Sanitation planning for resettlement sites in Laos

Hydropower plants have been making both direct and indirect impacts on the environment and society on many levels in Laos as they require people who live in downstream and upstream areas to relocate to new resettlement sites. A sanitation planning process for resettlement sites in Laos is evaluated by an evaluating tool which has been developed according to three international sanitation planning guidelines, namely Community-Led Urban Environmental Sanitation Planning (CLUES), the Sanitation Safety Planning methodology by the WHO, and Sanitation 21. Four resettlement sites were selected, based on their differences in terms of project developers, scales, consultancy companies, and the number of people impacted. All four cases had positive performances in their project preparation and the implementation phases which showed a strong institutional arrangement and high engagement by the stakeholders. However, the technical planning phase was overlooked and given a low priority, the boundary of the systems was roughly defined, and there was no clear support to develop a treatment system, for the reuse of wastewater, and no health risk assessment. We propose six concise sanitation planning steps and resource-oriented sanitation for resettlement sites which aim to support project developers' decision-making and planning for sanitation systems in resettlement sites.

Automated summary

Hydropower plants in Laos have had both direct and indirect impacts on the environment and society, requiring relocation of residents living in downstream and upstream areas. However, the technical planning phase for sanitation systems in resettlement sites has been overlooked, with no clear support for wastewater treatment system development and health risk assessment. We propose six concise sanitation planning steps and resource-oriented sanitation to support project developers in decision-making and planning.