
Sanitation refers to
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
conditions related to clean
drinking water and treatment and disposal of
human excreta and
sewage
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...
.
Preventing human contact with
feces
Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...
is part of sanitation, as is
hand washing
Hand washing (or handwashing), also known as hand hygiene, is the act of cleaning one's hands with soap, soap or handwash and water to remove viruses, bacteria, microorganisms, dirt, grease, and other harmful or unwanted substances stuck to th ...
with soap. Sanitation systems aim to protect human health by providing a clean environment that will stop the
transmission of disease, especially through the
fecal–oral route.
[SuSanA (2008)]
Towards more sustainable sanitation solutions
. Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA) For example,
diarrhea, a main cause of
malnutrition
Malnutrition occurs when an organism gets too few or too many nutrients, resulting in health problems. Specifically, it is a deficiency, excess, or imbalance of energy, protein and other nutrients which adversely affects the body's tissues a ...
and
stunted growth
Stunted growth, also known as stunting or linear growth failure, is defined as impaired growth and development manifested by low height-for-age. Stunted growth is often caused by malnutrition, and can also be caused by Endogeny (biology), endogeno ...
in children, can be reduced through adequate sanitation. There are many other diseases which are easily transmitted in communities that have low levels of sanitation, such as
ascariasis
Ascariasis is a disease caused by the parasitic roundworm ''Ascaris lumbricoides''. Infections have no symptoms in more than 85% of cases, especially if the number of worms is small. Symptoms increase with the number of worms present and may in ...
(a type of intestinal worm infection or
helminthiasis),
cholera
Cholera () is an infection of the small intestine by some Strain (biology), strains of the Bacteria, bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea last ...
,
hepatitis
Hepatitis is inflammation of the liver parenchyma, liver tissue. Some people or animals with hepatitis have no symptoms, whereas others develop yellow discoloration of the skin and whites of the eyes (jaundice), Anorexia (symptom), poor appetite ...
,
polio
Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...
,
schistosomiasis, and
trachoma
Trachoma is an infectious disease caused by bacterium '' Chlamydia trachomatis''. The infection causes a roughening of the inner surface of the eyelids. This roughening can lead to pain in the eyes, breakdown of the outer surface or cornea ...
, to name just a few.
A range of sanitation technologies and approaches exists. Some examples are
community-led total sanitation,
container-based sanitation,
ecological sanitation,
emergency sanitation, environmental sanitation,
onsite sanitation and
sustainable sanitation. A sanitation system includes the capture, storage, transport, treatment and disposal or
reuse of human excreta and wastewater. Reuse activities within the sanitation system may focus on the
nutrient
A nutrient is a substance used by an organism to survive, grow and reproduce. The requirement for dietary nutrient intake applies to animals, plants, fungi and protists. Nutrients can be incorporated into cells for metabolic purposes or excret ...
s, water, energy or organic matter contained in
excreta and wastewater. This is referred to as the "sanitation value chain" or "sanitation economy". The people responsible for cleaning, maintaining, operating, or emptying a sanitation technology at any step of the sanitation chain are called "
sanitation workers".
[World Bank, ILO, WaterAid, and WHO (2019)]
Health, Safety and Dignity of Sanitation Workers: An Initial Assessment
. World Bank, Washington, DC.
Several sanitation "levels" are being used to compare sanitation service levels within countries or across countries.
The sanitation ladder defined by the
Joint Monitoring Programme in 2016 starts at
open defecation and moves upwards using the terms "unimproved", "limited", "basic", with the highest level being "
safely managed".
This is particularly applicable to
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
.
The
Human right to water and sanitation was recognized by the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
in 2010. Sanitation is a
global development priority and the subject of
Sustainable Development Goal 6.
[WHO and UNICEF (2017]
Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and SDG Baselines
. Geneva: World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), 2017 The estimate in 2017 by
JMP states that 4.5 billion people currently do not have
safely managed sanitation.
Lack of access to sanitation has an impact not only on
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
but also on human
dignity
Dignity is a human's contentment attained by satisfying physiological needs and a need in development. The content of contemporary dignity is derived in the new natural law theory as a distinct human good.
As an extension of the Enlightenment- ...
and personal safety.
Definitions
There are some variations on the use of the term "sanitation" between countries and organizations. The
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a list of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Gen ...
defines the term "sanitation" as follows:
Sanitation includes all four of these technical and non-technical systems: Excreta management systems, wastewater management systems (included here are
wastewater treatment plants),
solid waste management systems as well as drainage systems for rainwater, also called
stormwater drainage. However, many in the
WASH
Wash or the Wash may refer to:
Industry and sanitation
* WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues
* Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages
...
sector only include excreta management in their definition of sanitation.
Another example of what is included in sanitation is found in the handbook by
Sphere
A sphere (from Ancient Greek, Greek , ) is a surface (mathematics), surface analogous to the circle, a curve. In solid geometry, a sphere is the Locus (mathematics), set of points that are all at the same distance from a given point in three ...
on "Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response" which describes minimum standards in four "key response sectors" in
humanitarian response situations. One of them is "Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene Promotion" (
WASH
Wash or the Wash may refer to:
Industry and sanitation
* WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues
* Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages
...
) and it includes the following areas:
Hygiene
Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...
promotion,
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...
, excreta management,
vector control, solid waste management and WASH in
disease outbreak
In epidemiology, an outbreak is a sudden increase in occurrences of a disease when cases are in excess of normal expectancy for the location or season. It may affect a small and localized group or impact upon thousands of people across an entire ...
s and
healthcare
Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
settings.
[Sphere Association (2018]
The Sphere Handbook: Humanitarian Charter and Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response
, fourth edition, Geneva, Switzerland, 2018.
Hygiene
Hygiene is a set of practices performed to preserve health.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), "Hygiene refers to conditions and practices that help to maintain health and prevent the spread of diseases." Personal hygiene refer ...
promotion is seen by many as an integral part of sanitation. The
Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council defines sanitation as "The collection, transport, treatment and disposal or
reuse of human excreta, domestic wastewater and solid waste, and associated hygiene promotion."
Despite the fact that sanitation includes wastewater treatment, the two terms are often used side by side as "sanitation and wastewater management".
Another definition is in the
DFID guidance manual on water supply and sanitation programmes from 1998:
Sanitation can include personal sanitation and public hygiene. Personal sanitation work can include handling
menstrual waste, cleaning household
toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...
s, and managing household
garbage
Garbage, trash (American English), rubbish (British English), or refuse is waste material that is discarded by humans, usually due to a perceived lack of utility. The term generally does not encompass bodily waste products, purely liquid or ...
. Public sanitation work can involve garbage collection, transfer and treatment (
municipal solid waste management), cleaning drains, streets, schools, trains,
public spaces, community toilets and
public toilets,
sewers, operating
sewage treatment plants
Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water ...
, etc.
[PRIA (2019)]
Lived Realities of Women Sanitation Workers in India: Insights from a Participatory Research Conducted in Three Cities of India
. Participatory Research in Asia, New Delhi, India Workers who provide these services for other people are called
sanitation workers.
Purposes
The overall purposes of sanitation are to provide a healthy living environment for everyone, to protect the natural resources (such as
surface water,
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
,
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
), and to provide safety, security and
dignity
Dignity is a human's contentment attained by satisfying physiological needs and a need in development. The content of contemporary dignity is derived in the new natural law theory as a distinct human good.
As an extension of the Enlightenment- ...
for people when they
defecate or
urinate.
The
Human Right to Water and Sanitation was recognized by the
United Nations (UN) General Assembly in 2010.
It has been recognized in
international law
International law, also known as public international law and the law of nations, is the set of Rule of law, rules, norms, Customary law, legal customs and standards that State (polity), states and other actors feel an obligation to, and generall ...
through
human rights treaties, declarations and other standards. It is derived from the
human right to an adequate
standard of living
Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available to an individual, community or society. A contributing factor to an individual's quality of life, standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outsid ...
.
Effective sanitation systems provide barriers between excreta and humans in such a way as to break the
disease transmission cycle (for example in the case of fecal-borne diseases). This aspect is visualised with the F-diagram where all major routes of
fecal-oral disease transmission begin with the letter F: feces, fingers, flies, fields, fluids, food.
Sanitation infrastructure has to be adapted to several specific contexts including consumers' expectations and local resources available.
Sanitation technologies may involve centralized
civil engineering
Civil engineering is a regulation and licensure in engineering, professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads ...
structures like
sewer systems,
sewage treatment,
surface runoff
Surface runoff (also known as overland flow or terrestrial runoff) is the unconfined flow of water over the ground surface, in contrast to ''channel runoff'' (or ''stream flow''). It occurs when excess rainwater, stormwater, meltwater, or other ...
treatment and solid waste
landfill
A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
s. These structures are designed to treat
wastewater and
municipal solid waste
Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the American English, United States and rubbish in British English, Britain, is a List of waste types, waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. ...
. Sanitation technologies may also take the form of relatively simple onsite sanitation systems. This can in some cases consist of a simple
pit latrine or other type of
non-flush toilet for the
excreta management part.
Providing sanitation to people requires attention to the entire system, not just focusing on technical aspects such as the
toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste (urine and feces) and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting p ...
,
fecal sludge management or the
wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater. It thus converts it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once back in the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on ...
plant.
[Tilley, E., Ulrich, L., Lüthi, C., Reymond, Ph. and Zurbrügg, C. (2014)]
Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies. 2nd Revised Edition
. Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag), Duebendorf, Switzerland The "sanitation chain" involves the experience of the user, excreta and wastewater collection methods, transporting and treatment of waste, and
reuse
Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function (creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the breaking down of ...
or disposal. All need to be thoroughly considered.
Economic impacts
The benefits to society of managing human excreta are considerable, for public health as well as for the environment. As a rough estimate: For every US$1 spent on sanitation, the return to society is US$5.50.
For developing countries, the economic costs of inadequate sanitation is a huge concern. For example, according to a World Bank study, economic losses due to inadequate sanitation to The Indian economy are equivalent to 6.4% of its GDP.
Most of these are due to premature mortality, time lost in accessing, loss of productivity, additional costs for healthcare among others.
Inadequate sanitation also leads to loss from potential tourism revenue.
This study also found that impacts are disproportionately higher for the poor, women and children. Availability of toilet at home on the other hand, positively contributes to economic well-being of women as it leads to an increase in literacy and participation in labor force.
Types and concepts (for excreta management)

The term sanitation is connected with various descriptors or adjectives to signify certain types of sanitation systems (which may deal only with
human excreta management or with the entire sanitation system, i.e. also greywater, stormwater and solid waste management) – in alphabetical order:
Basic sanitation
In 2017,
JMP defined a new term: "basic sanitation service". This is defined as the use of
improved sanitation facilities that are not shared with other households. A lower level of service is now called "limited sanitation service" which refers to use of improved sanitation facilities that are shared between two or more households.
Container-based sanitation
Community-based sanitation
Community-based sanitation is related to
decentralized wastewater treatment (DEWATS).
Community-led total sanitation
Dry sanitation
The term "dry sanitation" is not in widespread use and is not very well defined. It usually refers to a system that uses a type of
dry toilet and no sewers to transport excreta. Often when people speak of "dry sanitation" they mean a sanitation system that uses
urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDTs).
[Platzer, C., Hoffmann, H., Ticona, E. (2008)]
Alternatives to waterborne sanitation – a comparative study – limits and potentials
. IRC Symposium: Sanitation for the urban poor – partnerships and governance, Delft, The Netherlands[Flores, A. (2010)]
''Towards sustainable sanitation: evaluating the sustainability of resource-oriented sanitation''
. PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, UK
Ecological sanitation
Emergency sanitation
Environmental sanitation
Environmental sanitation encompasses the control of environmental factors that are connected to
disease transmission. Subsets of this category are solid waste management, water and
wastewater treatment,
industrial waste treatment and
noise pollution
Noise pollution, or sound pollution, is the propagation of noise or sound with potential harmful effects on humans and animals. The source of outdoor noise worldwide is mainly caused by machines, transport and propagation systems.Senate Publi ...
control. According to World health organization (WHO) Environmental sanitation was defined as the control of all those factors in the physical environment which exercise a harmful effect on human being physical development,
health
Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
and
survival. One of the primary function of environmental sanitation is to protect
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
.
Fecal sludge management
Improved and unimproved sanitation
Lack of sanitation
Lack of sanitation refers to the absence of sanitation. In practical terms it usually means lack of toilets or lack of hygienic toilets that anybody would want to use voluntarily. The result of lack of sanitation is usually
open defecation (and open urination but this is of less concern) with associated serious public health issues.
It is estimated that 2.4 billion people still lacked
improved sanitation facilities including 660 million people who lack access to safe drinking water as of 2015.
[WHO and UNICEF ]
Progress on Sanitation and Drinking-water: 2015 Update
'', WHO, Geneva and UNICEF, New York
Onsite sanitation or non-sewered sanitation system
Onsite sanitation (or on-site sanitation) is defined as "a sanitation system in which excreta and wastewater are collected and stored or treated on the plot where they are generated".
Another term that is used for the same system is non-sewered sanitation systems (NSSS), which are prevalent in many countries.
[ Text was copied from this source, which is available under ]
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
NSSS play a vital role in the safe management of fecal sludge, accounting for approximately half of all existing sanitation provisions.
The degree of treatment may be variable, from none to advanced. Examples are pit
latrines (no treatment) and
septic tank
A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment ...
s (
primary treatment of wastewater). On-site sanitation systems are often connected to
fecal sludge management (FSM) systems where the fecal sludge that is generated onsite is treated at an offsite location. Wastewater (
sewage
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...
) is only generated when piped
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...
is available within the buildings or close to them.
A related term is a
decentralized wastewater system which refers in particular to the wastewater part of on-site sanitation. Similarly, an
onsite sewage facility can treat the wastewater generated locally.
The global methane emissions from NSSS in 2020 was estimated to as 377 Mt
CO2e per year or 4.7% of global anthropogenic methane emissions, which are comparable to the greenhouse gas emissions from wastewater treatment plants.
This means that the GHG emissions from the NSSS as a non-negligible source.
Safely managed sanitation
Safely managed sanitation is the highest level of household sanitation envisioned by the
Sustainable Development Goal Number 6. It is measured under the Sustainable Development Goal 6.2, Indicator 6.2.1, as the "Proportion of population using (a) safely managed sanitation services and (b) a hand-washing facility with soap and water".
The current value in the 2017 baseline estimate by
JMP is that 4.5 billion people currently do not have safely managed sanitation.
Safely managed sanitation is defined as an
improved sanitation facility which is not shared with other households, and where the excreta produced is either treated and disposed in situ, stored temporarily and then emptied and transported to treatment off-site, or transported through a sewer with wastewater and then treated off-site.
In other words, safely managed sanitation is a basic sanitation service where in addition excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite.
Sustainable sanitation
Other types, concepts and systems
Wastewater management

Wastewater management consists of collection,
wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater. It thus converts it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once back in the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on ...
(be it municipal or
industrial wastewater), disposal or reuse of treated wastewater. The latter is also referred to as
water reclamation.
Sanitation systems in urban areas of developed countries usually consist of the collection of
wastewater in gravity driven sewers, its treatment in
wastewater treatment plants for
reuse
Reuse is the action or practice of using an item, whether for its original purpose (conventional reuse) or to fulfill a different function (creative reuse or repurposing). It should be distinguished from recycling, which is the breaking down of ...
or disposal in rivers, lakes or the sea.
In
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
most wastewater is still discharged untreated into the environment. Alternatives to centralized sewer systems include
onsite sanitation,
decentralized wastewater systems,
dry toilets connected to
fecal sludge management.
Stormwater drainage
Sewers are either combined with
storm drains or separated from them as
sanitary sewers.
Combined sewers are usually found in the central, older parts or urban areas. Heavy
rainfall and inadequate maintenance can lead to combined sewer overflows or
sanitary sewer overflows, i.e., more or less diluted raw
sewage
Sewage (or domestic sewage, domestic wastewater, municipal wastewater) is a type of wastewater that is produced by a community of people. It is typically transported through a sewerage, sewer system. Sewage consists of wastewater discharged fro ...
being discharged into the environment. Industries often discharge wastewater into municipal sewers, which can complicate wastewater treatment unless industries pre-treat their discharges.
Solid waste disposal

Disposal of
solid waste is most commonly conducted in
landfill
A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...
s, but incineration,
recycling,
composting and conversion to
biofuel
Biofuel is a fuel that is produced over a short time span from Biomass (energy), biomass, rather than by the very slow natural processes involved in the formation of fossil fuels such as oil. Biofuel can be produced from plants or from agricu ...
s are also avenues. In the case of landfills,
advanced countries typically have rigid protocols for
daily cover with topsoil, where
underdeveloped countries customarily rely upon less stringent protocols. The importance of daily cover lies in the reduction of vector contact and spreading of
pathogen
In biology, a pathogen (, "suffering", "passion" and , "producer of"), in the oldest and broadest sense, is any organism or agent that can produce disease. A pathogen may also be referred to as an infectious agent, or simply a Germ theory of d ...
s. Daily cover also minimizes odor emissions and reduces windblown litter. Likewise, developed countries typically have requirements for perimeter sealing of the landfill with clay-type soils to minimize migration of
leachate
A leachate is any liquid that, in the course of passing through matter, extracts soluble or suspended solids, or any other component of the material through which it has passed.
Leachate is a widely used term in the environmental sciences wh ...
that could contaminate
groundwater
Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and Pore space in soil, soil pore spaces and in the fractures of stratum, rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available fresh water in the world is groundwater. A unit ...
(and hence jeopardize some
drinking water supplies).
For incineration options, the release of
air pollutants, including certain
toxic components is an attendant adverse outcome. Recycling and biofuel conversion are the
sustainable options that generally have superior lifecycle costs, particularly when total
ecological consequences are considered. Composting value will ultimately be limited by the market demand for compost product.
Food safety

Sanitation within the food industry means the adequate treatment of food-contact surfaces by a process that is effective in destroying vegetative cells of
microorganism
A microorganism, or microbe, is an organism of microscopic scale, microscopic size, which may exist in its unicellular organism, single-celled form or as a Colony (biology)#Microbial colonies, colony of cells. The possible existence of unseen ...
s of
public health
Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...
significance, and in substantially reducing numbers of other undesirable microorganisms, but without adversely affecting the food or its safety for the consumer (
U.S. Food and Drug Administration,
Code of Federal Regulations
In the law of the United States, the ''Code of Federal Regulations'' (''CFR'') is the codification of the general and permanent regulatory law, regulations promulgated by the executive departments and agencies of the federal government of the ...
, 21CFR110, USA).
Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures
Sanitation Standard Operating Procedures is the common name, in the United States, given to the sanitation procedures in food production plants which are required by the Food Safety and Inspection Service of the USDA and regulated by 9 CFR part 4 ...
are mandatory for food industries in
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
. Similarly, in Japan, food hygiene has to be achieved through compliance with food sanitation law.
In the food and
biopharmaceutical industries, the term "sanitary equipment" means equipment that is fully cleanable using
clean-in-place (CIP) and sterilization-in-place (SIP) procedures: that is fully drainable from cleaning solutions and other
liquid
Liquid is a state of matter with a definite volume but no fixed shape. Liquids adapt to the shape of their container and are nearly incompressible, maintaining their volume even under pressure. The density of a liquid is usually close to th ...
s. The design should have a minimum amount of deadleg, or areas where the
turbulence
In fluid dynamics, turbulence or turbulent flow is fluid motion characterized by chaotic changes in pressure and flow velocity. It is in contrast to laminar flow, which occurs when a fluid flows in parallel layers with no disruption between ...
during cleaning is insufficient to remove product deposits. In general, to improve cleanability, this equipment is made from
Stainless Steel
Stainless steel, also known as inox, corrosion-resistant steel (CRES), or rustless steel, is an iron-based alloy that contains chromium, making it resistant to rust and corrosion. Stainless steel's resistance to corrosion comes from its chromi ...
316L, (an
alloy
An alloy is a mixture of chemical elements of which in most cases at least one is a metal, metallic element, although it is also sometimes used for mixtures of elements; herein only metallic alloys are described. Metallic alloys often have prop ...
containing small amounts of
molybdenum
Molybdenum is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mo (from Neo-Latin ''molybdaenum'') and atomic number 42. The name derived from Ancient Greek ', meaning lead, since its ores were confused with lead ores. Molybdenum minerals hav ...
). The surface is usually
electropolished to an effective surface roughness of less than 0.5
micrometre
The micrometre (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: μm) or micrometer (American English), also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a uni ...
to reduce the possibility of
bacteria
Bacteria (; : bacterium) are ubiquitous, mostly free-living organisms often consisting of one Cell (biology), biological cell. They constitute a large domain (biology), domain of Prokaryote, prokaryotic microorganisms. Typically a few micr ...
l adhesion.
Hygiene promotion

In many settings, provision of sanitation facilities alone does not guarantee good health of the population. Studies have suggested that the impact of hygiene practices have as great an impact on sanitation related diseases as the actual provision of sanitation facilities. Hygiene promotion is therefore an important part of sanitation and is usually key in maintaining good health.
Hygiene promotion is a planned approach of enabling people to act and change their behavior in an order to reduce and/or prevent incidences of
water, sanitation and hygiene (
WASH
Wash or the Wash may refer to:
Industry and sanitation
* WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues
* Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages
...
) related diseases. It usually involves a participatory approach of engaging people to take responsibility of WASH services and infrastructure including its operation and maintenance. The three key elements of promoting hygiene are; mutual sharing of information and knowledge, the mobilization of affected communities and the provision of essential material and facilities.
Health aspects
Environmental aspects
Indicator organisms
When analyzing environmental samples, various types of
indicator organisms are used to check for fecal pollution of the sample. Commonly used indicators for
bacteriological water analysis include the bacterium ''
Escherichia coli
''Escherichia coli'' ( )Wells, J. C. (2000) Longman Pronunciation Dictionary. Harlow ngland Pearson Education Ltd. is a gram-negative, facultative anaerobic, rod-shaped, coliform bacterium of the genus '' Escherichia'' that is commonly fo ...
'' (abbreviated as ''E. coli)'' and non-specific fecal
coliforms''.'' With regards to samples of
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
,
sewage sludge,
biosolids or fecal matter from
dry toilets,
helminth eggs are a commonly used indicator. With helminth egg analysis, eggs are extracted from the sample after which a viability test is done to distinguish between viable and non viable eggs. The viable fraction of the helminth eggs in the sample is then counted.
Climate change
Global mechanisms
Sustainable Development Goal Number 6

In the year 2016, the
Sustainable Development Goals
The ''2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development'', adopted by all United Nations (UN) members in 2015, created 17 world Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The aim of these global goals is "peace and prosperity for people and the planet" – wh ...
replaced the Millennium Development Goals. Sanitation is a
global development priority and included
Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6).
The target is about "clean water and sanitation for all" by 2030.
It is estimated that 660 million people still lacked access to safe drinking water as of 2015.
Since the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
in 2020, the fight for clean water and sanitation is more important than ever. Handwashing is one of the most common prevention methods for Coronavirus, yet two out of five people do not have access to a hand-washing station.
Millennium Development Goal Number 7 until 2015
The
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...
, during the Millennium Summit in New York in 2000 and the 2002
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, developed the
Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) aimed at poverty eradication and sustainable development. The specific sanitation goal for the year 2015 was to reduce by half the number of people who had no access to
potable water and sanitation in the baseline year of 1990. As the JMP and the
United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human development. The UNDP emphasizes on developing local capacity towar ...
(UNDP) Human Development Report in 2006 has shown, progress meeting the MDG sanitation target is slow, with a large gap between the target coverage and the current reality. In December 2006, the
United Nations General Assembly
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; , AGNU or AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as its main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ. Currently in its Seventy-ninth session of th ...
declared 2008 "The
International Year of Sanitation", in recognition of the slow progress being made towards the MDGs sanitation target.
The year aimed to develop awareness and more actions to meet the target.
There are numerous reasons for this gap. A major one is that sanitation is rarely given political attention received by other topics despite its key importance. Sanitation is not high on the international development agenda, and projects such as those relating to
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...
projects are emphasised.
The
Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of
WHO and
UNICEF
UNICEF ( ), originally the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, officially United Nations Children's Fund since 1953, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Development a ...
(JMP) has been publishing reports of updated estimates every two years on the use of various types of drinking-water sources and sanitation facilities at the national, regional and global levels. The JMP report for 2015 stated that:
* Between 1990 and 2015,
open defecation rates have decreased from 38% to 25% globally. Just under one billion people (946 million) still practise open defecation worldwide in 2015.
* 82% of the global urban population, and 51% of the rural population is using improved sanitation facilities in 2015, as per the JMP definition of "
improved sanitation".
Initiatives to promote sanitation
In 2011 the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation launched the "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" to promote safer, more effective ways to treat human waste. The program is aimed at developing technologies that might help bridge the global sanitation gap (for example the
Omni Processor, or technology for
fecal sludge management). In 2015, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation published their "Water, sanitation, and hygiene strategy portfolio update and overview" called "Building demand for sanitation".
The latest innovations in the field of public health sanitation, currently in the testing phase, comprise - use of 'locally produced alcohol-based hand rub'; 'novel latrine improvement'; and 'container-based sanitation'.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national public health agency of the United States has recognized the stated three initiatives.
Capacity development
Capacity development is regarded as an important mechanism to achieve progress in the sanitation sector. For example, in India the Sanitation Capacity Building platform (SCBP) was designed to "support and build the capacity of town/cities to plan and implement decentralized sanitation solutions" with funding by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation from 2015 to 2022.
[Kapur, D. (2020]
UNDERSTANDING EFFECTIVENESS OF CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT: Lessons from Sanitation Capacity Building Platform, Part 1: Journey of Urban Sanitation Capacity Development in India
, National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), India Results from this project showed that capacity development best happens on the job and in a learning organization culture.
[Kapur, D. (2021) UNDERSTANDING EFFECTIVENESS OF CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT : Lessons from Sanitation Capacity Building Platform (SCBP)]
Part III : Capacity Development Effectiveness Ladder (CDEL) Framework
, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF URBAN AFFAIRS, India In a government capacity development initiative, it is critical to have an enabling policy and program funding to translate capacity development input into program and infrastructure outputs. Capacity development aims to empower staff and institutions, develop a learning strategy, learning content and training modules, as well as strengthened partnerships and institutions of learning.
The Capacity Development Effectiveness Ladder Framework (CDEL) identifies five critical steps for capacity development interventions: Developing original learning content, partnerships for learning and outreach, learning strategy, visioning change and designing solutions, contribution to capacity development discourse.
Costs
A study was carried out in 2018 to compare the lifecycle costs of full sanitation chain systems in developing cities of Africa and Asia. It found that conventional sewer systems are in most cases the most expensive sanitation options, followed, in order of cost, by sanitation systems comprising
septic tank
A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment ...
s, ventilated improved
pit latrines (VIP),
urine diversion dry toilets and pour-flush pit latrines.
The main determinants of urban sanitation financial costs include: Type of technology, labour, material and utility cost, density,
topography
Topography is the study of the forms and features of land surfaces. The topography of an area may refer to the landforms and features themselves, or a description or depiction in maps.
Topography is a field of geoscience and planetary sci ...
, level of service provided by the sanitation system,
soil
Soil, also commonly referred to as earth, is a mixture of organic matter, minerals, gases, water, and organisms that together support the life of plants and soil organisms. Some scientific definitions distinguish dirt from ''soil'' by re ...
condition, energy cost and others (distance to
wastewater treatment
Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater. It thus converts it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once back in the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on ...
facility, climate,
end-use of treatment products, business models,
water table
The water table is the upper surface of the phreatic zone or zone of saturation. The zone of saturation is where the pores and fractures of the ground are saturated with groundwater, which may be fresh, saline, or brackish, depending on the loc ...
height).
Some grassroots organizations have trialled community-managed toilet blocks whose construction and maintenance costs can be covered by households. One study of Mumbai
informal settlements found that US$1.58 per adult would be sufficient for construction, and less than US$1/household/month would be sufficient for maintenance.
History
Major human settlements could initially develop only where fresh surface water was plentiful, such as near rivers or
natural springs. Throughout history people have devised systems to get water into their communities and households, and to dispose (and later also treat) wastewater. The focus of sewage treatment at that time was on conveying raw sewage to a natural body of water, e.g. a
river
A river is a natural stream of fresh water that flows on land or inside Subterranean river, caves towards another body of water at a lower elevation, such as an ocean, lake, or another river. A river may run dry before reaching the end of ...
or
ocean
The ocean is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of Earth. The ocean is conventionally divided into large bodies of water, which are also referred to as ''oceans'' (the Pacific, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, Indian, Southern Ocean ...
, where it would be diluted and dissipated.
The
Sanitation in the Indus Valley Civilization in Asia is an example of public water supply and sanitation during the
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...
(3300–1300
BCE).
Sanitation in ancient Rome was quite extensive. These systems consisted of stone and wooden drains to collect and remove
wastewater from populated areas—see for instance the
Cloaca Maxima into the
River Tiber in Rome. The first sewers of ancient Rome were built between 800 and 735 BCE.
[Farnsworth Gray, Harold. "Sewerage in Ancient and Mediaeval Times." Sewage Works Journal Vol.12.5 (1940): 939–46]
By country
Society and culture
There is a vast number of professions that are involved in the field of sanitation, for example on the technical and operations side:
sanitation workers,
waste collectors,
sanitary engineers.
See also
*
List of abbreviations used in sanitation
*
List of countries by proportion of the population using improved sanitation facilities
*
List of water supply and sanitation by country
*
Environmental health
Environmental health is the branch of public health concerned with all aspects of the natural environment, natural and built environment affecting human health. To effectively control factors that may affect health, the requirements for a hea ...
*
Water pollution
Water pollution (or aquatic pollution) is the contamination of Body of water, water bodies, with a negative impact on their uses. It is usually a result of human activities. Water bodies include lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers, reservoirs and ...
*
Water security
*
Self-supply of water and sanitation
*
Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
*
World Toilet Day
References
External links
*
Sustainable Sanitation AllianceSanitation and Wastewater Atlas of Africa*
Florence Nightingale
Florence Nightingale (; 12 May 1820 – 13 August 1910) was an English Reform movement, social reformer, statistician and the founder of modern nursing. Nightingale came to prominence while serving as a manager and trainer of nurses during th ...
(1863),
Sanitary Statistics of Native Colonial Schools and Hospitals'
{{Authority control
Hygiene
Sewerage
Articles containing video clips