Sanitasjon

Sanitasjon is the Norwegian term for sanitation, referring to the collection, treatment, and safe disposal of human excreta and wastewater, together with the promotion of hygiene to protect public health. It encompasses infrastructure, services, and behavioral practices designed to prevent disease and environmental contamination.

It includes municipal sanitation systems such as networked sewers and centralized wastewater treatment, as well as on-site sanitation options like septic tanks, pit latrines, and urine-diverting toilets. Fecal sludge management, greywater management, and safe solid waste handling are also part of sanitation. In addition to infrastructure, sanitation involves hygiene promotion, including handwashing, safe water storage, and sanitation marketing or demand-creation programs to increase use.

Historically, sanitation modernized with sewer networks, drainage, water treatment, and disinfection in the 19th and 20th centuries, dramatically reducing diarrheal diseases in urban areas. Today, sanitation is a core component of global health policy, with SDG 6 aiming to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. However, many people still lack access to safely managed sanitation services, and open defecation remains an issue in parts of the world. Approaches such as community-led total sanitation (CLTS) emphasize behavior change and community ownership.

Beyond health benefits, good sanitation safeguards groundwater and ecosystems and supports economic development through job creation in construction, maintenance, and sanitation services. Resource recovery from wastewater or fecal sludge—such as biogas and compost—offers additional sustainability benefits. Sanitation faces challenges from rapid urbanization, climate change, funding gaps, and governance fragmentation, requiring integrated planning, inclusive governance, and resilient design, especially in disaster-prone or peri-urban settings.