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The basic principle of ECOSAN is to close the loop between Sanitation
and agriculture by
(1) reduction of health
risks caused by contaminated black water and human waste and
(2) optimizing the management of nutrients in urine
and excreta by recovering them and using the same for improving
soil fertility.
It represents a break with the poorly performing end-of-pipe-technologies
of the past recognizing human excreta and used domestic used water
as a resource that should be reused. ECOSAN aims to close the nutrient
loop between sanitation and agriculture through the reuse of nutrients,
organics, water and energy contained in wastewater, the reuse options
of such a ecosystem approach are not limited to agriculture. There
are other reuse options which can and should be integrated into
ECOSAN systems whenever possible such as the domestic reuse of gray
water following suitable treatment for example for flushing Toilets
or as service water in industry or to recharge groundwater. The
energy contained in wastewater can be recuperated and put to an
array of uses for example in cooking, electricity generation, and
heating purposes or even for industrial use. Organics can also be
recovered and put to use outside of agriculture.
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