Sanitation is a real issue for humanitarian professionals: wastewater evacuation and treatment, sludge management... The stakes are sanitary, environmental and epidemiological.
Fecal sludge is a real problem during humanitarian operations, usually in post-emergency situations. How can we protect populations from the pathologies carried by these flows? How can we ensure that what is returned to nature is not a vector for pollution? How can we protect the various resources needed to treat water and make it drinkable?
Humanitarian actors, who manage both access to essential services in emergency situations and, in the longer term, camps for displaced persons and refugees, are looking for solutions. The Veolia Foundation is familiar with the field and its constraints, having already developed mobile water purification stations (Aquaforces) designed for humanitarian situations. Since 2018, it has been working on sanitation solutions to meet the growing needs on the ground.
These systems, which serve the WASH (Water and Sanitation Hygiene) sector, provide humanitarian access to the essential services at the heart of the Veolia Group's expertise.
What are we talking about?
Saniforce is a solution for the sanitary treatment of faecal sludge in humanitarian environments. It is designed to treat the contents of septic tanks and latrine pits for up to 500 people.
3 objectives
Protect people
Preserve water resources
Prevent environmental contamination
Technically, the system is based on the anaerobic digestion process. This controlled process of biological decomposition of the organic matter contained in the sludge takes place without oxygen and generates both biogas, which can be converted into energy, and a reusable solid residue known as digestate. The reaction takes place in flexible biodigesters supplied by Sistema.bio.
In the Saniforce set-up, the biogas is then valorized in a post-treatment phase, pasteurization, which consists of maintaining the digestate at 70° for one hour. At the end of the whole process, the material is 99.9% free of potential pathogens. This hygienized sludge, with its potential for a second life, takes on a new role in the wastewater treatment chain.
To test this system in real-life situations and adapt it to the needs of humanitarian aid workers, the Veolia Foundation is taking part in programs in Kenya, Uganda and Bangladesh.
Kenya, with Opero, Sistema Bio
In Kisumu, western Kenya, Opero, a specialist in the development of water and wastewater services, has piloted a project to test Saniforce. The program brought together several experts in the field, including Kenyan biodigester manufacturer SistemaBio and the Veolia Foundation. The tests carried out validated the pre-treatment process.
France, with the DEST research center, Veolia
At Limay, in the Ile-de-France region, Veoliaforce experts from the Group's various business lines took turns testing the Saniforce thermal model. For this post-treatment study, the Veolia foundation relied on Veolia's Department of Scientific and Technical Expertise (DEST).
Uganda, with the World Food Program (UN), Opero and the Ugandan Red Cross
In western Uganda, tens of thousands of people are fleeing the fighting between the M23 armed group and Congolese forces from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. The Ugandan Red Cross, among other NGOs, is helping to set up refugee camps. Present in Kyangwali, it is one of the partners in a project supported by the World Food Program (WFP, a UN agency) to test the Saniforce in real-life situations.
The project has a number of aims: to put the Saniforce to the test in the field, to evaluate the overall process, in particular thermal sanitization, to document the whole process, and to look ahead to the potential reuse of effluent for agricultural purposes.
Deployment, designed to cover the needs of 500 people, begins in April 2024 with four partners committed to the project's success:
The schedule runs over several months, with Veoliaforce expertise mobilized on several occasions to ensure start-up, monitor operations and consider avenues for improvement.
Bangladesh, with the International Office for Migration (UN) and Elrha | 2024
In 2017, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled the violence in their villages in Myanmar and took refuge across the border in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. Seven years later, what has become one of the world's largest camps is home to over a million refugees. Among the players present, the International Office for Migration (IOM) is operating a fecal sludge treatment solution with financial support from the NGO Elrha.
Faced with the persistence of pathogens such as cholera, this UN agency turned to Saniforce for its ability to rid the material of 99.9% of potential pathogens.
The IOM also wanted to focus on solar energy. While pasteurization (which consists in keeping the digestate at 70° for an hour) is carried out using biogas supplemented by solar energy in Uganda, the opposite is true in Bangladesh. Solar panels are used almost exclusively to power the system.
To find out more
- The “FSFL” (Faecal Sludge Field Laboratory), a laboratory for the analysis and monitoring of sanitation systems designed by the Veolia Foundation for the humanitarian sector.
- Sanitation in refugee camps and our work in Myanmar
- Our work in Haiti with Médecins Sans Frontières to treat hospital effluent
- Veoliaforce skills sponsorship or the provision of Veolia expertise