Most of the benefits of Resource management sanitation should be clear from the preceeding sections. In the following, the advantages of Resource management sanitation toward conventional sanitation are summarized again.

Resource management sanitation combats hygienic risks (for details please refer Lesson A2)

Highest concentrations of pathogenic microorganisms are contained in brown water. As sanitisation of small volumes is easier than of the highly diluted entire wastewater streams, and source control sanitation leads to catchment of brown water with a far out lower water content than in domestic wastewater in conventional sanitation, resource management sanitation is a good means to reduce sickness and deaths from diarrhoea because of safe containment and hygienization of brown (or black) water (solids). This is a clear advantage. Separately collected faeces can be hygienized by dehydration (when there is no water available for pathogenic organisms, they will die). A good way to take the water away is utilization of solar heat. For this purpose, the solids of brown water are stored in a chamber which is covered with a black lid. This way is preferably feasible for warm regions. It has to be noted that faeces in Resource management sanitation schemes have to be safely kept away from eventually occurring stormwater (special care is required e.g. in regions with monsoon).

Another possibility to kill pathogens in faeces is composting. In this process the killing agent is heat. The diagram (figure 34) shows that the compost process has to last longer the lower the generated temperature is. As fungi are important actors for the composting process, aerobic conditions have to be ensured in the heap of faeces. For this purpose, addition of structured material like woodchips is helpful. A too high moisture content of the solids hinders oxygen to diffuse through the heap of excreta. Therefore, composting requires sufficiently dried blackwater solids (optimum moisture content for composting: 50 to 60 %). Addition of worms ("vermicomposting") loosens the material and enables better access of air into the heap. As too high concentrations of nitrogen inhibits the composting process (optimum C:N ratio: 25‑30:1), divertion of urine makes composting of faeces more efficient.

Figure 33: Combination of time and temperature of pathogens elimination. Hatch area represents complete pathogens elimination due to the combined effect of time and tem-perature (Feachem et al., 1983)

EcoSan helps to overcome malnutrition

The safe nutrients obtained from Resource management sanitation can be reused in agriculture and thus help to increase harvest yields and to combat malnutrition.

The nutrient cycle – closed

With implementation of Resource management sanitation, the food cycle can be closed leading to less environmental degradation and also to socio-economic advantages.

Wastewater reuse in Resource management sanitation

Wastewater reuse is facilitated because of using the less contaminated greywater which belongs to the water cycle (this can help to combat water scarcity). For example, in Constructed wetlands, the separately collected greywater can be purified in a relatively simple way to a high quality.

Resource management sanitation avoids pollution of the aqueous Environment

Pollution of the aqueous Environment is reduced in resource management sanitation, as excreta flows do not come into contact with surface waters. Moreover, pharmaceuticals are not discharged to the water cycle-related greywater and can thus not enter surface waters. Groundwater contamination with pharmaceuticals by agricultural use of yellow water (and of hygienized brown water solids) will have to be investigated more intensively in future. But as concentrations of pharmaceuticals in separately collected yellow water are decreasing during storage (mainly at low pH; Strompen et al. 2003), this pathway is not thought to be threatening aquifers.

- "If coverage can be increased, resource management sanitation can serve as the missing link to sustainable urban development, reverse the unconscious pattern of linear thinking and actions, and be a technical solution that protects ecosystems and harmonises with natural systems" Statement of the Sida/UNDP/SIWI Workshop 2000).

Socio-economic benefits of EcoSan

Also in socio-economic aspects, Resource management sanitation may contribute to some improvement:

· Jobs can be created (e.g. caretakers for resource management sanitation facilities, yellow and processed brown water transportation firms).

· There will be financial benefits (no sewers needed, energy necessary in wastewater treatment plants in conventional sanitation schemes is saved, a great deal of energy for fertilizer production can be saved).