Wastewater Treatment/Reuse in Rural Areas

Proper hygiene leading to good health, in urban as well as rural communities, requires that the consumption of drinking water is raised to acceptable levels (UN organizations put it at 40 liters/cap/day). The increase of water availability necessitates the provision of sewage drainage facilities. Urban areas are normally provided with sewerage schemes (sewer lines, treatment plants, etc.). However, it is unrealistic and not cost feasible to construct such sophisticated systems in villages. This is due to limited resources of public funds available to the responsible government agencies. In rural areas, the provision of utilities to drain sewage in a safe way lags behind the provision of water for household activities, including drinking water. This creates severe contamination to the environment of the various villages and reduces the impact of water on the improvement of health. An appropriate wastewater treatment/reuse system, called the Subsurface Drainage Technique (SDT), is described here which was successfully applied, by Save the Children/USA, in several villages on the Israeli Occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip. The system is applicable for individual households with land available in their immediate vicinity. It consists of a watertight septic tank, where primary treatment occurred, followed by a subsurface drainage field in which the secondary treatment took place. The treated wastewater in the drainage field allowed indirect irrigation (below ground level) for surface plants. Local materials were adopted for the construction of the SDT. Villagers themselves were trained to build the various units and therefore were able to maintain their efficient performance. Ongoing monitoring of the plants grown in the drainage field and the testing for bacteriological contamination ensures the safe performance of the technology.