District Level Planning on Faecal Sludge Management in Rural Areas

Date: September 20 - 24,  2022 

Rural Water and Waste Management unit rolled out its5-days residential "Training on District Level Planning for Faecal Sludge Management in Rural Areas" from20^th to 24^th September 2022 at Anil Agarwal Environmental Training Institute, Alwar. The training was a tailor-made program for the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen officials. 21 officials from the state of Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and West Bengal attended the training. The training intended to advocate the importance of decentralized treatment of fecal sludge in rural scenarios.

The training started with understanding issues and basics of fecal sludge management andthe importance of sanitation in a rural context, followed by lessons on onsite sanitation systems. Sessions on technical aspects related to retrofitting toilets, planning, and designing faecalsludge treatment technologies were taken up during the training. A session on legal, financial, and institutional frameworks and the reuse of the fecal sludge was also organized.

The participants were given the exposure to live model projects of decentralized treatment of wastewater and rainwater harvesting at the AAETI campus. The participants were also taken for a visit to our in-house testing laboratory.Sessions on Urban-Rural convergence with an introduction to the cluster approach was also taken up. Participants were taken to Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant located at Lalsot, Dausa District, Rajasthan to understand the convergence and maintenance aspects.

The training had a mix of lectures and hands-on activities to prepare a district-level plan. The training sessions were undertaken by various internal and external experts.The participants developed a modeldistrict-level plan and presented it during the training.