Application and use of GIS in small sanitation projects in developing countries

Abstract

Sanitation problems are prevalent in many developing countries. Population explosion and climate change cause people to move from their home to cities fueling unemployment, the creation of slums and illegal settlements with which also comes chronic sanitation problems. To solve the problem of personal sanitation and hygiene in areas where the population density is higher than normal, a number of NGOs in Ethiopia had taken the initiative to build group toilets. Group toilets are basically built for a group of households on a certain part of a city. In the summer of 2009, KeTu, a Finnish NGO, launched the Bahir dar SaWE project which includes a plan to build more sanitation facilities such as toilets, shower rooms and biogas digesters . The project in its infancy also wanted to study the existing sanitation conditions in selected project areas. The study was mainly through a survey that was meant to find out where and at what conditions the existing group toilets were found in. This report is part of the initial studies of KeTu and it is about how GIS can be applied in assisting decision making in small scale sanitation projects in developing countries. It tries to analyze the data obtained from the baseline survey and shows how simple information can be put to use to make important decisions such as where to build the next group toilets, where are the hot spots and cold spots. Thus, the key findings of this paper is more than simply identifying the whereabouts of group toilets on maps. But it also shows how GIS can be integrated into small scale sanitation projects in developing countries with limited fund. Thereby, it greatly enhances decision making and the wise use of resources where budget constraint is an issue.