Piloting septic tanks as a long-term containment and treatment option

OCTOPUS Case Study
Implemented by:
09 February 2024

Syria remains a complex humanitarian and protection emergency characterized by over 11 years of ongoing hostilities and their long-term consequences including widespread destruction of civilian infrastructure, explosive ordnance contamination and the largest number of internally displaced people in the world1. The Syrian civil war displaced over 6 million people inside Syria since 2011 and 4.6 million in North-west Syria (NWS). The majority of IDPs, 1.8 million out of 2.8 million2, live in Northwest Syria (NWS) under overcrowded conditions. Emergency WASH services, shelter and NFIs as well as road and drainage systems construction in NWS is carried out by the NWS S/NFI, Camp Coordination and Camp Management, and WASH clusters. The WASH cluster consists of over 40 NGOs (local NGOs, INGOs and UN-agencies) working and coordinating WASH interventions among others in NWS.
Heavy displacements and rapid influx of IDPs to NWS continuously occur, the highest record for 2022 being 19,545 new internal displacements, largely driven by the deteriorating economy. IDPs are highly dependent on continued humanitarian assistance. Despite, continued support for IDPs in NWS, there are gaps in service delivery and management of the infrastructure. Water trucking services are the only source of water for 73 per cent of IDP site residents and only 24 per cent households are connected to (simplified) sewer networks, indicating a continued need for medium-term investment in IDP sites infrastructure to provide more sustainable, affordable, and safer way to supply water and dispose wastewater. Despite the sector assistance, 24 per cent of IDPs in sites couldn’t access one or multiple hygiene items, 23 per cent faced barriers to effective handwashing. Also, 35 per cent of households reported issues with toilet functionality or wastewater disposal. For people living in IDP sites, insufficient WASH infrastructure or services delivery exacerbates public health risks and impact other needs and require close collaboration between WASH and CCCM. For instance, household-level/shared family WASH facilities, currently a privilege for only around 40 per cent of households in IDP sites, may mitigate the GBV risks and vandalization of communal facilities
WASH services are insufficient in many facilities including in public hospitals and are further negatively affected by ongoing water and energy crises. Due to economic downturn unaffordability of some key hygiene supplies reported by up to 43 per cent of households in communities further deteriorate effectiveness of infection prevention and control. Across northern Syria, the prevalence of Leishmaniasis remains very high due to harmful garbage disposal practices and widespread use of unregulated dumpsites, especially in areas not targeted with vector control activities due to funding shortfalls. WASH needs in schools remain very high and could be linked with dysfunctional public water and sanitation systems the facilities are connected to, water crisis and economic downturn. Over 40 per cent of caretakers in households with children attending school received complaints from children on WASH-related issues, and such factors may contribute to the overall 2.4 million children out of schools (OCHA, 2022).

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