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Many types of compost toilets are available today. They are designed to suit a variety of customs, cultures and climates, and vary enormously in price. Composting of human faeces is as old as the hills - it is Nature’s way of safely reintegrating human waste with the soil. All compost toilets, however simple or complex, are devices for helping Nature achieve this. Contrary to popular opinion compost toilets can be very clean and hygienic and do not smell. They save huge quantities of water in a world where water is becoming an increasingly precious resource. This technical brief describes a compost toilet that has proved to be most effective in waterlogged areas where pit-latrines and septic tanks are inappropriate.
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This document is the final report of an environmental assessment in the Bay of Bengal carried out between April 1991 and February 1993, with special reference to fisheries. It includes edited versions of the status reports from every member country of the Bay of Bengal Programme (BOBP). They were presented at the regional workshop held in Colombo, February 2-6, 1993at the conclusion of the assessment. The objective was to assess the problems of environmental degradation in the coastal ecosystems in the Bay of Bengal by reviewing the existing information, analyzing available data and collating it all as a fundamental information base. In the long-term, the project could result in recommendations for coordinated activities in the countries as well as the region to achieve sustainable productivity from the coastal ecosystems and reduce the negative effects on the fisheries resources.
| Planning Commission Government of India
Working on this report at the Planning Commission of India has been an invigorating experience. At the same time, all through its writing, there were dilemmas of various kinds. It is important, at the outset, to outline at least some of these. The size of this report was essentially governed by the guidelines by WHO and UNICEF for the country assessments. The guidelines essentially were meant to ensure a degree of standardisation across country reports. Considering the size and diversity of India and the multiplicity of institutions involved in water and sanitation interventions across the length and breadth of India, one significant and obvious dilemma was that it was impossible to acknowledge each one of them. The fact that some institutions and some interventions have been referred to in this report does not in any way mean that the others are in any way less important or significant. This is particularly true of NGOs and their interventions and of the roles of the various external support agencies, which have in many instances, made invaluable contributions to the sector. ÂÂ
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The environmental impact assessment process has been envisaged as an integral part of development planning aimed towards minimizing environmental degradation. This study is a preliminary assessment of the possible environmental impact of a proposed landfill facility for the city of Jammu in . The objectives of this preliminary assessment are: to compile an environmental inventory of the project area, to predict the possible impact on groundwater quality; and to prepare an environmental management plan of the project site. The vulnerability of ground water to contamination in the study area was quantified by using the DRASTIC model. The calculated DRASTIC index number indicates a high pollution potential for the study area.
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In a progressive society it is natural that demands of water remain on the rise. In this context the issues are varied and complex in our country, because in there are remarkable variation in the availability of water on account of the regional rainfall and geography. Alongwith, the increasing population and urbanization are having telling effect on the availability and quality of water. In this situation the activity of artificial recharge to ground water is an indispensable measure which is substantially beneficial, as this will help store the surplus rainwater in the form of ground water and in turn arrest the decline of water level and degradation of the quality. All the same it is ecofriendly. This compilation contains some of the techniques that are suited to different geographic and geologic condition.
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The artificial recharge to ground water aims at augmentation of ground water reservoir by modifying the natural movement of surface water utilizing suitable civil construction techniques. The guide on Artificial Recharge To Ground Water provides guidelines for planning and designing of artificial recharge structures, different techniques and monitoring methodologies for the same. ÂÂ
2012 | Elsevier
This survey was carried out to study animal manure management on livestock farms with biogas technology (biogas farms) and without (non-biogas farms) in the areas surrounding the Vietnamese cities Hanoi and Hue. The objective of the study was to assess the contribution of biogas production to a better environment as well as to recognize the problems with livestock manure management on small-scale farms. On all the farms included in the study more than one manure management technology was used, i.e. composting, separation of manure, biogas production and discharge of liquid manure to recipients such as public sewers or ponds. On biogas farms, most of the manure collected was used for bio-digestion. The farmers used the fermented manure (digestate) as a source of nutrients for crops, but on more than 50\% of the interviewed biogas farms digestate was discharged to the environment. On non-biogas farms, manure was in the form of slurry or it was separated into a liquid and a dry-matter-rich solid fraction. The solid fraction from separation was used for composting and the liquid fraction usually discharged to the environment. The survey revealed that there is a need to improve methods for transporting the manure to the field, as transportation is the main barrier to recycling the liquid manure fraction. Farmers in developing countries need financial and technical support to install biogas digesters and to overcome the problems involved in utilizing the manure. Information about how to pre-treat manure before adding it to the digester is urgently needed. At present too much water is used, and the high volume of slurry reduces the retention time and is a disincentive for transporting and applying the digestate to fields. The users need to be informed about the risk of loss of methane to the environment, how to prevent cooker corrosion and the discharge to recipients. In addition, the study reveals that in developing countries manure management legislation needs to be tightened to control environmental pollution.
2011 | Elsevier
Material flow analysis (MFA) is a useful methodology to describe and quantify complex systems based on the law of mass conservation. It was further adapted to suit the specific conditions in developing countries where the available data is scarce and uncertain. The ‘adapted MFA’ methodology optimises the number of parameters, describes these parameters as probability distributions and assesses the accuracy and uncertainty of the model values by Monte Carlo simulation. This study illustrates the first successful application of the ‘adapted MFA’ methodology in a small and low-income area including two neighbouring communes in rural northern Vietnam, where environmental sanitation and traditional agricultural practices are strongly interlinked and have an impact on the surrounding environment. Moreover, data on this area is typically scarce and uncertain. The obtained results reveal that the agricultural system was a significant source of nutrients (nitrogen (N) and phosphorous (P)), which affect the surrounding environment mainly due to the overuse of chemical fertilizers. Every year, there were 103 ± 39 tonnes of N released into the atmosphere, 25 ± 3 tonnes of N leached to the surface water and 14 ± 2 tonnes of P accumulated in the soil, all originating from the applied chemical fertilizers. In addition, the sanitation system was also a critical source of nutrients that enter the surface water. 69 ± 6 tonnes of N and 23 ± 4 tonnes of P came from households through effluents of on-site sanitation systems (such as latrines and septic tanks) and were directly discharged to surface water every year. Moreover, the whole system annually generated a large nutrient source (214 ± 56 tonnes of N; 58 ± 16 tonnes of P) in the form of wastewater, faecal sludge, animal manure and organic solid wastes. The validated MFA was used to model different scenarios for the study site. The first scenario demonstrated that if nutrient management is not improved, wastewater as well as faecal sludge and organic solid waste are expected to double in the year 2020 as compared to that in 2008. The second and third scenario revealed possible strategies to significantly reduce environmental pollution and reuse nutrient sources predicted to be available in the year 2020.
2011 | Institute for Global Environmental Strategies
Environmental sustainability is the key tool to support the socio-economic development of Cambodia with the crucial functions to maintain the balance between natural resources and human needs. Therefore, it is necessary to take environmental protection into account consistent with the socio-economic development. The Royal Government of Cambodia under the ideal leadership of Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Kingdome of Cambodia, in the context of environment, has adopted several legislations, for example, the Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Management, Law on Natural Protected Areas, Law on Biosafety, and the four related sub-decrees as well, emphasizing its support and commitment to protect and manage the environment and natural resources in a sustainable manner. Currently, environment integration is being raised and applied within sectorial development. In this connection, several directives, standards, technical guidelines, etc., have been developed to effectively implement such environmental legislations as above. A Guide for Technology Selection and Implementation of Organic Waste Utilisation Projects in Cambodia is a crucial document to guide stakeholders to draw attention to possible use of organic waste prior to disposal based on the 3R initiatives, including the sound management of solid waste by appropriate technologies. The Ministry of Environment of Cambodia firmly supports this important document, and expects that it will be comprehensively disseminated and implemented at national and sub-national levels in order to share the accomplishment of the Goal No. 7 of the Millennium Development Goals, ‘To Ensure Environmental Sustainability’ in parallel with the socio-economic development in the Kingdom of Cambodia.