Kathmandu valley lies at a mean elevation about 1,300 metres above sea level. The total population of Kathmandu valley is 3,059,466 people residing in 683,954 households. It is the most developed and populated place in Nepal. The majority of offices and headquarters are located in the valley, making it the economic hub of Nepal. The SFD was produced / updated on 11/03/2020.

As per the basic standards on settlement development, Urban Planning and Building Construction, it is mandatory to have septic tanks in order to get a building permission certificate (MoUD, 2015). Regardless of enforcement of such standards, except in Mahalaxmi Municipality, 17 municipalities of Kathmandu Valley lack standard design guidelines for the construction of containments. The data collected from the household survey and KIIs revealed that two types of emptying service are prevalent: either mechanical (70%) or manual (30%) (Eco Concern Pvt. Ltd., 2020). There are around 23 entrepreneurs providing desludging services using a private desludging vehicle, which consists of a tank equipped with a movable centrifugal pump on a truck for emptying, collection and transport. The cost for mechanical emptying is estimated according to the distance (travel time) and number of trips. Manually emptied faecal sludge is directly dumped by the household members and labours in the household premises whereas the wastewater and supernatant are transported through the sewer system (KII3, 2019).

• Prepared by: ENPHO
• Date of production: 28/10/2020
• Last update: 14/06/2022