COTONOU: Sanitation Status
Sanitation provision in Cotonou (capital of Benin) is grossly deficient, as in most cities in sub-Saharan Africa: most people do not have access to a hygienic toilet; large amounts of faecal waste are discharged to the environment without adequate treatment; this is likely to have major impacts on infectious disease burden and quality of life (Hutton et al. 2007). This article briefly summarizes the current sanitation situation in Cotonou.
This page is part of the fully editable open-access reference source on the sanitation status of all major cities in sub-Saharan Africa. The resource considers the 40 urban agglomerations in sub-Saharan Africa with a current population of 1 million or more. To read some of the other 40 country profiles, go back tothe resource Homepage.
N.B These pages should be considered as incomplete provisional drafts, and contributions are actively requested from specialists with expert local knowledge of each specific city
Table of Contents
- Background information
- Water resources and supply: overview
- Sanitation access
- Sewerage system
- Septage management (septage = nightsoil and/or sludge from onsite facilities)
- Sewage treatment (sewage = sewered wastes and/or septage)
- Sanitation in low-income districts
- Responsibility
- Sanitation masterplan?
- Sanitation financing
- Major investments and donor interventions
- Sources and further reading
- References
- Other City Profiles
Background information
Cotonou is an urban agglomeration with a population of about 1.1 million people (Brinkhoff 2010). It is a low-lying coastal city on narrow strip between sea and large lagoon, with extensive swampy areas. Soils are generally sandy. Climate is tropical wet and dry (Köppen classification Aw). Flooding is frequent and severe: more than 50% of Cotonou's area suffers from yearly flooding, with large areas being flooded for several months (see the Wikipedia article “2008 Benin floods”). Pollutant industrial activities include food-processing. There is little agricultural activity within the agglomeration, and smallholder plots are rare; there is limited horticultural activity in some areas (Brock 1999). A large proportion of the population lives in low-income settlements, including very poor informal settlements.
Water resources and supply: overview
There is no current or projected water stress at the national level (UNEP/GRID-Arendal 2002); see also Wikipedia “Water supply and sanitation in Benin”). Cotonou draws its water mainly from the local shallow aquifer system, which is currently judged to be unpolluted, but vulnerable to pollution in the future (Boukari et al. 2006).
Sanitation access
The central part of the city has a sewerage system (see below), probably poorly functional. Very little published information has been found, but the sanitation situation seems to be very poor, and compounded by swampy conditions. In extensive low-income settlements, low-quality pit latrines and hanging latrines (direct defecation to surface water) appear to be widely used (Totin et al. 2008).
Sewerage system
A sewerage system in the central part of the city was built in the 1980s with German support (KfW) (CIEH 1993, IGIP 2003); we have no data on how many people this serves; it discharges directly to the sea (CIEH 1993).
Septage management (septage = nightsoil and/or sludge from onsite facilities)
Brock (1999) reports that there is a privately run lagoons-based faecal sludge treatment plant run by SIBEAU about 20 km east of Cotonou, receiving tankered sludge from the city; Brock reports that the plant functions poorly. Further information on this plant is provided by Solo (1999): apparently it was created as a purely private venture, with tanker operators charged 25 US$ per load as at 1999; however, it is unclear why tanker operators should pay this amount rather than dump illicitly.
Sewage treatment (sewage = sewered wastes and/or septage)
CIEH (1993) reports that the central sewerage system discharges directly to the sea; a number of smaller wastewater treatment plants (serving small housing estates, a hotel, a hospital, factories) were no longer operational as at 1993.
Sanitation in low-income districts
Adjademe (2003) gives a 1996 map showing lower-income areas of the city. Many of the city's flood-prone areas are occupied by such settlements. They include Ladji, Ahounsori Tohouéta, Vossa, Djidjé, Sègbèya, Yénawa, Avotrou, Enagnon, Placodji and Hindé, all in swampy locations. We are not aware of any specific policy for sanitation improvement in informal settlements.
Responsibility
No detailed information.
Sanitation masterplan?
No detailed information.
Sanitation financing
No information available.
Major investments and donor interventions
Urban Rehabilitation and Management Project, World Bank P000097, approved 18 Feb 1992, now closed; reportedly included a sanitation component, but no detailed information is publicly available.
Dencentralized City Management Project, World Bank P035648, approved 3 Jun 1999, now closed; included a “sewerage” component of about $7m US$, but this appears to have been stormwater drainage, not sewerage.
Sources and further reading
None at present.
References
Adjademe N (2003) "Demonstrating good EPM practices on a small scale". UN-Habitat. http://ww2.unhabitat.org/programmes/uef/cities/summary/cotonou.htm
Boukari M et al. (2006) "Groundwater pollution from urban development in Cotonou City, Benin" in "Groundwater Pollution in Africa", eds. X Yu & B Usher, UNEP/Earthprint.
Brinkhoff T (2010) City Population. http://www.citypopulation.de
Brock B (1999) "Actual and potential contribution of urban agriculture to environmental sanitation: a case study in Cotonou". B. In "Urban Agriculture in West Africa: Contributing to Food Security and Urban Sanitation", ed. OB Smith. IDRC/CTA. http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-33946-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
CIEH [Comite Inter Africain d’Etudes Hydrauliques] (1993). Etude comparative des systèmes d’épuration collectifs dans le contexte africain. Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. Not currently available online.
Hutton G, Haller L & Bartram J (2007) Economic and health effects of increasing coverage of low cost household drinking-water supply and sanitation interventions to countries off-track to meet MDG target 10. Geneva, Switzerland, World Health Organization. http://www.irc.nl/page/38443
IGIP [Ingenieurgesellschaft für internationale Planungsaufgaben mbH] (2003)Synoptic table of projects: sewage disposal. http://www.igip.com/eng/E-SYN-SEWAGE.pdf
Solo TM (1999). Small-scale entrepreneurs in the urban water and sanitation market. Environment and Urbanization 11(1): 133–144. doi:10.1177/095624789901100120. http://eau.sagepub.com/cgi/content/short/11/1/117
Totin HSV, Boko M & Edorh PA (2008) Groundwater pollution in shantytowns of Cotonou: which strategies to limit waterborne diseases risks? Abstract presented at the Coupling Sustainable Sanitation and Groundwater Protection Conference, 14-17 October 2008, Hannover, Germany.
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