Residential Training- Managing Rural Sanitation

Date: December 16-20, 2024 

Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj approached Water Program of CSE as they had attended the previous training programs conducted under Jal Jeevan Mission and SBM-G. They requested CSE to train 60 officials on managing rural sanitation.

December 16-20, 2024 marked training of the second batch having 35 participants. The5day tailor made residential programs were specially designed for officials from Ladakh. The objective of the training was to help officials from Ladakh learn to manage solid and liquid waste in subzero hilly terrains with scattered topographies. The group of consisted of Panchayat, Block, District and UT level officials who are directly involved on the field for implementation of projects under SBM-G on the ground. The Union Territory of Ladakh is a high tourist influx area and is struggling to ensure provision of sustainable sanitation for all its residents and protect its fragile terrain from the increasing pressure on sanitation services due to increasing in tourist influx.

Day1 of the five day training started with DeachenSpalzes - Ladakh Ecological Development Group talking about traditional Ladakhi Toilets and its modifications. The Second session was taken by Swati Bhatia, CSE where she talked about the terrain of Ladakh and impact of wrong sanitation structures. She also talked about the correct design of septic tanks and modified soak pit technology suitable for Ladakh Terrain.

Day 2 dealt with the solid waste management issues in the terrain of Ladakh. Learnings of implementation of Digital deposit refund system to manage waste in high altitudes and similar challenging terrains was taken up by Dinesh Bandela from Recykal.

Understanding the various successful working models of stakeholder interaction, transportation, segregation of waste from similar terrains as Ladakhwas taken up by Etosha Chatterjee from Waste Warriors.Sulagna Roy and Nikhil Laroiya from Healing Himalayas talked about the implementation aspects in subzero temperature terrains of Lahol and Spiti.

Day 3 started with campus visit- a visit to live working models in the campus - DEWATS, modified septic tank and SBT was conducted. Followed by the second session where Santhosh G S from Borda talked about the design consideration of offsite treatment of faecal sludge and greywater management.The last session of day 3 was taken up by Pradeep Kumar Mishra, CSE talked about the use of GIS tools to aid a better planning process.

Day 4 Started with Dr. MehakPuri talking about various survey softwares such as m-water and GPS essentials. Thereafter Dr. Rajarshi Banerjee, CSE talked about Biogas Digestors, its feasibility in terrains of Ladakh, the quality aspects of fecal sludge and greywater. Post lunch, participants were taken to lab for exposure visit and then to nearby villages.

Day 5 ended with participants presenting the learning from previous sessions. They were given group exercises to plan sanitation at village level, cluster level, block level, district level and high tourist influx areas. The program ended with prize and certificate distribution.