SDG 6.2 envisages sustainable sanitation for all. Further, it has been accepted as a public good and human right globally. Sustainable sanitation offers better health, dignity, and a clean living environment for all. The MDG 7 on sanitation was missed by a big margin, and the SDG 6 target 2 on sanitation is greatly off-course with barely eight years to the set deadline. Attempts to accelerate the process have been made by different actors and stakeholders. This is happening in silos and sometimes in different and conflicting directions, yet all seek the same target. Fervent focus on sewerage as gold standards further complicates the matrix.
The implication on failed sanitation is dire especially when compounded with the rapid increase in urban population in the global south most of whom live in the informal settlements. While sanitation from on-site systems is considered the only way to universal sanitation coverage, it is largely treated as private investment without public support for funding, policies and public consideration. The impact has a far reaching public impact through adverse public health impact, indignity of living in shit and the cost of sanitation being highest to those that cannot afford it (Poverty tax).
Ecologically, excreta is dogged with taboos and as such is dispensed with as waste, following the linear approach and gradually depriving the ecosystems of its productivity as minerals are mined and disposed contrary to the concept of circular economy.
The upcoming Sanitation Accountability Symposium (SanAccS-2022) seeks to bring together professionals, actors and stakeholders in on-site sanitation (Sanitationists) to discuss, exchange their ideas and thoughts and share experiences in sanitation.