Environmental Sanitation

Working group on Environmental Sanitation, hosted by WSSCC

After a period of dormancy, the working group on Environmental Sanitation was revitalized in 2007 under the general stewardship of the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG), more specifically by the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation in Developing Countries (SANDEC). This group, hosted by the WSSCC, developed a provisional guideline published jointly by the WSSCC and SANDEC which challenges conventional thinking and proposes a more innovative look at the planning and implementation of environmental sanitation services. Dubbed Household-Centred Environmental Sanitation or HCES, it departs radically from the centralized policies of the past and places the household and its neighborhood at the core of the planning process. HCES is based on a framework which balances the needs of people with those of the environment to support a healthy life on Earth and is modeled on the ' Bellagio Principles'. The group endorses the shift from a 'Top Down' to a 'Bottom up' approach and aims to influence:

• Decision-makers and other stakeholders
• Elected and appointed municipal planners along with their the sector specialists
• Personnel from NGOs and community organizations.

Click here for or a detailed description of the HCES approach to Urban Environmental Sanitation and the implementation of the Bellagio Principles.  
 
For more on the work done by SANDEC please visit their website at www.sandec.ch.

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