Resources for urban sanitation

Browse our resources

Accelerating progress on climate resilient urban sanitation: Three models of scale-up linking technological innovation and systems change (2025)
Brief 1
Investing in climate resilient sanitation research: Evidence priorities to support scaling technological innovation and systems change (2025)
Brief 2
Evidence priorities for climate-resilient urban sanitation: Technological innovation and systems change to address flooding in three country contexts (2025)
Brief 3
Urban sanitation and climate change: A public service at risk (2022)
Report
Co-developing evidence-informed adaptation actions for resilient citywide sanitation: Local government response to climate change in Indonesia (2022)
Journal article
Climate resilient urban sanitation in Indonesia: Hazards, impacts and responses in four cities (2021)
Report
Climate resilient urban sanitation in Indonesia: Hazards, impacts and responses in four cities (2021)
Technical paper
Considering climate change in urban sanitation: conceptual approaches and practical implications (2019)
Report | Report Summary | Presentation
Climate sensitive FSM: New thinking from vulnerability, resilience and risk-hazard approaches (2019)
Presentation
Urban sanitation and climate uncertainty: New ways forward (2019)
Conference Poster
Poverty Dimensions of Water and Sanitation Services and Climate Vulnerability in Can Tho City – Research report (2012)
Report

Modelling faecal pathogen flows and health risks in urban Bangladesh: Implications for sanitation decision making (2021)
Journal Paper | Presentation | Presentation | Policy paper
Pathogen flows from on-site sanitation systems in low-income urban neighborhoods, Dhaka: A quantitative environmental assessment (2020)
Journal Paper
Faecal Pathogen Flows and Their Public Health Risks in Urban Environments: A Proposed Approach to Inform Sanitation Planning (2018)
Journal Paper
Modelling faecal pathogen flows and health risks in urban environments to inform sanitation planning - conference presentation (2018)
Presentation
WSUP’s Urban Sanitation Research Initiative
Website
Making pathogen hazards visible: a new heuristic to improve sanitation investment efficacy (2016)
Journal Paper
Applying multi-barrier approach for safe faecal sludge re-use
Report Summary (2017) | Presentation (2019)

Editorial: City-Wide Sanitation: The Urban Sustainability Challenge (2020)
Journal Paper
Life-cycle costs of a resource-oriented sanitation system and implications for advancing a circular economy approach to sanitation (2021)
Journal Paper
Are we doing the right thing? Critical questioning for city sanitation planning (2016)
Report | Report Summary
City Sanitation Planning Through a Political Economy Lens (2019)
Journal Paper
Financing sanitation for cities and towns (2014)
Report | Report Summary
Selecting sanitation options: a case study of South Can Tho – Technical Report (2010)
Report
Cost-effectiveness analysis as a methodology to compare sanitation options in peri-urban Can Tho, Vietnam (2010)
Conference Proceeding
Modelling costs for water and sanitation infrastructure: Comparing sanitation options for Can Tho, Vietnam (2011)
Conference Proceeding

Exploring smart enforcement in urban sanitation (2017)
Report | Report Summary
Guidance for exploring legal and policy aspects of urban sanitation and hygiene (2016)
Report | Report Summary
Strengthening governance arrangements for small city and town sanitation (2015)
Report
Strengthening governance arrangements for small city and town sanitation in Sumatra, Indonesia – a selection of key themes for local governments and policy makers. (2015)
Project Brief
Legal and institutional arrangements for urban sanitation and hygiene in Bhutan (2012)
Report

How we define ‘safely managed’ and why it matters for FSM (2019)
Conference Poster
Increasing local government responsibility for communal scale sanitation Part 1: Review of national program guidelines and two city case studies (2017)
Report | Journal Paper
Increasing local government responsibility for communal scale sanitation Part 2: Using Regional Budget (APBD) to support post-construction sustainability of communal sanitation (2017)
Report
Community Sanitation Governance: Investigating Effective Governance for Successful Long-Term Operation of Community Scale Wastewater Systems in Indonesia
Website

Urban Sanitation in Low-income Communities: A manual for city governments in Bangladesh (2022)
Manual
Treatment technologies in practice On-the-ground experiences of faecal sludge and wastewater treatment (2021)
Report (English) | Report (Spanish) | Report (Portuguese)
Scheduled emptying services as an entry point for change (2019)
Report Summary | Report | Presentation
Faecal sludge reuse in Birendranagar, Nepal: A case study of the world health organisation’s multiple barrier approach (2018)
Journal Paper
A guide to septage transfer stations. Provides information on the salient aspects of selecting, designing, building, operating and maintaining a septage transfer station (Summary) (2015)
Report Summary | Report
Sludge removal enterprises in Indonesia: factors affecting entrepreneurial success (2018)
Journal Paper
Research Report 3: Motivators and barriers for water and sanitation enterprises in Indonesia (2015)
Report | Report Summary (English) | Report Summary (Bahasa Indonesia)
Enterprise in WASH
Website