On 4 August 2022, an orientation on ‘Standard Septic Tank’ was organized for engineers of Mahalaxmi Municipality to discuss the construction of standard septic tank permits on existing and new buildings in the municipality.

Mr. Rajendra Shrestha, Program Director of ENPHO facilitated the session and briefed about the importance of a standard septic tank and standard format for its designing and construction. He furthermore elaborated on the capacity of the septic tanks to be built as per the standard format and design.

With this, Mr. Manish Subedi, Engineer of Mahalaxmi Municipality requested the ENPHO team for training to mason in designing and construction of septic tank as he believed that the local community people trust the mason while constructing a septic tank for them.

He further added, “We are well-known about the septic tank construction in new building permit and understand that major challenge lies in the availability of land due to lack of awareness in local community people. So we are committed in collaborating with ENPHO to conduct campaigns to address these issues”.

Altogether, 15 participants including 6 engineers of Mahalaxmi Municipality participated in an orientation.

ENPHO with the support of BMGF is implementing the “Pilot Implementation of FSM Standard in Nepal” project in Mahalaxmi Municipality for the management of basic on-site domestic wastewater services. In 2019, Mahalaxmi Municipality, Lalitpur approved and issued the FSM By-Laws for safe management of faecal sludge which also incorporates construction and implementation of standard septic tanks thereby reducing risk to public health and the environment.