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Sharing Knowledge about Condominial Sewerage 

2.4 billion people live without adequate sanitation
Condominial Sewerage can be a solution for urban neighborhoods

Condominial Sewerage offers a viable solution to a problem which has been considered unsolvable in many areas of the world.
 

  • Installation is generally about one-half the price of a conventional system

  • Can be installed in neighborhoods where the use of conventional technology is impossible due to disorganized and tightly packed development.

How does it work?

​​​​Unlike conventional models, condominial sewerage uses simplified piped sewerage, shallower pipe depths; and alternative layouts . Community participation plays a vital role. Neighborhoods are grouped into blocks, and each block is considered one unit (the equivalent of one household with conventional sewer technology). A block administrator is elected to be the communication link with the organization installing the system.  ​ In very poor neighborhoods, full participation from the community has been used, including paying for the system, planning, digging ditches and maintenance (often done by the block administrator). The role of participation has been refined, especially in larger scale urban applications, where participation is now generally in the form of residents giving feedback during the planning process of pipe layout and paying for their connections to the system.

Photo: Jailton Suzart

Condominial Sewerage has been installed in close to 1,000 municipalities in Brazil,
and in more than 20 countries

Brazil’s capital, Brasilia, has used the system citywide since 1991, often with fewer problems than a conventional sewer system.

Both Brasilia and Salvador, Brazil’s third largest city, had massive condominial infrastructure projects in the 1990s, each connecting more than 1.5 million households to the city’s piped sewer network within a span of 10 years. Both have seen dramatically improved water quality in their lakes and beaches.  

 

Condominial systems can be much cheaper than conventional systems and they serve crowded, unplanned urban neighborhoods which cannot be otherwise served.

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