Page 1 of 2
1 - Description of the integrated sanitation system in Darkhan
Location of Darkhan City in North of Mongolia.
Description of the integrated sanitation system in Darkhan
The lack of adequate water supply and sanitation services is a major issue related to sustainable development in Ger settlements in Mongolia. Within the frame of the international research project MoMo* the chair of urban water management and sanitation of the Bauhaus-University Weimar (BUW) developed an integrated sanitation system, suitable in the Mongolian context.
In a participatory planning process with Mongolian stakeholders and the residents of a peri-urban stettlement in Darhan, Mongolia, several technical options for sanitation were described. One urine-diversion toilet has been chosen by the local residents and was considered by them as the most feasible option for the Mongolian circumstances.
This toilet was further developed at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in an interdisciplinary design project that was called iPiT.
The design follows the demand to integrate private toilets into an overall sanitation concept for the whole city of Darkhan.
Safe and value-added re-use of human excreta in combined treatment with excess sludge from the existing conventional wastewater treatment in a biogas plant is part of the sanitation system.
At 12 Mongolian Khashas (real property) 12 iPiT were installed and are currently tested, analysed and optimised. Feces and urine are collected in two separate containers. A local service company regularly exchanges the containers and transports them to the treatment facilities. Feces shall be co-digested with other organic sludge in a biogas plant, while urine is stored and can be used as high-value fertiliser in the future.
After additional treatment steps, the stabilised sludge from the biogas plant can be used as a high-quality soil conditioner in the local agriculture, where it is urgently needed, due to the ongoing extensive soil degradation in the region.
A local service company maintains the iPiT, as well as, the whole transport system and treatment facilities, which enhances the convenience and comfort for the users and leads to a very high level of acceptance among the local population of Darkhan.
Background Integrated Sanitation in Mongolia
© All content of this website, all presented ideas, research results, figures, graphs etc are legal property of Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, 2011 - 2017