Pit emptying systems
Practical Action
The importance of cost is crucial when selecting a technology, as is the distinction between
the requirements in a rural area and an urban area. Careful planning at the sanitation facility
inception phase can reduce problems when emptying is later needed. If facilities already exist
then talking to communities may enable the best form of technology to be adopted. Emptying
of pits is a growing problem, to which limited resources have been granted. Solutions are only
partial, but good planning can mitigate many risks. Finally, this brief has only taken into
account emptying, it is critical that once faecal sludge is removed it is disposed of safely.
References and Further Reading
Sanitation Partnership Series: Bringing Pit Emptying Out of the Darkness: A
Comparison of Approaches on Durban, South Africa and Kibera, Kenya. Eales, Kathy
(2005) Building Partnerships for Development (BPD).
A Guide to the Development of On-site Sanitation. Franceys, R., Pickford, J. and
Reed, R. (1992), World Health organisation (WHO), Geneva.
Decentralised domestic wastewater and faecal sludge management in Bangladesh.
GHK (2005) GHK Consulting Ltd, UK.
Emergency Sanitation: Assessment and programme design. Harvey, Peter, Baghri,
Sohrab and Reed, Bob (2002), Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC),
Loughborough University, UK.
Excreta Disposal in Emergencies: A Field Manual. Harvey, Peter (2007), Water
Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), Loughborough University, UK.
Faecal Sludge Management in Developing Countries – A Planning Manual. 1st
Edition. Klingel, Florian, Montangero, Agnes, Kone, Doulaye and Strauss, Martin
(2002)Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries (SANDEC),
Switzerland.
Technical Note 54: Emptying Pit Latrines. Pickford, J and Shaw, R (n.d.)Water,
Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC), Loughborough University, UK.
Sanitation Partnerships: Beyond Storage: On-site sanitation as
an urban system. Schaub-Jones, David (2005), Building Partnerships for
Development, UK.
WELL factsheet: Emptying Pit Latrines. Scott, Rebecca and Reed, Brian
(2006)WELL, Loughborough University, UK.
After the Pit is Full….What Then? Effective Options for Pit Latrine Management.
Still, D.A. (2002) Water Institute of Southern Africa, Biennial conference, 2002.
Durban, South Africa.
Faecal Sludge Management - Review of Practices, Problems And Initiatives (GHK
DFID KAR R8056: Capacity Building For Effective Decentralised Wastewater
Management). Strauss, Martin and Montangero, Agnes (2002) SANDEC,
Switzerland.
Proceedings of the 1st international symposium and workshop on faecal sludge
management (FSM) policy: Dakar, 9-12 May 2006. Strauss, Martin, Kone, Doulaye,
and Saywell, Darren (2006) IWA, ONAS and SANDEC.
Sanitation – Vacutug. UN-HABITAT (n.d.) UN-HABITAT Website.
Practical Action Technical Briefs
Waste Management
Sanitation Technologies
Practical Action Publishing titles on Sanitation
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