Faecal Sludge Treatment by ERS
Faecal Sludge Treatment by ERS
What is Faecal sludge? 
Faecal Sludge comes from onsite sanitation systems, and has not been transported through sewer. It is raw or partially digested, a slurry or semi solid, and results from the collection, storage or treatment of combinations of excreta and black water with or without grey water.
Some of the examples of onsite sanitation systems are pit latrines, unsewered public ablution blocks, septic tanks, aqua privies and dry toilets. Faecal sludge is highly variable in its consistency, quantity, and concentration.
Sewerage System Infrastructure in India
- The most commonly accepted solution for urban sanitation is piped sewerage with centralised wastewater treatment.
- Many urban dwellers in India have no access to a sewerage system. Creating this infrastructure for all will be prohibitively costly.
- Sewerage is provided almost exclusively to the wealthier people while poor people have mostly been left to make their own arrangements.
- Only a third of urban houses in India are connected to the sewer system. The majority of the houses—38.2 per cent, as per Census 2011—use toilets connected to septic tanks. The problem is that the construction quality of the tanks, buried underground in populated areas, is often poor.
Management of Faecal Sludge in India
- Management of excreta on the site by using septic tanks and pit latrines is a necessity.
- Census figures show that nearly 45.3 per cent of urban houses depend on on-site systems. Emptied faecal sludge should ideally be sent to a treatment facility, where it should be treated to meet the standards set by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).
- Census data shows 65 per cent of the cities in the country do not have a proper arrangement for safe collection of human excreta, forget about disposal.
ERS Faecal Sludge Treatment
- The ERS Faecal Sludge treatment technology will render septage safe to reuse and dispose.
- The ERS can be installed in plantations, farms, landfills, urban areas and sewage treatment plants.
- As part of their baseline sanitation survey process, we shall determine the quality of collected septage, and whether it can meet international standards for reuse.
- If the treated septage can be reused, the facilities shall be designed to generate profitable fertilizers, possibly in tandem with solid waste composting.
Faecal Sludge Management Value Chain
Faecal Sludge Treatment/Processing and the residual reuse and disposal are the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of Faecal Sludge Management
ERS Faecal Sludge Processing (2–4 hrs per batch)
✓India cannot do away with septic tanks. The best it can do is to fix the gaps in handling excreta.
✓Most importantly, ERS Biocompost from treated faecal sludge can be reused safely as Organic fertilizer. “Septage is 100 per cent organic. If it is discharged into a sewer line, it will be mixed with toxic effluents, restricting its reuse,”
✓For using treated faecal sludge in agricultural fields, WHO suggests a faecal coliform density of less than 1,000 most probable number (MPN) per gram of total dry solids, a salmonella density of less than 3 MPN per 4 g and an E coli density of 1,000 MPN/g.
✓The ERS Biocompost from Faecal Sludge satisfies these norms.