A new plant treats faecal sludge in the council of Koulikoro in Mali. The recently commissioned facility has a capacity of 56 m3 per day.
On 16 February 2023, Mali’s Minister of the Environment, Sanitation and Sustainable Development, Modibo Koné, visited the municipality of Koulikoro for the inauguration of a new 56 m3 sludge treatment plant (including 16 m³ of excreta and 40 m³ of sludge). This is the first installation of its kind in Mali, according to the Malian authorities.
Camacho Industries built the plant on an area of 10 hectares. The site is expected to receive about 10 trucks of excreta and sludge per day. Upstream, modern latrines will be multiplied in the council of Koulikoro in order to regularly supply the station.
Belgian funding
The faecal sludge pumped from the septic tanks will be treated and converted into natural fertiliser, thus reducing the excessive use of chemical fertilisers in the agricultural sector. The new plant, whose management has been entrusted to the Agence nationale de gestion des stations d’épuration du Mali (ANGESEM), will also improve the living environment of the inhabitants of Koulikoro.
The municipality financed the work on the plant thanks to a loan of 1.3 billion CFA francs (about 2 million euros) from the Belgian Development Agency (Enabel) as part of the Project to improve access to drinking water and sanitation in Koulikoro (Pepak), of which the construction of the sewage sludge treatment plant is one of the components.
Launched in 2018, the Pepak has also enabled the construction of 13 drinking water supply systems (AEP), community latrines in the 13 secondary centres of Koulikoro in order to improve hygiene and sanitation conditions and 15 public latrines.
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In the council of Koulikoro, the management of water and sanitation services by the local authorities in their role as project managers for infrastructure and basic social services will also be strengthened. In addition, a sludge treatment and by-product recovery system will be promoted, as well as the provision of a public drinking water service in the beneficiary centres, while respecting the functions of the councils, drinking water users’ associations, private operators and regulatory authorities.
Inès Magoum
