Training on Onsite and Offsite Treatment of Faecal Sludge and Resource Recovery

Rural Water and Waste Management unit rolled out4-days residential "Training on Onsite and Offsite Treatment of Faecal Sludge and Resource Recovery" from 22 to 25 November 2022 at Anil Agarwal Environmental Training Institute, Alwar. The training was a tailor-made program for the Swachh Bharat Mission Grameen officials. 32 officials from the state of Haryana, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Assam, TamilNadu, Bihar and Nagaland 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.