The innovative septage management option piloted by the project appears to be widely implementable in Nepal. A grant from the Sanitation Financing Partnership Trust Fund supported the piloting under this project of a non-sewered sanitation option that included the construction of fecal sludge treatment plants in two towns. Successful implementation of the pilot, coupled with sector wide advocacy and information dissemination, has led to wider interest in fecal sludge management (FSM) across Nepal. There is now an increased demand for scaling up FSM in similar-sized towns, an enabling environment for nation-wide scheduled desludging, the development of municipal-level FSM by-laws, and licensing of private operators. This is a remarkable development considering that of the total of 14 small towns originally targeted for the pilot, 12 declined because of low public demand.
Third Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project