Seychelles Integrated and Comprehensive Sanitation Master Plan |01 February 2017

PUC hosts second consultative workshop

Several stakeholders yesterday attended a consultative workshop for the integrated and comprehensive sanitation master plan for Seychelles (ICSMP) organised by the Public Utilities Corporation (PUC).

The workshop, held at the Seychelles Trading Company’s conference room, is the second held as part of this study.

The main objective of the ICSMP is to develop an integrated, comprehensive and innovative sanitation solution for Mahé, Praslin and La Digue, taking into consideration the principles of the Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM). The IUWM approach in the sanitation master plan study will provide the linkages with other sectors such as water, electricity, waste and drainage to a feasible level.

“Today, we will also discuss the potential for: re-using treated waste water as a resource for non-potable uses; generating energy through the production of biogas, and applying the sludge in landscape management and agriculture. It is important to note that some of these applications are already being utilised by large hotels with independent sewage treatment plants here in Seychelles. Furthermore, you will be shown the different sanitation options that have been drafted for Mahé, Praslin and La Digue,” said the Minister for Environment, Energy and Climate Change, Didier Dogley.

The minister further stated that “for decades, we have been dependent on septic tanks and soakaways to treat effluents.  Although, these are very efficient systems if designed, built and managed correctly, they also require adequate amount of land- a limited resource here in Seychelles. During the last five years Seychelles has achieved a high economic growth rate, which has resulted in a construction boom and rapid development.  With the densification of development on the coastal strips and all over the three main inhabited islands comes the need to invest in integrated and comprehensive networks of sewerage treatment plants.  Soakaway treatment systems can no longer cope with the volume of discharge of waste water coming from these areas”.

“Failure to upgrade will lead to the disposal of untreated waste water in the environment posing a major health hazard and degradation to the environment.  As a government that prides itself on its environmental achievements, it has therefore decided to invest in this comprehensive sanitation masterplan for Mahé, Praslin and La Digue,” said Minister Dogley.

The representative of the African Development Bank (AfDB), Daniel Verdeil, mentioned that “for years we have been supporting the concept of integrated, comprehensive and innovative sanitation solution in many countries. We think Seychelles is a relevant case due to the security of water and the risk it has for the tourism industry if water is not provided. The bank has approved a grant of 900,000 Euros and we hope that as the programme will be fully implemented, Seychelles will come closer to a greener island state”.

The managing director of the Water & Sewage Division at the PUC, Steve Mussard, said that “Seychelles is a small country and lots of issues regarding sanitation start to crop up. Last year with the help of the AfDB, we started a study to start looking for solutions. The project will optimise the connections with: water supply by considering the impact of using reclaimed water for non-potable water supply, irrigation and developing demand side measures, conservation measures, and rainwater harvesting roofs; energy supply and solid waste by maximising synergies with the planned waste to energy initiative (renewable energy potential of wastewater and sludge), evaluating existing and planned sanitation systems’ energy demand and assessing effects of water reuse on the water supply systems’ energy demand; stormwater management through assessing the impact of floods on the sanitation infrastructure and analysing the interest of promoting rainwater harvesting measures and groundwater recharge”.

He also mentioned that the study involves three stages; diagnosis stage, scenario development stage and the master plan stage; that started in February 2017 and which will go until July 2017 whereby a donors’ conference will be organised. The diagnosis was completed in July 2016 and a stakeholder’s workshop was held in October 2016 to discuss the findings.

The meeting of yesterday was to allow the consultants, Professor Kala Vairavamoorthy, Dr Babak Bozorgy and Jan Drozdz to present the scenario development which provided different options or solutions for sanitation for the whole country. The options chosen will be taken to the master plan stage.