Ecological sanitation in Uganda : inspirational success stories from the field

The ecological sanitation (Ecosan) approach was introduced in Uganda as part of an Austrian founded project to the Ministry of Water in 1996 as one of the options to provide sanitation facilities to rural growth centres which did not have easy access to safe water and adequate sanitation. The approach was favoured compared to pit latrines because latrines contaminate ground water while flush toilets also use a lot of water at the same time contaminating water bodies especially when septic tanks are emptied into wetlands or near water sources. Currently there are over 30,000 units of Ecosan toilets at household level, schools and public institutions in the country. This document presents a range of different projects implemented in Uganda around ecological sanitation, such as school sanitation, biogas and sludge treatmemt.  The compilation is part of an  Ecological Sanitation Research Project implemented by Network for Water and Sanitation (NETWAS) Uganda as the ecosanres Uganda Knowledge Node with support from the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI). [authors abstract]