Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network

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Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation
Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
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Programme description:
Sector Programme Sustainable Sanitation

Contact:
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Authors:
Georges Mikhael (Aguaconsult), Leonie Hyde-Smith (University of Leeds), Bill Twyman (Aguaconsult),
Delia Sánchez Trancón (Aguaconsult), Elise Jabagi (Aguaconsult), and Emily Bamford (Rocky Mountain
Environmental Consulting)

Concept and Sounding Board:
Mintje Büürma (GIZ), Annkathrin Tempel (GIZ), Arne Panesar (GIZ), Sebastian Köcke (GIZ)
Kathrin Brübach (R-Cities), Femke Gubbels (R-Cities)

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Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
CLIMATE RESILIENT URBAN SANITATION
Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
FOREWORD

Cities are incredibly vulnerable to climate             policymakers to achieve better outcomes. Being
change. Although sanitation is a critical urban         resilient is about identifying the most important
system and service, it is not widely considered         priorities for a city faced with multiple challenges,
a climate change issue. While water has long            recognizing that shocks and stresses are
been recognized as a central component of               interconnected, and solutions must be as well.
climate change adaptation, there is only sparse
                                                        In undertaking this assignment, we reached out to
research and evidence on the impacts of climate
                                                        our partners in four cities. We would like to extend
change on sanitation infrastructure and services,
                                                        our heartfelt thanks to them for providing us with
and therefore limited discussion of effective
                                                        deep insights into the current climate-related
approaches for adaptation.
                                                        challenges of urban sanitation in their cities, as
However, we believe sanitation can be a crucial         well as the opportunities for urban resilience which
driver for climate change adaptation and                may arise through sanitation. For Cape Town: we
mitigation. Through investments in resilient            would like to thank Amy Davison, Claire Pengelly,
sanitation systems, we can safeguard public             Gareth Morgan, and Mogamat Armeen Mallick; for
health and further, create a sustainable economy        Chennai: Abishek S. Narayan, Ashok Natarajan,
around sanitation services, as well as foster           Krishna Mohan Ramachandran, M R Jaishankar,
innovation as a pivotal component of combating          Phillip Ligy, Santhosh Raghavan, and Sheela Nair;
climate change at the global scale. We also believe     for Lusaka: Amanda Mallaghan, Bwalya Funga,
that a shift to sustainable sanitation will require     Chola Mbilima, and Mwansa Nachula Mukuka; and
a coordinated effort with other urban services,         for Santa Cruz de la Sierra: Carina Castro, Carlos
a better understanding what resilient sanitation        Gongora, Cinthia Asin, Erica Plata, Humberto
systems are and how they can contribute to a            Cáceres Magnus, Ivy Beltran, Jose Daniel Medrano,
city’s overall resilience. We can continue to try       Marco S. Salinas, and Ronald Pasig.
to solve urban sanitation with single, targeted
                                                        We would also like to share a special thanks to our
interventions. But at the pace of growth, and the
                                                        reviewers who gave us constructive and thoughtful
pace of in particular climate-related challenges,
                                                        feedback, inputs and points for discussion. This
we will fail to provide adequate infrastructure
                                                        includes Kim Andersson, Akshaya Ayyangar,
and services. Without a doubt we must focus on
                                                        Stefan Gramel, Christoph Lüthi, John Matthews,
developing responses and solutions that have
                                                        Elke Peetz, Thorsten Reckerzügl, Parama Roy,
multiple benefits. Building holistic urban resilience
                                                        Stephanie Wear and Juliet Willetts. Furthermore,
requires that cities gain a better understanding of
                                                        we would also like to thank our colleagues
all their challenges including sanitation and seek to
                                                        Anna Berg, Jens Götzenberger, Anna Kristina
solve them holistically in partnership with people
                                                        Kanathigoda, Robert Kranefeld, Helmut Lang,
outside of government including technical experts,
                                                        Brenda Mwalukanga, David Nonde Mwamba,
community leaders, and businesses.
                                                        Sandra Schuster and Marcel Servos for their
The Sector Programme Sustainable Sanitation             contributions to this study.
at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale
                                                        We hope that reading this publication will be as
Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and the Resilient
                                                        insightful and joyful as this collaboration and study
Cities Network (R-Cities) – partnered to conduct
                                                        has been for us.
this study to improve our understanding of the
impacts of climate change on urban sanitation and
                                                        Katrin Brübach                 Arne Panesar
the role and potential of sanitation in the context
of urban and climate resilience. We are hoping          Global Director of Programs,   Head of Sector Programme
                                                        Innovation & Impact,           Sustainable Sanitation,
to contribute to the wider understanding of these       Resilient Cities Network       Deutsche Gesellschaft
issues, as well as provide a first set of guiding                                      für Internationale
principles that can support practitioners and                                          Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH

                                                                                                                   4
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Our climate is rapidly changing, with impacts acutely observed
in urban areas where 55 per cent of the world’s population lives.
Impacts are most prominently felt on the water cycle; however,
drought, flooding and other extreme weather events are also
impacting sanitation systems. This report has been commissioned
by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ)
GmbH, in collaboration with Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) to better
understand how climate change impacts will affect urban sanitation
systems, and what needs to be done to address this.
An ‘urban sanitation system’ refers to the             (India), Lusaka (Zambia) and Santa Cruz de la
combination of the sanitation service chain (i.e.,     Sierra (Bolivia). To date, the increased climate
infrastructure and services for containment,           resilience of sanitation services has been an
transport, treatment, and disposal or reuse of         indirect benefit rather than the primary driver of
faecal waste) and the enabling environment within      action. Adaptation responses to water scarcity and
which it operates (e.g., institutional arrangements,   droughts primarily focus on ensuring reliable water
monitoring, planning). This system is susceptible      supply services through diversifying and enhancing
to four direct climate change shocks and stresses:     water sources. As part of these efforts, cities such
(i) extreme heat, (ii) water scarcity and droughts,    as Santa Cruz introduced regulatory mechanisms
(iii) increased precipitation, flooding, and extreme   to ensure the regular emptying of pit latrines. In
weather, and (iv) rising sea levels. The penultimate   Chennai, wastewater recycling became a legal
impact is reported to be the most significant for      requirement for new developments.
urban sanitation systems. Flooded onsite (i.e., pit
latrines or septic tanks) and offsite (i.e., sewer       To date, the increased climate
networks) sanitation facilities are damaged –            resilience of sanitation services has
leading to a loss of access to sanitation – and / or     been an indirect benefit rather than
are no longer able to contain the waste, leading
                                                         the primary driver of action.
to the contamination of the environment and the
outbreak of diseases such as cholera. Lower-           Adaptation to flooding on the other hand involved
income communities, typically in flood-prone           the construction of lined and elevated containment
areas, are most likely to endure the impacts of the    systems in cities such as Lusaka. In Cape Town,
failure of urban sanitation systems.                   so-called ‘container-based’ sanitation services
                                                       were delivered to 20,000 residents of informal
  Lower-income communities, typically                  settlements. Vulnerability mapping was also
  in flood-prone areas, are most likely to             implemented in Cape Town and Lusaka to avoid
  endure [climate-related] impacts of the              construction of sanitation facilities in flood prone
                                                       areas or to avoid contamination of groundwater.
  failure of urban sanitation systems.
                                                       Evidently, significant gaps remain in the global
The adaptation response to this threat of climate
                                                       effort to create climate resilient urban sanitation
change on sanitation systems was considered
                                                       systems. One of these gaps is the lack of metrics.
in four cities: Cape Town (South Africa), Chennai
                                                       To address this, the authors present a strawman

                                                                                                              5
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

proposal for a City Sanitation Resilience Approach      However, there are also opportunities. The
(CSRA), an adaptation of the City Water Resilience      sanitation sector has developed numerous urban
Approach. To avoid ‘reinventing the wheel’,             strategies, targets, and plans. There is potential
the CSRA incorporates existing tools from the           to incorporate resilience into these, particularly at
sanitation sector such as the excreta flow diagram      city-level. Furthermore, the globally recognised set
(SFD) and the City Service Deliver Assessment           of principles, Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS),
(CSDA). These tools would contribute to the             could be further revised to drive resilience rather
development of City Sanitation Characterisation         than simply acknowledge it.
Reports and City Sanitation Resilience Profiles;
                                                        To finance these urban sanitation strategies and
however, they would need to be strengthened to
                                                        plans, the opportunity exists to better capitalise
better consider resilience.
                                                        on climate finance. SDG 13.a pledges to jointly
One of the other key gaps identified is the need        mobilise USD 100 billion annually to strengthen
to strengthen the integration and coordination          climate resilience in development countries.
within and outside of sanitation systems. This          Similarly, the Paris Agreement has led to major
includes the political and institutional bottlenecks,   funds being made available through mechanisms
which act as a serious brake on service delivery        such as the Green Climate Fund and the Global
and sustainability, particularly for vulnerable         Environmental Facility. Ultimately, dodging the bill
communities. The final critical gap identified is       for climate resilient sanitation systems is not a
the need to develop a better understanding of the       sustainable option.
cost of resilience and financing that gap. No data
                                                        Another opportunity and co-benefit of climate
is available on the global cost of achieving climate
                                                        resilient urban sanitation is the mitigation of
resilient urban sanitation, nor the cost of a ‘do-
                                                        greenhouse gas emissions. The sanitation sector
nothing’ scenario.
                                                        is estimated to contribute between 2 and 6 per cent
  Existing political and institutional                  of the global methane emissions, and between 1
                                                        and 3 per cent of nitrous oxide emissions. Much of
  bottlenecks act as a serious
                                                        these emissions are generated from wastewater
  break on service delivery and                         disposal directly into the environment without
  sustainability, particularly for                      reuse. As such, the global expansion of treatment
  vulnerable communities.                               not only increases the resilience of sanitation

Above: Furious Cyclone ‘Nilam’ Chennai

                                                                                                                 6
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

systems but could also play an important role in               capacities when facing these challenges. It is not
mitigating climate change.                                     just sanitation infrastructure that must be resilient
                                                               to everchanging shocks and stresses, but also the
  The global expansion of treatment                            interconnected social, institutional, and physical
  not only increases the resilience of                         systems. As the old adage goes, ‘resilience is not
  sanitation systems but could also                            an end state; it’s a journey’.
  play an important role in mitigating                            ‘Resilience is not an end state;
  climate change.                                                   it’s a journey.’
To systematically plan for and develop climate                 Furthermore, the current and future needs
resilient urban sanitation systems, the start of a             of urban populations are at the centre of a
conceptual framework is proposed by the authors                vulnerability-led perspective to resilience.
based on the City Water Resilience Framework                   This is critical because climate change is
(CWRF). The proposed framework needs to be                     likely to exacerbate the current inequalities
further developed via a thorough consultation                  of urban sanitation provision. To address this,
process with stakeholders; however, alignment                  urban sanitation systems need to look beyond
with CWRF would be a good starting point. Adoption             ‘infrastructure’ and ‘coverage’; they need
of the four dimensions of CWRF is proposed, which              to provide suitable platforms for inclusive
are (i) leadership and strategy, (ii) planning and             feedback and consultation from urban
finance, (iii) infrastructure and service delivery,            residents, as well as adequate monitoring,
and (iv) health and environment. Overarching goals             warning, and response mechanisms.
cities should strive for are also proposed for each
dimension. For instance, under the leadership and              To achieve climate resilient urban sanitation,
strategy, cities should aim to: create empowered               resilience needs to become one of the foundations
communities, achieve a consistent strategic vision,            of sanitation planning. Furthermore, resilience
and coordinate governance to avoid the current                 could become an opportunity for silos between
fragmentation and silos.                                       urban systems to be finally broken, allowing
                                                               for effective integration between sanitation and
There is no blueprint for achieving climate                    for instance drainage, solid waste, energy, and
resilience for urban sanitation systems. Climate               transport. This integration should be a continually
change manifests itself differently around the                 evolving process and must be adaptable to the
globe and even within individual cities. Cities                changing risks, vulnerabilities, and capacities of
start from different levels of preparedness and                urban populations.

Above: Wastewater in street – informal settlement near Cape Town, South Africa

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Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
CONTENTS
1 INTRODUCTION                                                                 10
1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES                                           11
1.2 URBAN SANITATION IN A CHANGING CLIMATE                                     12
     1.2.1 Cities and Climate Change                                           12
     1.2.2 The Impact of Climate Change on Urban Sanitation                    13
     1.2.3 The Sanitation Crisis: Increasing Vulnerability to Climate Change   14
1.3 THE INTERNATIONAL DISCOURSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND SANITATION               15
     1.3.1 The Sustainable Development Goals                                   15
     1.3.2 The Paris Agreement                                                 15
     1.3.3 The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction                    17
1.4 DEFINITIONS                                                                17
     1.4.1 Urban Climate Resilience                                            17
     1.4.2 Qualities of a Resilient System                                     17
     1.4.3 The Sanitation Service Structures                                   18
     1.4.4 Sanitation System                                                   20
     1.4.6 Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation                                  21

2 THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON URBAN SANITATION                             22
2.1 EXTREME HEAT                                                               23
2.2 WATER SCARCITY AND DROUGHT                                                 24
2.3 INCREASED PRECIPITATION, FLOODING AND EXTREME WEATHER                      26
2.4 RISING SEA LEVELS                                                          27

3 ADAPTION RESPONSES TO URBAN SANITATION – CASE STUDIES                        28
3.1 CITIES BACKGROUND                                                          31
    3.1.1 Cape Town                                                            32
    3.1.2 Chennai                                                              33
    3.1.3 Lusaka                                                               34
    3.1.4 Santa Cruz                                                           35
3.2 DEMAND AND WILLINGNESS FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT URBAN SANITATION              36
    3.2.1 Cape Town                                                            36
    3.2.2 Chennai                                                              37
    3.2.3 Lusaka                                                               38
    3.2.4 Santa Cruz                                                           38
3.3 ADAPTATION RESPONSES TO SPECIFIC SHOCKS AND STRESSES                       39
    3.3.1 Water scarcity and droughts                                          39
    3.3.2 Flooding                                                             42

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Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
CONTENTS

4 SANITATION AND URBAN RESILIENCE: GAPS AND OPPORTUNITIES                            44
4.1 KEY GAPS                                                                         45
    4.1.1 Integration and coordination within and outside sanitation systems         45
    4.1.2 Global metrics for climate resilient urban sanitation                      46
    4.1.3 Understanding the cost of resilience and financing the gap                 46
4.2 KEY OPPORTUNITIES                                                                47
    4.2.1 Climate resilient and sanitation in urban strategies, targets, and plans   47
    4.2.2 Climate finance for resilient sanitation                                   48
    4.2.3 Sanitation and GHG Mitigation                                              49

5 FRAMEWORK FOR CLIMATE RESILIENT URBAN SANITATION                                   50
5.1 LEADERSHIP AND STRATEGY                                                          52
    5.1.1 Create empowered communities                                               52
    5.1.2 Strategic vision                                                           53
    5.1.3 Coordinated governance                                                     54
5.2 PLANNING AND FINANCE                                                             55
    5.2.2 Adaptive and integrated planning                                           56
    5.2.3 Sustainable funding and finance                                            57
5.3 INFRASTRUCTURE AND SERVICE PROVISION                                             59
    5.3.1 Effective disaster response and recovery                                   59
    5.3.2 Effective asset management                                                 59
5.4 ENVIRONMENT AND HEALTH                                                           60
    5.4.1 Healthy urban communities and protected natural environments               60
    5.4.2 Equitable service provision                                                61

6 AN ASSESSMENT TOOL FOR URBAN SANITATION RESILIENCE                                 62
6.1 GUIDELINES                                                                       63
6.2 STEP 1: UNDERSTANDING THE SYSTEM                                                 64
6.3 STEP 2: ASSESSING URBAN SANITATION RESILIENCE                                    64

7 CONCLUSION                                                                         66

ACRONYMS                                                                             70
ANNEXES                                                                              71
   Annex A: Glossary                                                                 71
   Annex B: The Sustainable Development Goals                                        75
   Annex C: Case study interviewees                                                  77
ENDNOTES                                                                             78

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Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation - Accelerating the Convergence of Sanitation and Climate Action - Resilient Cities Network
1   INTRODUCTION
1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
This report has been commissioned by Deutsche Gesellschaft
für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, in collaboration
with Resilient Cities Network (R-Cities) to better understand how
climate change impacts will affect urban sanitation systems, and
what needs to be done to address this. It does so by collating and
reflecting on existing knowledge and highlighting how some cities
have approached adaptation. It intends to engage with and propose
to a diverse set of sector leaders an outline of the next steps
needed to support cities in building the climate resilience of their
sanitation services and infrastructure.

                                                    also present us with an opportunity to ‘build back
                                                    better’, more efficiently and effectively.
                                                    A vast array of stakeholders across sanitation
                                                    systems are likely to be able to capitalise on this
                                                    report, including:
                                                    1. local government and local structures;
                                                    2.	utility and sanitation engineers responsible for
                                                        designing, operating and maintaining systems;
                                                    3.	city planners and decision-makers
                                                        (e.g., councillors);
                                                    4.	national government and their often-
                                                        fragmented sanitation ministries;
                                                    5.	policy makers and regulators influencing
                                                        sanitation systems; and
                                                    6.	development partners and international
The report was prepared at a time when, according       financing institutions keen to support and
to the directors of UNICEF and the WHO “progress        accelerate change, including but not limited
against sanitation targets in the Sustainable           to Germany’s Federal Ministry for Economic
Development Goal 6 has been too slow… And               Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and its
this challenge comes amid the trials of a global        implementing organisations GIZ, Kreditanstalt
[COVID-19] pandemic, an economic recession,             für Wiederaufbau (KfW), Physikalisch-
and an on-going climate crisis”1. While the world       Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), and
is evidently facing multiple global challenges          Bundesanstalt für Geowissenschaften und
negatively impacting local communities, this can        Rohstoffe (BGR).

Above: Informal settlement, Cape Town

                                                                                                                11
1. INTRODUCTION

In line with the detailed objectives of this study, the                                climate change adaptation responses: Cape
report is divided into the following seven chapters:                                   Town, Chennai, Lusaka, and Santa Cruz de la
                                                                                       Sierra (hereafter referred to as Santa Cruz).
      hapter 1: This introduction, which outlines
     C
     the project background, introducing urban                                   	Chapter 4: An overview of the key gaps
     sanitation in a changing climate, framing the                                 and opportunities for climate resilient
     international climate change discourse, and                                   urban sanitation.
     introducing key definitions.
                                                                                 	Chapter 5: The proposal of a framework for
      hapter 2: An overview of the impacts of
     C                                                                             climate resilient urban sanitation.
     climate change on urban sanitation, considering
                                                                                        hapter 6: A strawman proposal for the future
                                                                                       C
     the following climate change impacts: extreme
                                                                                       development of a tool to assess the resilience
     heat, water scarcity and drought, increased
                                                                                       of urban sanitation systems.
     precipitation, flooding and extreme weather,
     and rising sea levels.                                                      	Chapter 7: The conclusion, providing a
                                                                                   summary of key takeaways from the report.
      hapter 3: A selection of case studies from
     C
     four cities presenting their sanitation-related

1.2 URBAN SANITATION IN
A CHANGING CLIMATE
1.2.1 CITIES AND                                                                      Box 1

CLIMATE CHANGE                                                                        CLIMATE CHANGE IN 100 CITIES
Our climate is rapidly changing. Today, the                                           A 2015 assessment7 of climate change in 100
frequency of flooding, drought, and other extreme                                     cities had the following key findings:
weather events are having a devastating impact on
communities, a trend that is set to continue unless                                   - Mean annual temperatures in 39 cities
urgent action is taken by the global community2. Of                                      have increased at a rate of 0.12 to 0.45°C
the 1,000 most severe disastersa that have occurred                                      per decade between 1961 and 2010.
since 1990, water-related disasters accounted for                                     - Mean annual temperatures for the 100
90 per cent of these.3                                                                   selected cities are projected to increase by
Increasing temperatures, as a result of global                                           1.3 to 3.0°C by the 2050s, and 1.7 to 4.9°C
warming, has already been experienced across                                             by the 2080s.
most regions of the world4. An estimated 20                                           - Mean annual precipitation for the 100
to 40 per cent of the global population live in                                          cities is projected to change by -9 to +15
regions that, by 2015, had already experienced                                           per cent by the 2050s, and -11 to +21 per
warming of more than 1.5°C above pre-industrial                                          cent by the 2080s.
levels5. This trend is set to continue, with global
temperatures being estimated to increase by at                                        - Sea levels in 52 coastal cities are projected
least 2°C by 2100, leading to more extreme and                                           to rise 15-60 cm by the 2050s, and 22-124
unpredictable weather events such as heavy                                               cm by the 2080s.
precipitation and drought.6

a	The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters classifies natural disasters according to the type of hazards that provoke. The classifications
   are geophysical (e.g., earthquake, volcanic activity), meteorological (e.g., extreme temperature, storm), hydrological (e.g., flood, landslide),
   climatological (e.g., drought, wildfire), biological (e.g., epidemic, insect infestation) and extraterrestrial (e.g., impact, space weather). Retrieved from
   EM-DAT: https://www.emdat.be/classification.

                                                                                                                                                                  12
1. INTRODUCTION

While projections for future climate change are
most often defined globally and nationally, the
                                                           1.2.2 THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE
risks are not the same everywhere. Extreme                 CHANGE ON URBAN SANITATION
weather events have differing impacts on both
                                                           The impacts of climate change are felt first
urban and rural communities within the same
                                                           through the impacts on the water cycle14. This
region. The sheer size and density of populations
                                                           in turn leads to major secondary impacts for
in urban areas leaves residents particularly
                                                           the sanitation chain, especially in the case of
vulnerable to climate change8. For example, an
                                                           sewers which rely heavily on water for transport,
increased demand for water, particularly during
                                                           treatment, and disposal. Drought, flooding, and
warmer temperatures, can leave residents more
                                                           other extreme weather events can all undermine
vulnerable to water scarcity. At the same time,
                                                           the provision of basic sanitation services, with
the prevalence of concrete and tarmac surfaces in
                                                           disastrous health impacts for urban populations.15
urban areas reduces infiltration, leading to rapid
surface run-off, which in turn can lead to more            During extreme climate-related events, non-
flash flooding and landslides9. These events can           resilient urban sanitation systems will often:
destroy urban infrastructure, undermine access
                                                           1.	Lose their ability to deliver essential services
to basic services and decimate livelihoods. These
                                                               due to direct infrastructure damage (from
issues combined with the well documented impacts
                                                               floods, windstorms, and tide surges) or lack of
of the Urban Heat Island Effect, means global
                                                               water (e.g., during a drought or when extreme
warming is magnified in urban areas.10
                                                               cold weather turns water into ice).
At the same time, cities are also a key contributor
                                                           2.	Become a significant source of chemical and
to climate change, as urban activities are major
                                                               biological contamination of ecosystems, water
sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
                                                               bodies and soil by means of their discharges
Estimates suggest that cities are responsible
                                                               and pollution overload in the case of flooding
for around 70 per cent of global CO2 emissions,
                                                               and overflows, leading to major public health
with transport and buildings being among the
                                                               impacts and increased water scarcity.
largest contributors.11
                                                           	This contamination may sometimes be
Today, around 55 per cent of the world’s
                                                             irreversible and may also affect areas beyond
population lives in urban areas, a proportion that
                                                             local and national borders. For example, in
is expected to increase to 68 per cent by 205012.
                                                             Europe, there are over 150 transboundary
Projections show that urbanisation, combined
                                                             rivers whose combined watersheds cover
with the overall growth of the world’s population
                                                             more than 40 per cent of the land surface
could add another 2.5 billion people to urban areas
                                                             area of the region, leading to widespread
by 2050, with close to 90 per cent of this increase
                                                             contamination of water sources, if sanitation
taking place in Asia and Africa13. It is therefore vital
                                                             systems are inundated.16
that city authorities, urban citizens, and businesses
take important steps now, to plan and respond to           More gradual climatic changes such as rising
climate change.                                            sea levels will also have an impact on urban
                                                           sanitation systems. Some coastal communities
Most recently, COVID-19 has drastically changed
                                                           and infrastructure will experience gradual
the world we live in. The pandemic has affected
                                                           flooding, making them uninhabitable, damaging
urban populations the most, endangering not only
                                                           infrastructure, and reducing access to sanitation.17
public health, but also disrupting the economy
and the fabric of society. At the same time, the
pandemic has helped highlight the importance of
a functioning and resilient urban water, sanitation,
and hygiene (WASH) system, and will be an
important theme during post-COVID recovery in
urban areas.

                                                                                                                      13
1. INTRODUCTION

  Box 2

  SANITATION ALSO CONTRIBUTES TO CLIMATE CHANGE

  According to18, faeces and the overall sanitation   decomposition of faeces (mainly anerobic
  chain contribute to climate change through the      processes, whether at containment or treatment
  emission of 3 main gasses: carbon dioxide (CO2),    stages), with the former contributing between 2
  methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), with the     and 6 per cent of global CH4 emissions, and the
  latter two having the most significant impact.      latter contributing between 1 and 3 per cent of
  Methane alone accounts for more than 20 per         N2O emissions.21
  cent of current climate warming.19                  Untreated wastewater released into the
  Some CO2 is emitted from biological processes       environment generates a greenhouse gas
  during the containment (e.g., in a pit latrine      footprint roughly three times greater than when
  or septic tank) and treatment of the faeces,        the same wastewater is treated in a traditional
  however the majority is emitted from the energy     wastewater treatment plant22,23. As only 20 per
  consumed to manage the waste across the             cent of wastewater produced globally is treated,
  chain, mainly powering treatment plants20. CH4      this represents a significant opportunity for
  and N2O are emitted from the natural biological     GHG mitigation.24

1.2.3 THE SANITATION CRISIS:                          people still practice open defecation of whom 9
                                                      percent lives in urban areas.26
INCREASING VULNERABILITY                              There are wide disparities between countries
TO CLIMATE CHANGE                                     in terms of access to basic sanitation services
                                                      in urban areas. For example, in North America
Over the last few decades, a truly global effort
                                                      and Western Europe close to 100 per cent of
has been made to improve water, sanitation,
                                                      urban households have access to at least basic
and hygiene conditions for millions of people
                                                      sanitation services, whereas in Central Africa in
worldwide. Since 1990, 6 billion people gained
                                                      many cities, this remains less than 40 per cent27.
access to improved water and 2.1 billion people
                                                      At the same time, climate change threatens to
have gained access to improved sanitation.25
                                                      undermine the positive progress made over the
Despite this progress, the world remains              past decade as climate resilience has not been
in the midst of a sanitation crisis. Around 2         considered in the provision of the new, basic
billion people globally still lack access to basic    sanitation systems installed.
sanitation of whom 30 percent lives in urban
                                                      Globally, sanitation planning and associated
areas (see Box 3), whilst around 670 million
                                                      infrastructure development has not kept pace

  Box 3

  KEY FACTS - THE URBAN SANITATION CRISIS28

  Basic sanitation refers to facilities not shared    offsite. Around 53 per cent (or 2.2 billion people)
  with other households and are designed to           of the world’s urban population do not yet have
  hygienically separate excreta from human            access to safely managed sanitation services.
  contact, including a handwashing facility with      Over 600 million people also do not have access
  soap and water.                                     to safely managed water supply; something
  Safely managed sanitation refers to basic           which is imperative for functioning sanitation
  sanitation facilities where excreta are safely      and hygiene systems, particularly during a
  disposed of in situ or transported and treated      climate-related crisis.

                                                                                                                  14
1. INTRODUCTION

with rapid population growth and urbanisation,                                 Where sanitation systems do exist, adaptation to
creating a sanitation crisis in urban areas29. The                             climate change, learning and reflection has been
urban poor, particularly those without access to                               slow or completely missing. Deficiencies here are
basic water and sanitation services are the most                               a particular weakness of today’s urban sanitation
vulnerable to the impacts of climate change30. They                            systems globally, and the sector is chronically
are the least likely to be able to access safe water                           under-managed32. This leaves communities,
during a drought and are also most likely to have                              systems, and infrastructure susceptible or
their homes flooded as a result of flash-flooding                              vulnerable to climate change.
and sea-level rise.31

1.3 THE INTERNATIONAL DISCOURSE
OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND SANITATION
1.3.1 THE SUSTAINABLE                                                          particularly in urban areas36. Research suggests
                                                                               very few trade-offs between these two SDGs and
DEVELOPMENT GOALS                                                              sanitation, but rather demonstrates a strong need
                                                                               for integrated interventions37, and an opportunity
In 2015, 193 countries adopted a set of goals,
                                                                               for CRUS to be recognised as a major priority for
known as the Sustainable Development Goals
                                                                               urban development.
(SDGs) which aim to end poverty and protect the
natural environment as part of a new Sustainable
Development Agenda33. Each goal sets specific                                  1.3.2 THE PARIS AGREEMENT
targets to be achieved to help guide progress
                                                                               In December 2015, 195 nations adopted the
to 2030. Three of the SDGs are most relevant to
                                                                               Paris Agreement which aims to strengthen
Climate Resilient Urban Sanitation (CRUS):
                                                                               the global response to the threat of climate
SDG6: Ensure availability and sustainable                                      change by “limiting the temperature increase
management of water and sanitation for all                                     to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels”38. This will
                                                                               be achieved through a series of global, regional,
SDG11: Make cities and human settlements
                                                                               and country-level efforts. The Paris Agreement
inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable
                                                                               works on a 5-cycle of climate action. Each nation
SDG13: Take urgent action to combat climate                                    is required to develop their successive Nationally
change and its impacts.                                                        Determined Contributions (NDCs). Through their
                                                                               NDCs countries primarily outline and communicate
The targets for each of these SDGs is provided
                                                                               actions they plan to take to reduce GHG emissions
in Annex B.
                                                                               to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement. Planned
As seen in Figure 1, sanitation has strong                                     adaptation and resilience building measures at
links with nearly all goals, including SDG11                                   the country-level are also communicated in the
and SDG1335. The former has a relatively high                                  NDCs39. The NDCs are non-binding. However, they
direct call for actionb on sanitation, as well as                              provide an indication of national policy priorities
synergiesc with its respective targets, while                                  and interests. A recent analysis showed that within
SDG13 has a moderate level of call for action                                  all submitted NDCs only few concrete actions have
and synergies with its targetsd. For instance,                                 been proposed with regard to sanitation.40
water and sanitation systems must be resilient
                                                                               The Paris Agreement re-emphasises the role
to climate change; but they also play a vital role
                                                                               of National Adaptation Plans (NAPs) which
in supporting broader climate resilience efforts,
                                                                               were established under the Cancun Adaptation

b ‘Call for action’ refers to a connection where an SDG target requires action on sanitation to support the achievement of such target.
c	‘Synergies’ refers to two-way positive connections with sanitation for each SDG target, whether an action in sanitation could support the achievement
   of a target, and if achievement towards the target could support sanitation objectives (Diep, et al., 2020).
d	‘Trade offs’, seen in Figure 1, refers to a ‘negative’ link between an SDG target and sanitation, whereby the achievement of a target might not be
   supportive of the sanitation target.

                                                                                                                                                             15
1. INTRODUCTION

Figure 1. Spider-web representation
of breadth of connections between
goals and SDG634

     Trade-offs

     Synergies

     Calls for Action

          Calls for Action                      Synergies                         Trade-offs

framework. NAPs were created to enable least          Water), which includes the guiding wastewater
developed and other developing countries to           and faecal sludge interventions under a changing
identify medium- and long-term adaptation             climate through the development of a wastewater
needs and develop implementing strategies and         master plan and guidelines42. Thus far only 22
programmes to address them41. The NAP process         developing countries have submitted NAPs, none
would build on existing activities, providing a       of which include the case study cities considered in
platform for coordination of adaptation efforts and   this report.
national level. For example, Saint Lucia developed
a water sector NAP (Sectoral Adaptation Plan for

                                                                                                                16
1. INTRODUCTION

1.3.3 THE SENDAI FRAMEWORK                             • Priority 3: Investing in disaster risk reduction
FOR DISASTER RISK REDUCTION                               for resilience.
                                                       • Priority 4: Enhancing disaster preparedness
The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction
                                                          for effective response and to “Build Back Better”
(2015 - 2030) was adopted in 2015 as an outcome
                                                          in recovery, rehabilitation, and reconstruction.
of the Third United Nations World Conference on
Disaster Risk Reduction in Sendai, Japan.              Sanitation is not explicitly mentioned in the
                                                       framework. However, under Priority 4 the
The framework identifies four priority areas for
                                                       framework emphasises as one of the targets “To
action, namely:
                                                       promote the resilience of new and existing critical
• Priority 1: Understanding disaster risk.             infrastructure, including water, transportation and
                                                       telecommunications infrastructure, educational
• Priority 2: Strengthening disaster risk
                                                       facilities, hospitals and other health facilities,
   governance to manage disaster risk.
                                                       to ensure that they remain safe, effective and
                                                       operational during and after disasters in order to
                                                       provide live-saving and essential services”.43

1.4 DEFINITIONS
This section introduces some of the key definitions and concepts
used in the report. A comprehensive glossary of the terms used is
provided in Annex A.

1.4.1 URBAN                                            1.4.2 QUALITIES OF
CLIMATE RESILIENCE                                     A RESILIENT SYSTEM
According to the IPCC, the term resilience refers to   The City Resilience Framework suggests that
“the capacity of social, economic and environmental    resilient systems have seven main qualities
systems to cope with a hazardous event or trend        which allow to maintain functionality in the face of
or disturbance, responding or reorganizing in ways     climate-related shocks and stresses: reflective,
that maintain their essential function, identity and   robust, redundant, flexible, resourceful, inclusive,
structure, while also maintaining the capacity         and integrated47. Referred to throughout this report,
for adaptation, learning and transformation”44.        and provided in Annex A, these qualities are defined
Urban resilience can therefore be defined as the       by the City Resilience Framework as such:
capacity of individuals, communities, institutions,
                                                       1.	Reflective: Reflective systems are accepting of
businesses, and systems within a city to survive,
                                                           the inherent and ever-increasing uncertainty
adapt, and grow no matter what kinds of chronic
                                                           and change in today’s world. They have
stresses and acute shocks they experience.45, 46
                                                           mechanisms to continuously evolve and
                                                           will modify standards or norms based on
                                                           emerging evidence, rather than seeking
                                                           permanent solutions based on the status quo.
                                                           As a result, people and institutions examine
                                                           and systematically learn from their past
                                                           experiences and leverage this learning to
                                                           inform future decision-making.

                                                                                                                    17
1. INTRODUCTION

2.	Robust: Robust systems (similar to                6.	Inclusive: Inclusion emphasises the need
    resistance48) include well-conceived,                 for broad consultation and engagement of
    constructed, and managed physical assets,             communities, including the most vulnerable
    so that they can withstand the impacts of             groups. Addressing the shocks or stresses
    hazard events without significant damage or           faced by one sector, location, or community in
    loss of function. Robust design anticipates           isolation of others is an anathema to the notion
    potential failures in systems, making provision       of resilience. An inclusive approach contributes
    to ensure failure is predictable, safe, and not       to a sense of shared ownership or a joint vision
    disproportionate to the cause. Over-reliance          to build city resilience.
    on a single asset, cascading failure and design
                                                      7.	Integrated: Integration and alignment between
    thresholds that might lead to catastrophic
                                                          city systems promotes consistency in decision-
    collapse if exceeded are actively avoided.
                                                          making and ensures that all investments are
3.	Redundant: Redundancy refers to spare                 mutually supportive to a common outcome.
    capacity purposely created within systems so          Integration is evident within and between
    that they can accommodate disruption, extreme         resilient systems, and across different scales
    pressures, or surges in demand. It includes           of their operation. Exchange of information
    diversity: the presence of multiple ways to           between systems enables them to function
    achieve a given need or fulfil a particular           collectively and respond rapidly through
    function. Examples include distributed                shorter feedback loops throughout the city.
    infrastructure networks and resource
    reserves. Redundancies should be intentional,
    cost-effective, and prioritised at a city-wide
                                                      1.4.3 THE SANITATION
    scale, and should not be an externality of        SERVICE STRUCTURES
    inefficient design.
                                                      The sanitation service chain (see Figure 2), also
4.	Flexible: Flexibility implies that systems        referred to as the sanitation chain, is a context-
    can change, evolve, and adapt in response         specific series of technologies, infrastructure
    to changing circumstances. This may               and services utilised for the management
    favour decentralised and modular                  of human excreta (urine and faeces), faecal
    approaches to infrastructure or ecosystem         sludgee, and wastewater, for their collection (or
    management. Flexibility can be achieved           capture), containment, transport (or conveyance),
    through the introduction of new knowledge         transformation (or treatment), utilisation (or reuse)
    and technologies, as needed. It also means        or disposal (adapted from Tilley, et al., 2014).
    considering and incorporating indigenous
                                                      There are two main types of sanitation chains:
    or traditional knowledge and practices in
                                                      onsite and offsite. Onsitef or non-sewered
    new ways.
                                                      sanitation chains refer to the technologies,
5.	Resourceful: Resourcefulness (similar to          infrastructure and services required to safely
    response / recovery49) implies that people and    operate and maintain toilets which hold waste
    institutions can rapidly find different ways      onsite for a certain period (e.g., containers, pits,
    to achieve their goals or meet their needs        or septic tanks). Depending on the design of the
    during a shock or when under stress. This         containment structure and number of users,
    may include investing in capacity to anticipate   emptying of faecal sludge is undertaken on a
    future conditions, set priorities, and respond,   scheduled or on-demand basis, and transported
    for example, by mobilising and coordinating       by vehicles via road networks to centralised or
    wider human, financial, and physical              decentralised treatment facilities.
    resources. Resourcefulness is instrumental
                                                      Offsite or sewered sanitation chains refer to
    to a city’s ability to restore functionality of
                                                      technologies, infrastructure and services required
    critical systems, potentially under severely
                                                      to safely operate and maintain toilets connected
    constrained conditions.
                                                      to a piped network. The piped network could
                                                      be a conventional or a non-conventional (e.g.,

                                                                                                                   18
1. INTRODUCTION

                                                      SANITATION SERVICE CHAIN

        Collection &                                                                                                                Disposal
                                                   Transport                               Treatment
        Containment                                                                                                                 Or Reuse

Figure 2. The sanitation service chain for both onsite and offsite sanitation

simplified, small-bore) sewer, with centralised or                              solutions, and can be heavily integrated into urban
decentralised treatment facilities. Offsite sanitation                          ecosystems, flood protection, and wellbeing.
is heavily reliant on large quantities of water to                              However, in some cases they may contribute to
transport the waste (or wastewater) through                                     increased GHG emissions (e.g., wetlands).
gravity fed sewers; in many cases the topography
                                                                                Innovative waste-to-resource solutions focus on
of the city also necessitates the use of energy
                                                                                transformation of the faecal waste into useful by-
intensive pumping / lift stations to transport the
                                                                                products, including but not limited to:
wastewater to treatment facilities.
                                                                                1.	recycled water (e.g., for agricultural, (re)
Conventional, nature-based and innovative
                                                                                    forestation, urban parks, or industrial use),
solutions exist for treating faecal waste,
from both onsite (faecal sludge) and offsite                                    2. distilled water,
(wastewater) systems and transforming it into
                                                                                3.	soil conditioners and fertilizers from each the
useful by-products. Conventional solutions
                                                                                    urine and faeces,
are typically focused on centralised treatment
and disposal, with transformation (e.g., water                                  4. carbonised and non-carbonised solid fuel,
recycling, biogas-to-energy, etc.) considered
                                                                                5. biogas-to-energy, and
an add-on to treatment rather than a driver for
the design of the rest of the sanitation chain.                                 6.	insect production (used as protein for animal
Conventional centralised treatment systems with                                     feed or other insect by-products).
a relatively small footprint are energy reliant
                                                                                As with the recycling of domestic solid waste,
and intensive, while those with a larger footprint
                                                                                when the focus of the faecal waste system is on
require less (or no) energy. Few incentives
                                                                                transformation, the following becomes critical:
are found for the integration of conventional
                                                                                segregation at source (i.e., separate collection
treatment and transformation systems with other
                                                                                of urine, faeces and water at the toilet), avoiding
urban systems; in some cases, regulation even
                                                                                contamination (i.e., no heavy metals), and avoiding
disincentivises integration (e.g., use of treated
                                                                                dilution (i.e., no addition of water for flushing).
sludge in agriculture is heavily regulated).
                                                                                Evidently, innovative waste-to-resource solutions
Nature-based solutions for treatment of faecal                                  favour onsite sanitation systems with urine-
waste are increasingly being implemented. They                                  diverting toilets (i.e., separation of urine and
often require much less energy than conventional                                faeces). It also incentivises integration, not only

e	Faecal sludge refers to waste found in onsite facilities, such as septic tanks and pit latrines. The waste is made from partially digested human excreta
   and other materials disposed of into containment structures, such as flush water, cover material, anal cleansing materials, and in many cases
   inappropriately disposed of solid waste (e.g., plastic bottles).
f	Onsite systems are part of a category of non-networked decentralised systems, as per BMZ guidelines. These include household level (e.g., pit latrines
   or toilets with septic tanks), and treatment level (e.g., sludge treatment) facilities for a limited number of users, such as a neighbourhood. Networked,
   decentralised sanitation systems include smaller sewer systems with up to a few thousand people connected.

                                                                                                                                                               19
1. INTRODUCTION

into the different by-product markets, but also                   an update of the Millennium Development Goal
other waste systems (e.g., biowaste, agricultural                 (MDG) sanitation ladder to the sanitation service
waste, etc.).                                                     ladder as defined in Table 1. The global indicator
                                                                  used for Target 6.2 is the ‘proportion of population
At a global level, UN member states set Target
                                                                  using safely managed sanitation services including
6.2 of SDG6 as follows: “By 2030, achieve access
                                                                  a handwashing facility with soap and water’51.
to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene
                                                                  Safely managed sanitation applies to both onsite
for all and end open defecation, paying special
                                                                  and offsite sanitation, ensuring that toilets are safe
attention to the needs of women and girls and
                                                                  (including appropriate hygiene facilities) as well as
those in vulnerable situations”50. To monitor this,
                                                                  the associated services across the sanitation chain.
the Joint Monitoring Program (JMP) has proposed

Table 1. The JMP sanitation ladder service levels and definitions52

 Service Level                  Definition

 Safely Managed                  se of improved facilities that are not shared with other households and
                                U
                                where excreta are safely disposed of in situ or transported and treated offsite

 Basic                          Use of improved facilities that are not shared with other households

 Limited                        Use of improved facilities shared between two or more households

 Unimproved                     Use of pit latrines without a slab or platform, hanging latrines or bucket
                                latrines

 Open Defecation                 isposal of human faeces in fields, forests, bushes, open bodies of water,
                                D
                                beaches or other open spaces, or with solid waste

1.4.4 SANITATION SYSTEM                                           1.4.5 SUSTAINABLE SANITATION
The ‘sanitation system’ describes the                             The Sustainable Sanitation Alliance (SuSanA)
combination of the sanitation service chain                       defines sustainable sanitation as a system designed
and its so-called enabling environment within                     to meet certain criteria and to work well over the
which it operates. This includes for instance                     long-term53. It considers the entire sanitation
institutional arrangements and coordination,                      chain and includes five features or criteria in its
monitoring, planning, financing, regulation                       definition; systems need to be economically and
and accountability, environment, learning and                     socially acceptable, technically and institutionally
adaptation, as well as the capacity of actors                     appropriate, and protect the environment and
and their inter-relationships.                                    natural resources54. While the last criterion
                                                                  includes elements of climate resilience, its focus
                                                                  is on the preservation or recycling of resources
                                                                  consumed (e.g., energy, water), rather than
                                                                  resilience to climate change.

                                                                                                                             20
1. INTRODUCTION

1.4.6 CLIMATE RESILIENT                                           From a technical standpoint, CRUS means that all
                                                                  the links in the sanitation chain continue to operate
URBAN SANITATION                                                  as intended despite climate-related shocks and
This report proposes the use of CRUS as a                         stresses. The strength, or resilience of this chain
description of sanitation systems that can                        ultimately allows the safe management of human
survive, adapt, and function in the face of                       waste, from collection all the way through to safe
climate-related chronic stresses and acute                        disposal or reuse.
shocks. In turn, CRUS also strengthens the
                                                                  Acute shocks can be classed as sudden, intense
overall resilience of towns and cities – allowing
                                                                  events that threaten an urban community and
them to continue providing essential sanitation
                                                                  their sanitation systems55,56. Examples include
services and protect public health in the face
                                                                  rapid onset flooding, hurricanes, landslides, fires,
of climate-related crises.
                                                                  disease outbreaks and infrastructure failures.
                                                                  The impact of these acute shocks is exacerbated
                                                                  by chronic stresses that may weaken the fabric
                                                                  of an urban community over time.57

Above: Trials for the design of faecal sludge treatment facilities in Lusaka

                                                                                                                             21
2   THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE
    ON URBAN SANITATION
2. THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON URBAN SANITATION

Climate change has varied effects in different parts of the world. Some
areas will warm substantially more than others. Some will receive
more rainfall, while others will be subjected to more frequent droughts.
People, ecosystems and infrastructures are being impacted by regional
temperature and precipitation variations. Many urban sanitation
systems are not adequately equipped to cope with the effects of
current climate variability58,59. This chapter details the impact of
climate change on sanitation systems. It is divided into four sections,
representing direct shocks and stresses caused or exacerbated by
climate change: extreme heat; water scarcity and droughts; increased
precipitation, flooding, and extreme weather; and rising sea levels. In
practice, one region can be prone to several and cascading risks, and
thus deal with multiple uncertainties concurrently. Where possible,
impacts are considered on infrastructure and service provision,
finance, the water cycle, environment, and public health.

2.1 EXTREME HEAT
Rising temperatures are one of the most                  Depending on the process by which onsite
prominent consequences of climate change.                treatment is expected, increased temperatures
There is substantial evidence of climatic warming        can have either a positive or negative impact on
over the last century, with 2015 to 2019 being the       waterless toilets. Waterless sanitation facilities
warmest five years on record60. Climate models           can either treat biosolids through dehydration
also indicate an increase in the occurrence,             (e.g., urine diverting toilet) or biodegradation (e.g.,
length, and severity of heat-related events in           composting toilet). Both do not require sewage
most countries61. Urban areas are particularly           infrastructure and minimise environmental
vulnerable due to the Urban Heat Island Effect,          and groundwater pollution when being safely
whereby cities (roads, buildings, etc.) absorb           managed. However, temperature and humidity
and re-emit the sun’s heat more than natural             play an essential role in their operation.
landscapes, resulting in higher temperatures.            Increased temperatures and low humidity
                                                         compromise biodegradability in composting
Extreme heat can increase the risk of public health
                                                         toilets due to the lack of sufficient moisture in the
for the over 700 million users of unimproved
                                                         biosolids to support microbial growth65. Similarly,
sanitation facilities globally, over half in urban
                                                         worms used in vermicomposting may struggle
areas62. The poor design and construction of these
                                                         to survive at extreme temperatures, even the
facilities can increase the existing risk of infection
                                                         most tolerant compost worms can die off as
and diseases such as diarrhoea and Hepatitis A63.
                                                         the temperature of the tank approaches and
Increased odours caused by extreme heat can also,
                                                         surpasses 35°C.66
in turn, disincentivise and limit toilet usage.64

                                                                                                                   23
2. THE IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ON URBAN SANITATION

Extreme heat can positively impact the                                         biological aeration, waste sludge processing,
functioning of septic tanks by increasing the                                  stabilisation ponds, and chlorination71. Processes
temperature of wastewater, thus improving                                      such as activated sludge and aerobic film reactors
anaerobic digestion and pathogen inactivation.                                 are less impacted by such changes due to a high
This also results in reduced sludge accumulation,                              level of technological input and mechanisation.72
reducing the emptying frequency and cost to
                                                                               Water bodies receiving treated wastewater
consumers67. However, a septic tank’s soakawayg,
                                                                               effluent are likely to be negatively impacted by
which relies on aerobic digestion, is likely to be
                                                                               increase in temperature. Increasing temperatures
negatively impacted by high temperatures due to
                                                                               alter the properties of water bodies, lowering
greater oxygen demand by biochemical treatment
                                                                               the levels of dissolved oxygen, increasing the
processes in the soil.68
                                                                               concentration of nutrients and pollutants as well as
Sewer networks are likely to be negatively                                     the rate of evapotranspiration, and reducing their
impacted by higher temperatures. Wastewater                                    ability to host organisms73. Climatic changes can
fermentation increases with higher temperatures,                               also alter water bodies’ physical, chemical, and
thus producing more hydrogen sulphide,                                         biological properties, affecting natural processes
and increasing a network’s susceptibility to                                   such as pollutant transportation and biochemical
corrosion69. This in turn increases the cost of                                transformations74. As most wastewater treatment
maintaining a sewer network, requiring more                                    effluents are discharged in surface water bodies,
frequent maintenance to avoid collapse of piping                               the associated impacts such as pollutant and
and supply disruptions.                                                        nutrient discharge may aggravate the anticipated
                                                                               changes in water temperature. Therefore, sewage
Increased temperatures have an impact
                                                                               treatment effluents associated with higher
on natural and non-mechanised treatment
                                                                               temperatures constitute a significant threat to
processes, less so on mechanised ones. Studies
                                                                               aquatic ecosystems in the receiving waters and
have shown that natural treatment processes
                                                                               may increase algae bloom proliferation.75
are subjected to decreased performance during
colder seasons, with warmer seasons creating                                   For users of sanitation facilities and sanitation
more favourable treatment conditions due to                                    service providers, intense heat waves can
increased bacterial removal efficiencies70. However,                           trigger various heat stress conditions such as
a temperature above the optimal range of a                                     cardiovascular and respiratory disorders76.
biological treatment process will negatively impact                            In additional to the occupational health risks of
it; the maximum threshold depends on the type of                               sanitation workers, physical functions, capacity,
process. The main treatment processes impacted                                 and productivity may become restricted.
by temperature changes are sedimentation,

2.2 WATER SCARCITY AND DROUGHT
Anthropogenic activities have significantly                                    hydrological systems on which some sanitation
increased the number of drought years, a trend                                 systems rely on.
which is expected to continue due to climate
                                                                               At the user-interface level, in conditions of
change. Climate model projections highlight
                                                                               drought and reduced water availability, securing
the Mediterranean region (including southern
                                                                               sufficient volumes of water for the normal
Europe, northern Africa, and West Asia) as
                                                                               operation of flush toilets may be challenging.
future hydro-climatic change hot spots77.
                                                                               Water scarcity can impact the frequency of
Irregularities in dry weather due to extreme
                                                                               flushing, the functionality of the handwashing
drought can cause a severe imbalance in water
                                                                               stations, and the overall cleanliness of the toilet,
cycles, resulting in low surface water volumes
                                                                               potentially reducing the level of hygiene by exposing
and groundwater recharge, thus affecting the

g	A soakaway (or soak pit) is a covered, porous-walled chamber that allows effluent from a septic tank to slowly soak into the ground. Small particles are
   filtered as the effluent percolates through the soil, and organics are digested by microorganisms (adapted from (Tilley, et al., 2014)).

                                                                                                                                                              24
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