Selection of appropriate sanitation systems and technology options for urban areas in Kombolcha town Ethiopia

Sustainable sanitation provision is challenging developing countries, especially sub-Saharan countries. Among those low-income sub-Saharan countries, Ethiopian towns and cities struggles with poor sanitation problems. The main objective of this research was to assess and select appropriate sanitation options for urban context of the town of Kombolcha, based on a comprehensive analysis of technical, environmental, social, economic, and institutional criteria. A multi-criteria decision analysis was used to assess and rank technology options to determine the most suitable solution for Kombolcha City. To gather information on the state of urban sanitation, a variety of methods has been employed, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, observations, and document analysis. In this study, 243 households were approached which was a 97.94% response rate. Based on the result of our survey there were mostly five types of household toilets technologies in Kombolcha Town. These technologies included simple pit latrine with a slab which is 38.6%, cistern flush toilet (1.5%), pour/manual flush toilet (6.5%), VIP latrine (33.2%), and pit latrine without slab (20.2%). Similar ketenas or Kebeles (the smallest administrative unit within a town or city, typically functioning as a local government or community division) form were merged into groups. Consequently, 4 clusters of Kebeles were identified for the study with similar characteristics for sanitation technology option adaptation or intervention. The final weights of the selected criteria during pairwise comparison were environmental (37.3%), health (38.7%), technical (11.6%), economic (8.1%) and socio-culture (4.3%). Based on those main criteria the selected possible technology option for cluster 1 was “Pour Flush toilet connected to Twin Pits”, for cluster 2 “Pour flush toilet + sink and shower + watertight septic tank”, for cluster 3 “Flush toilet + sink and shower + simplified sewerage system” and for cluster 4 “Flush toilet + sink and shower + septic tank + solid free sewer system”. Moving forward, we recommend implementing pilot projects to test the selected sanitation technologies in the identified clusters. This will help evaluate their feasibility and effectiveness in improving urban sanitation. Collaboration with local government, sanitation experts, and community stakeholders will be crucial for successful implementation.