A single-page, field-usable library for sanitation, water supply, hygiene behavior change, emergency WASH, fecal sludge management, resource recovery, institutional WASH, drainage, measurement, and standards. This page lists individual resources only (no “hub inside a hub”).
1) Foundations → disease pathways, health safeguards, and baseline definitions.
2) Systems & planning → choose system archetypes, map flows, design for operations.
3) Behavior → hygiene + adoption, not just infrastructure.
4) Technology deep dives → only after the system constraints are known.
5) Context modules → rural water supply, emergency WASH, institutions, drainage, waste.
Core epidemiology + risk frameworks that anchor safe design, safe operation, and safe reuse.
Start here before any “technology shopping.”
Foundational disease-pathway reference used across modern sanitation engineering and public health.
What it is
A comprehensive technical/public-health synthesis of how excreta and wastewater management intersects with transmission routes, interventions, and health outcomes.
Why it matters
It prevents “infrastructure-only thinking” by keeping primary health protections explicit: pathogen routes, exposure groups, and control points.
Classic design + planning reference for pit latrines, septic tanks, aqua privies, soakaways, and program delivery.
What it is
A deep technical manual covering design, construction, operation, maintenance, siting, and program planning for on-site sanitation.
Why it matters
On-site sanitation remains the dominant reality in many contexts; this provides durable “physics-first” constraints (soil, groundwater, loading, maintenance).
Links
The core global reference for safe reuse and risk-based management (“farm to fork” controls and health-based targets).
What it is
Four volumes: policy/regulation, agriculture, aquaculture, and excreta/greywater reuse. Frames safe reuse as a risk-management system, not a single treatment threshold.
Why it matters
This is the “hard guardrail” against unsafe reuse, magical thinking, and uncontrolled pathogen flows. It also enables safe resource recovery.
Links (official + accessible PDFs)
Authoritative basis for national water standards, treatment targets, and risk frameworks.
What it is
WHO’s primary normative reference for drinking-water safety: microbial hazards, chemical hazards, and risk management logic.
Why it matters
Any “safe water” claim collapses without a standards baseline; this provides the baseline.
Planning frameworks + system archetypes + end-to-end thinking (from user interface to final disposal/reuse).
Design and selection should be system-led, not component-led.
The most used global reference for sanitation system configurations + technology briefs.
What it is
A structured “system grammar” for sanitation: how technologies combine into coherent systems, with decision criteria and constraints.
Why it matters
Stops cargo-cult tech adoption by forcing system compatibility: inputs/outputs, interfaces, storage, transport, treatment, reuse/disposal.
Links
Urban/peri-urban planning approach: multi-stakeholder, multi-sector, stepwise decision process.
What it is
Planning guidelines + tools to select and implement environmental sanitation services with deep community participation and enabling environment analysis.
Why it matters
Sanitation is governance + O&M + finance + culture, not just a build. CLUES forces those interfaces to be explicit.
Link
Citywide sanitation planning logic (staging, enabling environment, service-chain thinking).
What it is
A planning framework to move from fragmented projects to integrated citywide sanitation services.
Why it matters
Prevents “pilot graveyards” by emphasizing service delivery and citywide continuity rather than isolated assets.
Link
Decentralized treatment design and implementation, with practical sizing and operations implications.
What it is
A practical engineering guide for decentralized wastewater treatment, including anaerobic systems and post-treatment options.
Why it matters
Field reality often cannot support centralized sewerage; DEWATS provides a resilient middle ground when designed and maintained correctly.
Link
Risk management for sanitation systems; the sanitation-side analogue of Water Safety Plans.
What it is
A structured process to identify hazards, assess risks, implement controls, verify performance, and continuously improve sanitation systems.
Why it matters
Turns “sanitation” into an auditable safety system across the full chain, not a one-time construction event.
Link
Risk-based drinking-water management (source to consumer), including verification and improvement loops.
What it is
Step-by-step manual to implement Water Safety Plans for suppliers (large and small), including hazard analysis and operational monitoring.
Why it matters
Moves from “testing after failure” to “risk control before failure,” especially vital in low-resource and decentralized contexts.
Deeper planning paradigms and urban metabolism framing.
Bellagio-principles-aligned planning logic: smallest practical domain, circular resource flows, user-centered demand.
What it is
A framework to operationalize user-centered sanitation planning and resource management, addressing the failures of purely top-down or purely bottom-up delivery.
Why it matters
Locks planning to bounded domains (household/neighborhood) and circular flows—reducing hidden externalities and “exporting” risk.
Link
Urban sanitation as urban metabolism: resources, infrastructure, and governance constraints in dense settings.
What it is
A systems framing of urban sanitation that emphasizes flows, institutional settings, and multi-actor delivery challenges.
Why it matters
City sanitation fails most often at the interfaces: land tenure, O&M finance, governance, and behavior in density. This focuses those interfaces.
Link
Behavior change and social adoption: the missing half of WASH systems. Includes participatory methods and training manuals.
High-coverage, reusable behavior change toolkits.
Participatory method for community hygiene behavior change using visual tools and facilitated analysis.
What it is
A facilitation methodology + tool set to trigger community analysis of sanitation/hygiene problems and co-produce behavior-change actions.
Why it matters
Infrastructure without behavior change produces failure modes: recontamination, low usage, and degraded maintenance loops.
Link
Child-focused hygiene learning with games, role play, and school/community spillover effects.
What it is
A structured facilitation manual for training children as a high-leverage transmission channel of hygiene knowledge and practice.
Why it matters
Schools can act as hygiene “amplifiers” into households; CHAST operationalizes that effect with repeatable sessions and tools.
Link
Trainer-ready lesson plans + workshop structure for community WASH promotion.
What it is
A trainer manual designed for delivering consistent, high-quality WASH promotion training with agendas, lesson plans, and tools.
Why it matters
Behavior change training often collapses into vague messaging; this enforces structure and repeatability.
Triggering + post-triggering methods for community-led open-defecation-free outcomes.
What it is
A widely used CLTS reference: facilitation logic, triggering tools, and examples across contexts.
Why it matters
Where subsidy-driven latrine programs fail, CLTS methods can shift norms and produce community enforcement dynamics.
Link
Training craft and facilitation quality control.
Training design and delivery methods for WASH facilitators (lesson plans, materials, workshop structure).
What it is
A trainer-focused manual on how to run WASH trainings effectively: planning, facilitation, and adaptation tools.
Why it matters
Poor training delivery produces brittle programs. This provides a “trainer discipline” backbone.
Link
High-signal technical references for latrines, UDDTs, urine diversion components, FSM, resource recovery, and emergency-adapted sanitation technologies.
Only after constraints + system type are understood.
Classic pour-flush/waterseal design logic, details, and maintenance routines.
What it is
Technical manual for pour-flush waterseal latrines (India TAG note) covering design parameters, construction details, and O&M.
Why it matters
Pour-flush designs fail most often at the seal, drainage, pit interaction, and maintenance interfaces—this manual covers those failure points.
Practical construction/usage guidance for basic pit latrines with realistic O&M considerations.
What it is
Short, field-usable guide for designing and constructing simple pit latrines using local materials and context-appropriate details.
Why it matters
The “basic” option remains dominant; this addresses the practical micro-details that determine whether pits become hazards or protections.
Link
Step-by-step excavation, lining, slabs, SanPlats, superstructures—trainer-ready.
What it is
Construction manual designed for consistent replication of safe latrine builds with practical slab and pit guidance.
Why it matters
Construction errors can create injury, groundwater risks, collapse hazards, and rapid failure. This is a replicable build standard.
Practical ecosan latrine construction handbook from field programs.
What it is
Hands-on construction guidance for ecological sanitation latrine approaches and implementation details from partner projects.
Why it matters
Ecosan builds fail when details are wrong (separation, containment, user interface, maintenance routines). This is a proven field reference.
Link
Design elements, operational constraints, and adaptation options for dry separation toilets.
What it is
A technology review focused on UDDTs for household and public sanitation in developing and transition contexts.
Why it matters
UDDTs are high-value under water scarcity, difficult ground, and resilience scenarios—if implemented with correct design + user routines.
Link
Waterless urinals, UD toilets, piping/storage, and reuse systems—design/operations detail.
What it is
A components-level review that addresses the exact technical interfaces where urine diversion succeeds or fails.
Why it matters
Urine diversion is fragile at joints, precipitation, odor control, storage, and reuse. This targets those weak points.
Link
Vermifiltration approach for household-level sanitation in humanitarian settings.
What it is
Implementation guidance for Tiger Worm Toilets in humanitarian contexts, including community engagement, design considerations, and operational constraints.
Why it matters
Where conventional pits fail (space, high water table, desludging), alternative household systems may reduce failure rates—if executed precisely.
Container-based sanitation with offsite treatment and fuel-briquette reuse product chain.
What it is
Guidelines for implementing container-based sanitation services (collection logistics + treatment + briquette production) in refugee-camp contexts.
Why it matters
CBS is a resilient option where pits are impossible and service chains can be maintained; this formalizes the operational chain.
Links
The canonical FSM service-chain book: collection → transport → treatment → end-use/disposal.
What it is
Comprehensive systems approach to FSM in urban/peri-urban contexts, including institutional and operational considerations.
Why it matters
Most “sanitation coverage” collapses at sludge management. FSM is the real service chain; this is the core reference.
Training-oriented view of the sanitation value chain in non-sewered contexts (governance + operations).
What it is
A structured training manual focused on issues in non-sewered sanitation service chains and operational realities.
Why it matters
Non-sewered sanitation is the dominant global condition; training material that addresses the whole chain reduces “toilet-only” failure modes.
Link
Operations-focused “task cards” for maintaining decentralized wastewater treatment systems.
What it is
A practical O&M manual describing operator tasks, schedules, checks, and routine interventions for DEWATS components.
Why it matters
DEWATS succeeds or fails in maintenance routines. This converts “O&M” into explicit work products.
Links
Supplement to the Compendium: safe products, treatment processes, and reuse-oriented selection.
What it is
A resource-recovery guide: maps treatment processes to safe end products, emphasizing risk controls and practical selection.
Why it matters
Resource recovery without safety is just hazard recycling. This ties reuse to process requirements and control logic.
Link
Emergency UDDT SOPs and ecosan project implementation toolbox.
Camp SOPs: double-vault UDDTs as an alternative to pits in difficult ground conditions.
What it is
Standard operating procedures for UDDTs in refugee camps: design routines, vault switching, drying times, handling, and operational discipline.
Why it matters
UDDTs in camps fail without strict operational routines. SOPs convert a “technology” into an operational system.
Links
Project-step toolbox for ecosan: stakeholders, process stages, tools, and implementation logic.
What it is
A stepwise project preparation + implementation toolbox for ecological sanitation, including participatory and technical tool suggestions across stages.
Why it matters
Ecosan collapses when projects are treated like standard construction projects. This frames ecosan as a staged socio-technical deployment.
Link
Small systems, community-managed supplies, household treatment, and field manuals that address reliability + recontamination.
Design + management realities for small systems and households.
Classic engineering/management reference for small-scale rural water supply systems.
What it is
A durable reference on technologies and operational realities for small community water supplies in developing contexts.
Why it matters
Small systems fail through weak maintenance, insufficient spares, and governance gaps. This addresses design/management together.
Link
Community water supply delivery as partnership, long-term management, and institutional design.
What it is
Practical lessons and case studies on building community-managed supplies and sustaining O&M and governance over time.
Why it matters
“Successful installation” is not “sustained service.” This is an explicit service-lifecycle reference.
Links
Structured participant manual covering HWTS options, selection criteria, and implementation basics.
What it is
Participant-facing training manual describing household water treatment methods and safe storage practices.
Why it matters
A large share of “safe water” failure occurs after collection (storage contamination). HWTS + safe storage addresses that collapse point.
Trainer manual with modules, lesson plans, and workshop delivery structure.
What it is
Trainer-focused curriculum integrating CAWST modules and field-tested lesson plans for HWTS capacity building.
Why it matters
HWTS adoption fails without correct training delivery and verification routines; this provides the training backbone.
Link
Canonical biosand filter engineering + program implementation reference.
What it is
CAWST training manual covering biosand filter fundamentals and field implementation guidance.
Why it matters
Filters are fragile without correct build tolerances and correct use/maintenance. This manual encodes that discipline.
Rural sustainability framing + emergency water treatment guidance.
Service sustainability lens: resources, infrastructure, management, finance.
What it is
A comprehensive sustainability framing for rural water service delivery: stewardship, institutions, lifecycle costs, and reliability.
Why it matters
Rural supply collapse is usually governance/finance/maintenance, not “lack of technology.” This targets that root cause.
Links
Equipment packages, treatment options, monitoring routines, and emergency constraints.
What it is
Detailed technical guidance for emergency water treatment, including monitoring forms and operational checklists.
Why it matters
In emergencies, water treatment fails through monitoring gaps and operator overload. This provides structured routines.
Link
Field-ready standards, manuals, and compendia for WASH in rapid-onset and complex emergencies.
Minimum standards + operational manuals used by major responders.
Global minimum standards for WASH in humanitarian response (coverage, quality, dignity, protection).
What it is
The widely used humanitarian standards reference. WASH standards provide minimum targets for water quantity/quality, sanitation access, hygiene, and management.
Why it matters
Provides shared baselines for coordination, accountability, and measurable targets across agencies.
Link
Operational WASH guidance for refugee settings, designed around field realities and rights-based service delivery.
What it is
A comprehensive manual for WASH in refugee contexts: planning, implementation, monitoring, and operational management.
Why it matters
Refugee settings create unique constraints: density, protection, tenure, supply chains, and governance. This manual encodes those constraints.
Links
Short “field notes” covering key emergency WASH tasks (cleaning wells, disinfection, storage, excreta, etc.).
What it is
A compiled set of practical technical notes designed for technicians and field teams in emergencies.
Why it matters
These notes reduce “reinventing procedures under stress” and provide simple, usable protocols for common emergency WASH operations.
Links
Structured approach to emergency sanitation assessment, rapid design, and staged implementation.
What it is
A full manual for planning and implementing emergency sanitation programmes, from rapid assessment through detailed programme design and implementation.
Why it matters
Sanitation in emergencies has phases; this manual encodes those phases and the technical/program decisions needed at each phase.
Link
Selection, design, construction, and maintenance of emergency excreta disposal systems.
What it is
A practical manual for emergency latrines and excreta disposal systems across contexts (IDP camps, disasters, peri-urban emergencies).
Why it matters
Most emergency disease spikes track excreta failure modes; this manual targets those failures directly and pragmatically.
Links
Immediate-after-disaster waste handling guidance to prevent secondary health risks.
What it is
A technical note on emergency solid waste management: assessment, collection/disposal, worker protection, and special wastes (medical, rubble).
Why it matters
Solid waste is often neglected in emergencies, producing flies, contamination, injuries, and demoralization. This is the baseline response protocol.
Link
Decision support compendia for emergency technology selection and under-covered domains.
Structured guide + decision criteria for emergency sanitation technology options.
What it is
A planning aid for sanitation solutions in humanitarian settings, with standardized decision criteria and technology breakdowns.
Why it matters
Emergency sanitation requires fast selection under constraints; this compendium provides shared language and structured selection logic.
Links
Decision support for emergency water supply tech, terminology, components, and phase-appropriate options.
What it is
A structured planning guide for humanitarian water supply operations, disaggregating technologies into functional components with decision criteria.
Why it matters
Emergency water supply fails at logistics, spares, and mismatch to response phase. This compendium targets those selection errors.
Links
Hygiene programming + behavior change tools for humanitarian contexts.
What it is
A structured compilation of hygiene promotion tools, behavior change approaches, and emergency-relevant programming guidance.
Why it matters
Hygiene is the fastest lever to reduce diarrhoeal disease burden early in crises; this provides structured programming options.
Link
Beyond “trash”: waste streams drive vectors, contamination, injury, and downstream system overload.
Emergency note + full compendium for humanitarian SWM.
Comprehensive technology and approach compilation for domestic SWM in humanitarian settings.
What it is
A structured SWM planning guide for humanitarian response: technologies, approaches, decision criteria, and standardized tools.
Why it matters
SWM is under-addressed yet directly impacts public health and environmental safety; this compendium fills the operational gap.
Links
Practical guidance on disposal and laundering systems where privacy and waste chains are constrained.
What it is
A compendium focusing on menstrual-material disposal, waste management, and laundering pathways in humanitarian contexts.
Why it matters
MHM is operationally a waste-and-water system. Without disposal + laundering infrastructure, WASH systems lose dignity and create hidden contamination.
Link
The emergency baseline protocol for SWM is already captured in Resource 44: Solid Waste Management in Emergencies — WHO TN7.
Flooding, greywater, and drainage collapse create large secondary disease vectors. Vector control intersects directly with environmental management.
Drainage systems thinking + emergency vector control manual.
Foundational drainage scoping + constraints and adaptation logic for low-income contexts.
What it is
A scoping study on Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) for low-income countries, including impacts, constraints, and planning implications.
Why it matters
Drainage is often the invisible killer: flooding → contamination → vector breeding → outbreaks. This frames SUDS under low-income constraints.
Links
Practical operational guidance for vector control under emergency constraints.
What it is
A practical manual for vector control in emergencies, including interventions, supervision requirements, and operational constraints.
Why it matters
Vector control is frequently misapplied under crisis pressure; this manual focuses on the emergency-specific differences and safe practice.
Link
Protocols for water testing, operational verification, and cost/benefit reasoning that keeps projects honest and measurable.
Water testing + emergency WASH QA notes + economic decision framing.
Practical background and field approach for bacteriological water testing.
What it is
A mobile-friendly, practical note describing sample collection and methods to estimate bacterial indicators (especially fecal coliforms).
Why it matters
Testing is often either absent or misapplied. This provides a usable field baseline for what to do and why.
Link
Operational procedures and quick guidance for common emergency tasks.
What it is
A compiled PDF of short technical notes for emergencies (cleaning/disinfecting sources, storage, sanitation tasks, etc.).
Why it matters
Provides stepwise protocols under time pressure; improves consistency across teams.
Link
Guidance on social cost-benefit analysis for drinking-water interventions (especially small/community supplies).
What it is
A practical guide to evaluating water interventions with social cost-benefit analysis, linking public health and livelihoods benefits.
Why it matters
Funding and prioritization decisions often ignore real benefits and lifecycle costs; this provides a disciplined evaluation approach.
Institutions are multipliers: failures become outbreaks; successes become resilience.
Institutional baselines for schools, health facilities, and places of detention.
Eight practical actions for national/subnational improvement of WASH in HCFs.
What it is
A practical action framework for improving WASH in healthcare facilities, paired with monitoring and system improvement logic.
Why it matters
HCF WASH is infection control infrastructure. Without it, healthcare becomes a disease amplifier.
Links
A practical facility-level tool to improve quality of care through WASH improvements.
What it is
Facility improvement tool: assessment, prioritization, and iterative upgrades for WASH in health facilities.
Why it matters
Transforms abstract “standards” into on-site actions and improvement cycles.
Link
School WASH standards: water quantity/quality/access, sanitation access, hygiene, and O&M considerations.
What it is
A standard-setting reference for school WASH in low-cost settings, designed to support national policy and practical implementation.
Why it matters
Schools are disease and behavior multipliers; standards reduce hidden failure modes (privacy, menstrual needs, O&M).
Links
Detention WASH standards and engineering guidance for a uniquely high-risk institutional environment.
What it is
Engineering and WASH guidance for detention environments, intended to be read with ICRC prison WASH manuals; focuses on minimum standards and specifications.
Why it matters
Prisons/detention are outbreak multipliers and human-rights pressure points. This guidance targets the highest-risk infrastructure failures.
Link
Menstrual health/hygiene toolkits that plug operational gaps in schools and facilities.
Facility requirements and practical guidance for integrating MHH into WASH infrastructure and programming.
What it is
A toolkit outlining infrastructure and service requirements for menstrual health and hygiene facilities, designed for practical deployment.
Why it matters
MHH is a dignity + attendance + health issue; it also directly shapes waste flows and facility design constraints.
Link
Agenda-setting reference for menstrual hygiene management in schools and systems-level integration.
What it is
A report mapping the global agenda for MHM in schools (evidence, policy, implementation integration).
Why it matters
Institutional WASH fails when menstrual needs are treated as optional. This forces systems-level integration logic.
Link