The rating system can be adapted by experts e.g. for a qualitative comparison of different options (++ <-> --).

The product of this sub step should be a short list of feasible sanitation options given the local context (social, financial, environmental). The settlement conditions, existing sanitation situation and user priorities have been assessed in a previous step (Exploring Tools). This pre-selection list shall be based not only on the expert experiences but also on user functional demands as well as the requirements from the service provider's point of view.

After the expert pre-selection and evaluation of sanitation options a participatory decision making process can be started (see also planning with the community category on Decision Making section). The information needed for making a decision is: 1) baseline data of the project area, detailed description of the system options shortlisted by the consultants, and a well arranged comparison of the alternatives based on a fixed set of criteria. The various stakeholders will have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss, propose modifications and give feedback to the options. Information revealed during such workshops (see also nominal group technique) shall be reflected in an adapted design of the various system alternatives.After the participatory decision-making process the various sanitation options should be ranked reflecting the stakeholders’ priorities for every single criterion (or group of criteria). This ranking process will result in one or several systems (for an overview see also ZURBRUEGG and TILLEY 2007), which is (are) considered most appropriate for the project area.

The goal is to enable the stakeholder group to make an informed choice on their sanitation system components by building on their own experiences with various sanitation schemes, thereby also creating awareness and demand (see PPT) for a sanitation system. By giving stakeholders time to use, operate and maintain, discuss and reflect on the options provided in the setting of their own home (see also participatory monitoring and evaluation) they will be more able to contextualise the systems and propose creative, site-specific adaptations which can then be integrated in the final designs. Through this process it is hoped that future decisions will be based on actual knowledge of the systems rather than on assumptions and beliefs.

Another participatory workshop with the community (see also nominal group technique) will be needed to collect and analyse the experiences on the exposure sub-step. The goal of this workshop is to bring together the reflections of the members of the community regarding the demonstration units and the visited showcases, thus gathering feedback on the users’ perspectives and understanding of the systems (see also participatory monitoring and evaluation). It is also essential that the engineers and planners involved are willing to listen to suggestions, integrate innovative proposals, work around local barriers, and generally be flexible to a process that will not be short or clearly defined. The workshop would come out with a narrowed down list of possible systems.

With the revised set of system alternatives, a final workshop can be held with the decision-makers in the project area. The information obtained during previous community workshops should be already reflected in an adapted design of the various system alternatives. At this point, the sanitation planning team should have information on cost estimates (see also budget allocation and resource planning) and the availability of construction material, tools, skilled labour and other essential components for the construction works. The target of this workshop should be to conduct a participatory decision-making process that integrates all stakeholder groups and attempts to reach an agreement on an option considered most appropriate. The process is iterated until a mutually acceptable system is agreed upon by experts (in terms of technical robustness) and stakeholders (in terms of usability and affordability).