Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
Solid wastes:
In most of the DCs the problem is already very serious, with
adequate collection services generally limited to affluent areas, and lesser
and quite unsatisfactory collection services elsewhere, and generally with
disposal from all areas by dumping, resulting in plenty of land and water pol-
lution. It also poses serious public health hazards, since municipal garbage
is almost as replete with pathogens as is municipal sewage. In Malaysia,
disposal previously had been managed fairly well using landfilling by indi-
vidual cities, but in heavily urbanizing and industrializing regions like the
Klang Valley, no more land is available for individual city use because of
prohibitive haul distances, and hence the need is for regional solid waste
management systems.
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Slum improvements:
Of the six DCs, only Indonesia has given meaningful
attention to this problem through its “KIP” (Kampung Improvement Pro-
gram) for upgrading the slum area infrastructure (leaving the homes alone),
which has been remarkably successful
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. This is a massive problem in the
other five DCs, except in Nepal where it is expected to develop soon, and
in three of them (Malaysia, Pakistan Philippines) the governments continue
to insist that the slum inhabitants (mostly illegal squatters) do not belong
there, and hence can be neglected despite the huge hazard to public health
thus imposed on the entire community. Attempts to solve the problem by
use of public housing in the city and by relocation to condominiums out
in the country have failed due to the high expense, and due to the relative
scarcity of jobs in the country. The Indonesian KIP program represents an
innovative practicable solution. It is slum infrastructure upgrading, including
legalization of squatters. One of the innovative findings of the Indonesian
KIP experience is that on-site leaching pits for excreta disposal, considered
by most as not suited for concentrated urban areas because of failure of
some of the units (posing health hazards to all), can be made to give over-
all acceptable service simply by furnishing special subsidized desludging
service for the poorly functioning units, which are usually a small per-
centage of the total. Another interesting finding is that, where piped water
service is not feasible, many slum homes utilize shallow tube wells for
domestic water supply, and while this water is invariably polluted, the peo-
ple diligently boil all water before drinking. This boiling practice is used
even in affluent areas of Jakarta, where the main municipal water treatment
plant has never been operated “as designed” and routinely produces unsafe
water.
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Institutional Aspects
Laws and regulations:
There are ample laws, but they are generally unco-
ordinated and overlapping in all seven countries, and in the six DCs there
is little meaningful enforcement. The study of the Klang Valley region in
Malaysia, where the capital of Kuala Lumpur is located, indicated about
20 to 30 percent enforcement, and Malaysia is relatively quite advanced in
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