Knowledge

Welcome to our webpage on knowledge products, for sharing best practices, lessons learned, and success stories. On this webpage, you will find any type of knowledge products that we have produced such as reports, manuals, guides, briefs, webinars, videos, and more.

Articles

We focus on accessing the economic viability of various sanitation interventions through a cost–benefit analysis in the Mahalaxmi municipality of Nepal. The lack of affordable sewer-based sanitation systems in low- and middle-income countries poses a challenge to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 6.2 (safe sanitation). We examine three sanitation scenarios: 100% sewered sanitation, 100% non-sewered sanitation, and a hybrid scenario that combines both. We consider the perspectives of residents, the private sector, and the government. Estimated life-cycle costs, benefits (primarily reduced mortality and morbidity), and stakeholder roles are analyzed. The results provide evidence-based insights that facilitate decision-making for sanitation interventions in similar contexts. However, limitations include a focus solely on health benefits and a lack of detailed data on other potential benefits.

Books

The technical guideline focuses on 12 on-site containment systems currently available in Dhaka and can be considered reliable technologies. The guideline is by no means a basis for the construction or replication of the systems by companies, nor an operation manual for operators responsible for the system’s maintenance. The on-site sanitation systems included in the guideline are divided into two major categories: 1) Partial Solutions, and 2) Single Integrated Systems. For sustainable on-site sanitation practices, single integrated systems are recommended and should be the choice of holding owners that cannot connect to the sewerage network.

This policy brief emphasizes the critical need for enhancing wastewater management and monitoring across various development goals. It draws from the UN 2023 Water Conference commitment and insights gained during a series of five regional webinars organized by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN Habitat) and regional co-organizers between 2020 and 2023. These webinars explored regional wastewater monitoring practices, discussed policy development, and facilitated investment decisions. Over 100 countries, 141 water and sanitation utilities, and various stakeholders participated. Subsequent data-collection efforts supported accurate reporting on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) indicator 6.3.1, contributing to global water and wastewater monitoring.

Learn how to choose WASH technologies that are energy-efficient, low-emission, and suitable for households and communities in less-developed countries. This e-book, supported by UNICEF, provides detailed reviews and specifications of various WASH technologies, along with data on their environmental impact. Download it now and help create a sustainable future for children and individuals in need.

Discover how to improve access to safely-managed sanitation by using the value chain system, a market-based approach that involves the private sector and local and national economies. This book, based on the Regenerative Sanitation Principles, introduces a new concept of the ‘integrated functional sanitation value chain’, which combines operational functions and value-added services within sanitation systems. This book also showcases examples of technical and business model innovation in the sanitation sector which will enable you to advance sanitation work in your own context.

Learn how to deliver sanitation solutions that are integrated, cyclical and beneficial for society, environment and economy. This book introduces a new concept of Regenerative Sanitation that goes beyond waste management and resource recovery. It also presents a new theory, ten principles and a conceptual framework for evaluating and designing sanitation systems that are user-centred and context-specific. This book is a comprehensive guide for researchers, students, policymakers and professionals who want to create effective and practical sanitation solutions for the future.

Learn how to measure and understand the characteristics and volumes of faecal sludge from onsite sanitation technologies, and how to use this data for better management and monitoring. This book provides standardised methods for faecal sludge sampling, analysis, modelling and simulating, as well as health and safety procedures, case studies and experimental design. This book is useful for researchers, laboratory technicians, academics, students and sanitation practitioners who want to improve their knowledge and skills in faecal sludge analysis.

Marine Plastics Abatement Volume 1 provides comprehensive knowledge of plastic pollutions in marine ecosystems and their implications on human health, especially from the contamination of micro and nano-plastic particles by which the levels of plastic pollutions in marine, aquatic, terrestrial and atmospheric systems are described. In addition to emerging challenges by plastic pollution, this volume offers comprehensive assessment tools as well as practical models on “Circular Economy” with interesting real-world case studies and theoretical and numerical questions and solutions, recent scientific information, and practical exercises, to ensure a user-friendly text for readers.

Marine Plastics Abatement Volume 2 focusses on abatement strategies and up-to-date technological innovations against marine plastic pollution such as resource recovery, plastics-to-values, co-processing, dumpsite recovery, etc. With an understanding of technological solutions and proper management practices, this volume suggests ways to develop businesses from plastic wastes with several cases from developed and developing countries. Furthermore, business case studies are presented along with recent scientific information, and practical exercises together with discussions on future trends such as introduction of biodegradable, or decomposable plastics; product designs for recycling/upcycling; etc.