How to Develop Septage

Management Project Proposals

By: Dave Robbins, BeSecure
Why pursue septage management
programs?
• Enables on-site and decentralized systems
• Improves sanitation community-wide
• It’s the law
Clean Water Act
Each LGU shall appropriate the necessary land … for
the construction of the sewage and/or septage
treatment facilities.

Each LGU may raise funds to subsidize necessary

expenses for the operation and maintenance of
sewerage treatment or septage facility through local
property taxes and enforcement of a service fee
system.
Why Develop a septage management
proposal
• Organizes ideas and concepts
• Communicates program goals and objectives
• For regulatory approval
• To obtain funding
 General steps in developing the
proposal
1. Understand the problem – baseline conditions
2. Identify potential solutions – Stakeholders and TWG
3. Select preferred options – Cost / benefit analysis
4. Determine tasks needed - Scheduling
5. Estimate resources required - Budgeting
6. Communicating – proposal preparation and delivery
Formatting and
organizing
 Tools

Case studies and success stories are useful tools – careful

documentation and sharing lessons learned is key
 Stakeholder
driven
Use Gantt charts to schedule activities Process
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4
task 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Mayoral meeting
Stakeholder meetings
TWG assigned
Identify sites and perform hazard mapping
Cost / Benefit analysis for technologies
Preferred technology package selected
Preferred site selected
Finalize promotions campaign
Finalize local ordinance
Finalize engineering designs
Finalize financial model and arrangements

Process
Milestone
 Understanding the
3 pillars of septage
management

Promotions
Infrastructure,
Approaches
Products, &
Services

Ensuring that all

needed pieces are
Maximum in place at the
potential for Supportive same time in the
change exists Environment same place,
here. increases,
likelihood of
success.
9
Understand the problem
• Evidence gathering
- Focus group discussions (FGDs)
- Interviews with key stakeholders
- Surveys, Rapid Technical Assessments
• Stakeholder meetings
- Consensus that the problem is real and immediate
- Agreement to work together to solve the problem
 Infrastructure
Collection vehicles, treatment plant

• Evidence gathering
-Number of septic tanks
-Average volume
-Access constraints

• Toolkits
-Number and size of
trucks
-Cost/benefit Analysis
 RapidTechnical
Rapid Technical
Assessment
Assessment
Survey technique determines:

• Number of septic tanks in coverage area

• Average volume of residential and commercial tanks
• Accessibility of site by desludging truck
• Proper access ports on tank
• Distance from truck parking to tank
• Elevation gain or loss from truck to tank

Technique developed for San Fernando La union and used in

2009. Improved method pilot tested in Indonesia January
2015. Data used as inputs to septage management toolkit.
Interactive Septage Management Toolkit
 Septage
Management
Excel based spreadsheet Toolkit
• Determines design flow based on
-Desludging interval
-Hours of operation
-Days of operation per week
• Determines number of trucks
• Cost of OPEX and CAPEX
Outputs provide the basis of design of the infrastructure

+ +
Septage Collection Septage transportation Septage Treatment
 Cost / Benefit
Analysis
Now that you know the design flow…
• Evaluate different technologies for CAPEX
• Compare costs of OPEX
-Energy consumption
-Ease of operations
-Land use (for treatment systems)
-Longevity of the infrastructure
Technical
Pitfalls
 Site selection
Now that you know the system area requirements…
You can select the site. Some considerations:
• Accessibility – distance to populations, roads, bridges
• Geohazards – flooding, landslides, others
• Soils and topography
• Access to utilities, size, cost, ownership
Site development plan
Hint: Begin laying out infrastructure to
verify the preferred technologies fit. Gently
sloping sites may allow for gravity flow
from one component to the next.
Process Flow
Diagram
 Site selection

Volume per day Parcel size required

5 cubic meters per day 400 square meters
10 cubic meters per day 600 square meters
15 cubic meters per day 800 square meters
20 cubic meters per day. 1000 square meters
Projections

Current septage tariff per cubic

meter of water 2.5Pesos Average monthly cost per residential user
Financial 45Pesos

Pitfalls
Average monthly cost per commercial user 100Pesos
Community Growth Rate -
residential 5%
Community Growth Rate -
Commercial/Institutional 2%
Adjusted overall growth rate 3.8%
Annual Inflation rate 5%

Daily flow at year 0 9cubic meters

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 Year 5 Year 6 Year 7 Year 8 Year 9 Year 10

Number of homes 6,300 6,615 6,946 7,293 7,658 8,041 8,443 8,865 9,308 9,773
Number of
commercial/institutional 700 714 728 743 758 773 788 804 820 837
Daily flow (cubic meters per
day) 9 10 10 11 11 11 12 12 13 13

Monthly Income - Residential 283,500 297,675 312,559 328,187 344,596 361,826 379,917 398,913 418,859 439,802
Monthly Income - Commercial 70,000 71,400 72,828 74,285 75,770 77,286 78,831 80,408 82,016 83,656

Total monthly income 353,500 369,075 385,387 402,471 420,366 439,111 458,748 479,321 500,875 523,458

Total Annual income 4,242,000 4,428,900 4,624,641 4,829,655 5,044,395 5,269,338 5,504,982 5,751,852 6,010,497 6,281,496
Total residual (annual) 795,521 823,785 848,193 868,123 882,881 891,703 893,740 888,053 2,228,826 2,204,467

Collection expenses 1,418,107 1,543,085 1,679,078 1,827,055 1,988,074 2,163,284 2,353,934 2,561,387 2,787,123 3,032,752
Operation expense subject to
inflation 673,150 706,808 742,148 779,255 818,218 859,129 902,085 947,190 994,549 1,044,277
Fixed Operations Expenses 1,355,222 1,355,222 1,355,222 1,355,222 1,355,222 1,355,222 1,355,222 1,355,222 0 0

total Expenses 3,446,479 3,605,115 3,776,448 3,961,532 4,161,514 4,377,634 4,611,241 4,863,798 3,781,672 4,077,029

Total Residual (cumulative) 795,521 1,619,306 2,467,500 3,335,622 4,218,503 5,110,207 6,003,947 6,892,000 9,120,826 11,325,293
 Promotions
Septage management proposals should
include a promotions plan:
They can raise awareness, increase willingness to pay
• Evidence based
-Surveys
-Focus Group Discussions
-Interviews
• Stakeholder driven planning
• Outreach (media & message)
-Posters,
-Flyers, newsletters
-School plays, street theater
• Monitoring and evaluation USAID, Waterlinks, ADB
The “right” and “wrong” septic tank
Example of local promotions campaign
 Enabling
Environment
• Regulatory framework
-Local ordinance
-Policies, procedures,
-Incentives, enforcement
• Training and capacity building
-Mentoring & twinning
-Job sharing, apprenticeships
• Access to financing
-Developing the business plan
-Showing bankability, cost recovery Works for water.
• User fees and tariffs Could it work for
septage
management?
 Key Issues
& Decisions

• Service delivery model: Scheduled vs. call-for-service

• Partners – LGU, WD, Private sector
• Tariff schedule and billing mechanism (fair, pro-poor)
• Combining with other programs (neighboring LGUs)
• Treatment facility location -- NIMBY
• Technology package – trucks, treatment, reuse
 Proposal
check list
Factors reviewers might look for in good proposals
Activity 
Proposal format consistent with NSSMP requirements
Project is consistent with Local Sustainable Sanitation Plan (DOH)
Strong partnerships identified (LGU, WD, Private Sector)
Project has stated support from mayor, WD GM, regional officials
Project proposals are evidence-based on baseline information
Local ordinance on sanitation is proposed or in place
Promotions plan is reasonable and appropriate for identified needs
Facility location supported by public hearings
Cost/benefit analysis performed for technology package
No opportunity to integrate with neighbors or regional program
Support network identified (Twinning partner, engineering team)