Sanitation Safety Planning

This SSP manual provides practical step-by-step guidance to assist in the implementation of the 2006 WHO Guidelines for Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater. However, the approach and tools in the manual can be applied to all sanitary systems to ensure the system is managed to meet health objectives.

The SSP manual is targeted at a variety of users at different levels:

* local authorities (e.g. as a tool for planning investment in sanitation especially in low resource settings);

* wastewater utility managers (e.g. to assist in managing effluent quality and safeguarding public and occupational health from source to end use or disposal);

* sanitation enterprises and farmers (e.g. to complement quality assurance procedures for safety of end products, work);

* community based organizations, farmers associations and NGOs (e.g. to support community based water and sanitation programs in safe use of human wastes).

In addition to its site specific use related to a particular SSP process, SSP is also useful for those working at a national level, including:

* health authorities and regulators (e.g. as a tool to introduce risk based approaches in the sanitation sector, and verify their effectiveness);

* those guiding the development of policies and programs to improve the sanitation management.

SSP is not intended to be used for planning and designing new large sanitation schemes. In these cases, the planning may be complemented by specialized studies such as health impact assessments (HIA). Once the scheme has been developed, SSP can be used as an ongoing management tool.

This manual presents the SSP process in six modules. The following chapters guide the user through these six modules, and each includes additional guidance notes, SSP tools and examples as appropriate.