Special Applications of BORDA's Approach

The question of what happens to wastewater and faecal sludge not only arises in development cooperation, but also in emergency situations where large numbers of people are suddenly without basic services due to natural disasters, wars or other crises. BORDA is increasingly bringing its knowledge and decades of experience in basic sanitation to humanitarian relief operations and transitional aid.

While there are fundamental differences between development cooperation (sustainable and long-term projects) and humanitarian relief (alleviating suffering in emergency situations), there is also overlap: permanent emergency situations like refugee camps that last not months but years. Here, the knowledge and experience gained from long-term development cooperation is directly applicable.

In refugee camps, there is a mission-critical need for proven approaches to basic sanitation combined with wastewater treatment and faecal sludge management. In close cooperation with local governments and humanitarian organisations, BORDA provides training programmes and decentralised wastewater treatment systems (DEWATS) that include a flexible range of modules capable of meeting a variety of needs under difficult conditions.

Water stress and water scarcity are likely to increase, especially in already-arid regions and in places where rapid population growth outpaces nature’s ability to replenish local water sources. In the face of climate change, it is clear that sanitation systems cannot rely solely on water that could be used for drinking, and that reuse of existing resources is ever more vital.

The BORDA network’s holistic approach to decentralised water and sanitation systems is particularly well suited to the challenges posed by water-scarce environments. While conventional sewerage systems rely on large volumes of water drawn from surface or underground sources, BORDA’s gravity-powered treatment options work without drawing on local water sources. Our treatment solutions are adapted to use locally available materials, further enhancing their suitability.

Technical solutions can turn used water into reusable water, but making reuse part of daily life also requires social, political and financial support. BORDA’s multi-pronged approach turns water and sanitation solutions into shared endeavours—especially relevant in places where water is a source of conflict rather than cooperation.

> more about innovative sanitation solutions in arid regions (borda-wesca.org)

To have clean water for all, we need healthy watersheds. For that, we need holistic watershed management that integrates water and sanitation solutions in ways that are functional and sustainable for low-income communities. The BORDA approach combines:

• documenting water supply and usage;
• collecting and analysing soil, water and waste samples;
• decentralised wastewater treatment (DEWATS);
• capturing and reusing rainwater to reduce consumption from the water supply system;
• classifying and handling solid waste;
• reforesting eroded areas in the watershed;
• treating organic waste for co-composting with manure; and
• monitoring water quality.

BORDA’s whole-water-cycle solutions demonstrate the positive potential of working across sectors to bring together areas of practice that are often approached as discrete fields of endeavour. Our approach recognises that ultimately the health of communities and their local environments depends on the health of the ecosystems they occupy.