“I had no idea about the mistakes I was making during septic tank construction until I attended this training.”
– a mason said after training. Tarabo Paurashava arranged a two-day long training during 4-5 September 2022 on sanitation containment systems (septic tank, soak well, pit latrine) for mason, work assistant/ engineer and constructor together with Unicef and ITN-BUET.
Honourable Mayor, Hasina Gazi, Tarabo Paurashava, Tarabo, Rupganj, Narayanganj inaugurated this training as chief guest. Prof. Dr. Tanvir Ahmed, Director, ITN-BUET, Mohammed Shafiqul Alam and Chief of WASH (CC), Unicef were present as guests in the opening ceremony.
Improper sanitation containment systems and unauthorized link to nearby drains/ waterbodies have been known as one of the leading causes for 94% unsafe sanitation in Tarabo Paurashava showing in shit flow diagram (SFD) of the Paurashava.
Masons and sanitation entrepreneur (SE), who construct sanitation containment systems (septic tank, soak pit and pit latrines) in Tarabo paurashova hardly receive any formal training on proper construction following standard design. The realities were revealed in Training Need Assessment (TNA) conducted in Tarabo Paurashava on 4th August 2022. The TNA also indicated that in a few cases masons received design/ drawing from their hiring authority before constructing the sanitation containment system and the understanding of many significant features of sanitation containment construction is absent. The training was planned based on the need assessment outcomes.
A total of 20 participants participated in the training and resource persons from ITN-BUET facilitated the training. The training materials consisted of length-width ratio, number of compartments, position and size of inlet-tee (T) pipes, position of holes in baffle wall, gaps between wall and top slab in connection to septic tank, stepwise method, suitability of site, materials and equipment required for constructing septic tank, soak pit and pit latrine through interactive discussion and field visits. Occupational health and safety for construction and emptying of sanitation containment systems were also discussed by ITN-BUET resource persons.
On 5th September 2022, participants visited a site near Paurashava to observe some under construction containments and identified the deviations and improvement areas based on learning from the training. ZM Anwar, Executive Engineer, Tarabo Paurashava distributed certificates among the participants at the closing ceremony of the training.
