Climate change is considered to be the most significant challenge of the twenty-first century and disproportionately intensities poverty for the poorest small plot farmers and demographics without access to safe sanitation. It has already caused billions of dollars’ worth of damages to economic agricultural development by destruction of crops and farmland. Disproportionately affected are 70% of the world’s poor, rural communities which rely on agriculture as their primary source of income. Climate change threatens all sanitation systems worldwide and is estimated to directly result in an additional 48,000 sanitation-related diarrheal deaths per year by 2030. Disproportionately affected are the 4.5 billion people globally who already do not have access to improved sanitation. These are concerns of climate injustice.  To simultaneously address access to sanitation and food security, the Anaerobic Digestion Pasteurization Latrine (ADPL) technology was developed. The ADPL provides self-contained and energy-neutral on-site sanitation using anaerobic digestion of human wastes to generate biogas as fuel to pasteurize the treated effluent. Piloted in Kenya, India, and the Philippines, the ADPL system operates by gravity flow, requires little maintenance and operation, and is constructed using local resources. Simple trickling filters and anaerobic filters were developed to provide post-treatment to system effluent. The tested filter media (biochar, coconut husks, sunflower seeds, zeolite, etc.) are low-cost, sustainable, and can be locally sourced where on-site sanitation facilities are in high demand. Experimental data from the operation of nitrification trickling filters and denitrification submerged filters in the lab have demonstrated combined removal of COD, TN, and P up to 84%, 69%, and 89%, respectively. Post-treatment filters have also demonstrated successful recovery of vital nutrients by precipitating ammonium magnesium phosphate hydrate, a documented valuable slow-release solid fertilizer.  The ADPL and its fertilizer-generating post-treatment system simultaneously address lack of access to sanitation and capacity for small-scale agricultural development. These technologies have the greatest potential in geographic areas like the Philippines, which has poor access to improved sanitation, declining national food security, and is considered the third most vulnerable country to be disproportionately affected by climate change and extreme weather events.

On-site sanitation, energy, and food nexus for climate justice

2019 Fall National Meeting

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