What is it about?
A vacuum sewer was supposed to be Cape Town's 'sanitation solution' for sewering difficult-to-service informal settlements situated on sandy soils with high water tables. It failed, however, immediately after its commissioning. This paper explores the roots of its failure, and describes how unresolved conflicts ultimately doomed the vacuum sewer.
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Why is it important?
Despite governance being increasingly highlighted as the main reason toilets fail around the globe, there is limited research available on the subject - especially in highly contested areas such as informal settlements. This paper helps fill this knowledge gap, by detailing the significance of appreciating and dealing with politics in sanitation interventions.
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This page is a summary of: How sociopolitical factors affected the implementation of Cape Town's vacuum sewer, Environmental Science Water Research & Technology, January 2017, Royal Society of Chemistry,
DOI: 10.1039/c6ew00089d.
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