Financial:
Conventional sanitation, particularly water-borne solutions, requires large infrastructure investments. Globally, water and sanitation investments, ignoring operation and maintenance costs, require $30 billion annually. By the year 2025, it could be $75 billion annually.18 Much of this cost is to lay pipes and sewers to transport and dispose of waste and contaminated water. Conventional toilets in modern societies flush away up to 15,000 litres of pure water every year for every person, only to dispose of 500 litres of urine and 50 litres of faeces. With ecological sanitation the need for sewers to transport large volumes of polluted water is greatly reduced. Wastewater consisting of only urine and grey water would be recycled locally using less costly decentralised systems. Ecological toilets in developing countries range from $10 per family in China to the cost of modern toilets, including child friendly seats, in Sweden. Thus, these systems are adaptable to local budgets, and can be upgraded over time as income and demand rise. In addition, most sewage treatment plants, if operated effectively and efficiently, require large amounts of electricity. Three percent of the electrical consumption in the United States goes to sewage treatment plants.19 Recycled nutrients and organic matter from excreta also reduces the need for commercial fertilisers, a great expense for small farmers and gardeners, and if these resources are used in urban settings, where they originate, it also reduces the cost of transporting food to cities.