Manure the man-kind

Manual scavenging is banned in India, however that fact has not deterred people to hire men to clean up the septic tanks at their homes and elsewhere. This in spite of the fact there are mechanical solutions being available.

World has moved forward in this area and have found ways to deal with human excreta. India is just now moving from defecating in the open to building toilets at home. What was considered as a practice (defecating in the open) is being seen as a shameful act now, thanks to the Swachh Bharath movement initiated by the government of India.

We have mechanical evacuation options available to empty the septic tank, however, either due to

lack of knowledge or for emergency reasons people engage in hiring humans to urgently clean up the tank, to ensure the home atmosphere is clean. Tragic death of 6 people near Chennai is just an example how, short sightedness leads to fatal situation.

How is the world dealing with this problem, lets look at thickly populated country like China. China has moved a long way in dealing with this problem and have designed septic tanks for every home, depending on the number of people and toilets available. These tanks not only collect the ‘Black water’ (Water coming from the commodes) but they process the water and collect methane gas from the same. This collected methane gas can be used for cooking and heating purposes. Human waste is considered to be high yielding in terms of gas generation.

These septic tanks are a boon where there is no centralised collection of sewerage. Most Indian cities do not have under ground drainage system, today constructing UGD is an expensive idea, as the sewerage once collected has to be processed at a collection centre (Pump House) and depending on the size of the city pump houses may have to be located in multiple locations in the city.

It is necessary to mandate installation of septic tanks which can capture methane and prevent any future hazard to the mother earth (cemented tanks have a life span of 10-15 years and there after can start leaking and pollute the soil around the area, resulting in potable water sources getting polluted. Some of the better known septic tank bio digesters have 25-30 years life span. These are typically designed to work on fit and forget concept.

The collected methane can be used to light a stove for cooking, heating etc. Methane removed and processed water is very good for gardening or farming. In Many locations where the Sewerage treatment plant water is used for lawns and farming, the green carpeting is healthy and lush.

In a country like India, human life value is considered negligible it is important a suitable legislation is mandated to install Septic tank bio digesters in all places which have no access to under ground drainage system. Any violators who are found guilty of polluting the surroundings should be severely punished.

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