Technical contribution of the Transition Plan for Rural Sanitation and sludge to energy in Egypt with the supp

General

Over the past 2 decades, the Egyptian government has faced tremendous challenges to provide safe sanitation practices in rural areas. The majority of investments primarily focused on providing large centralized sanitation-related services and infrastructure in the major urban cities. The capital costs, as well as operation and maintenance (O&M) costs of wastewater treatment facilities, are high. It became clear that it’s not possible to recover the full costs of treatment from the end-users, making wastewater treatment facilities financially unsustainable. In addition, about 65% of the population in rural areas has only access to (improved) septic tanks, consisting of lined single or dual compartments, or simple soakaway vaults or latrines. The biggest challenge is usually in remote villages, away from the main wastewater network, with contamination via the onsite discharge of domestic wastewater to groundwater, water bodies, or irrigated fields, resulting in increased public health risks.The Holding Company for Water and Waste Water seeks support to develop an investment/business plan for sewage & sludge handling in Egyptian rural areas. Such would have enormous benefits for the Egyptian economy and health noting that with implementing proper sanitation practices in rural areas, the pollution load of waterways will be significantly reduced as well as the land productivity will be increased.The mission will be to deliver data and technical expertise to develop a Proof of Concept of the unique AquaVest tool. The goal is to get a better understanding of the functionality and added benefits of the tool for developing the desired investment/business plan for sewage & sludge handling in Egyptian rural areas.