Water Wheel March 2021: Excretaflow

Abstract

From Excreta Flow Diagrams to Brown Drop? It’s a term that gets people’s attention, and leaves little to the imagination – Shit-Flow Diagrams. Nowadays, they’re typically referred to by the acronym SFDs or the more socially acceptable Excreta Flow Diagrams, but the intention is the same – to increase understanding of how faecal waste moves through a city or municipal area, from containment at the point of origin to final disposal or reuse. They’re seen as an innovative tool for identifying areas of concern and engaging with stakeholders on sanitation issues, presenting information often considered taboo in an easy-to-visualise way. An early version was used by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Programme in an analysis of faecal sludge management carried out in 12 cities in Latin America, Africa and Asia in 2012/13. Subsequently, the tool was developed further, tested and rolled out as part of the SFD Promotion Initiative, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

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