A Case Study on the Development of Sustainable Sanitation Facilities for the Disaster Affected Low-Income Rural Population in Bangladesh

The prevalence of unhygienic sanitation technologies has been a major cause of concern for environmental pollution and health hazards.The implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals has resulted in an increased focus on developing innovative and cost effective techniques to address sustainable sanitation for low-income population.  Bangladesh is a global success story in sanitation by reducing open defecation to less than one percent at present. At the same time, Bangladesh is one of the most disaster prone countries in the world and the most vulnerable due to climate change. The development initiatives undertaken to achieve 100 percent sanitation coverage at national level have always been hampered by natural disasters, especially in coastal areas. Alternative techniques, as opposed to traditional ones, should be explored more for the design and implementation of disaster resilient latrines. Two coastal districts Khulna and Satkhira were selected for their vulnerability where several techniques had been used for the construction of hygienic latrines. Three innovative techniques where the platform is elevated before the installation of the latrines were considered in this study to evaluate their usefulness, among which the third technique using cement concrete was found to be the most sustainable and disaster resilient. However, the cost associated with this technique is comparatively higher than the others. Mainstreaming these techniques among the rural deprived population should be strongly considered to improve their sanitation status. Financial and technical support is required to appropriately select reliable technology that can be effectively adapted to local conditions. There is an increasing demand for integrated solution to address not only technological implementation, but also maintenance, social acceptance and gender equity.