Selection criteria for appropriate sanitation in the Palestinian rural and semi-urban communities

Abstract

About 60% of the West Bank population are located in rural and semi-urban communities. The concept of appropriate sanitation systems for those communities has been either ignored or forgotten. Decision-makers and planners tend to restrict their planning and design to conventional “western” sanitation systems, which require high investment and high operation and maintenance skills and do not cope with rural capabilities. This led to a slow infrastructural development in Palestine whose water resources and environment are polluted. No comprehensive studies have been made to investigate the key factors influencing technology selection of sanitation systems in Palestine. The selection criteria for sanitation systems are critically reviewed and discussed. A special reference is given to technological, financial, socio-cultural and environmental factors. Based on these factors, the adoption of a focused sanitation strategy for rural and semi-urban areas is recommended. This will assure successful implementability, effective cost recovery, and sustainability of projects.