A novel wastewater treatment ecotechnology to improve environmental sanitation in urban slums

Rapid urbanisation has exerted severe pressure on urban housing and public services in the metropolitan city of Khulna, Bangladesh with which basic urban services could not cope. Situation coupled with the destitute economic condition of migrants has instigated the formation of large number of slums where service inadequacies on sanitation have been compounded and multiplied on a massive scale, resulting in hazardous environmental condition. Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System (DWTS) has recently gained much attention due to its build-as-you-go principle. This paper aims to examine and discuss the potential of a novel DWTS for urban development. The pilot DWTS was established in Panchtola colony located at Khalishpur, Khulna, Bangladesh. The paper first depicted how environmental sanitation of slum was improved with inclusion of ecotechnology. It was found that, overall removal efficiency of pollutants is more than 80% (COD, BOD5, PO4 and faecal bio-indicators) from influent.