All that crap: How can faecal sludge be reused

The latest data on rural sanitation from the Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation (MDWS) has said that more than 99 per cent of India’s rural households have been covered by toilets.

The National Annual Rural Sanitation Survey of 2018-19 points out that around 38 per cent of the toilets are attached to some kind of septic tank. Officials from MDWS say the septic tank is the most popular option for people, who have a tendency to move towards it as an option for on-site sanitation.

This raises a concern — what will happen to the huge of amount of faecal sludge sucked out of these tanks?

Subhash Kirpal, a resident of Linga gram panchayat of Nagpur district in Maharashtra says communities that are well-off prefer septic tanks. In Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj district, the toilets in the Umrada block constructed under the Swachh Bharat Mission are attached to box-like containment structures wrongly termed as “septic tanks”.

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