In Ghana, 95% of the population depends on on-site, stand-alone treatment systems to meet their sanitation needs. The contents of such sanitation facilities, whether domestic, industrial or in the hospitality sector, are rich in methane gas, but are disposed of indiscriminately in the open air, with all the attendant public health implications.
Over the past decade or so, through the Urban Environmental Sanitation Project, the Government has provided incentives for households to build their own toilet facilities, as well as providing school and community toilets and seepage treatment facilities. Donors such as the African Development Bank have also provided funding for public toilet facilities. The outcome of those efforts has been unsatisfactory, however, and biogas technologies are now viewed as offering the best solution. This project aims to develop capacity in district assemblies for the use of biogas technology to manage faecal sludge, while creating the opportunity for income generation and providing a model for environmentally sound faecal sludge management for other metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies.
