In the Council of Ministers of Thursday, August 17, 2023, the Burkinabè government adopted a decree relating to the management of wastewater and excreta. This reminds at the same time that it is forbidden to empty your septic tank in the street or in the gutters provided for the evacuation of runoff water.
“This decree provides a framework for the management of the value chain of the autonomous treatment of wastewater and excreta in terms of the confinement of wastewater and excreta, their evacuation, their treatment and the recovery of faecal sludge”, can we read in the report of the Council of Ministers. Which decree “prohibits throwing, rejecting, dumping or causing to be thrown, rejected or dumped waste water and excreta on public roads, in rainwater drainage channels or any other place, with the exception of those provided for by the public authorities”. Consequently, he “commits to the construction of autonomous sanitation works at inside residential plots or establishments open to the public”. It is also an obligation for each municipality to have at least one faecal sludge treatment station or, failing that, to build it within the framework of intermunicipal cooperation.
“As part of the application of this decree, the municipalities have a period of 03 years to carry out the faecal sludge treatment stations. As for households and establishments open to the public, they have a period of 02 years to come into compliance. specifies the report of the Council of Ministers.
What the law says!
Moreover, this is prescribed by Law No. 006-2013/AN of April 2, 2013 on the Environmental Code in Burkina Faso, which stipulates in its article 80: “In view of the management of rainwater, waste water and excreta from dwellings or classified establishments, a collective sanitation system and a non-collective sanitation system are established in each municipality. The regulations adopted organize each sanitation system.
In a situation of collective sanitation, the connection of buildings, dwellings and classified establishments to the collective sanitation network is compulsory within two years of the commissioning of the network. After this period, the municipal establishment for water purification gives any offender formal notice to operate the said connection. When the formal notice is unsuccessful, the establishment carries out the connection work at the expense of the offender.
In a non-collective sanitation situation, the sanitation system put in place must comply with the regulations in force under penalty of administrative or fine penalties”.
Incivism at all levels!
Et « any subdivision operation must include the prior construction of works appropriate sanitation, according to article 82 of the said law n°006-2013/AN of April 02, 2013 on the Environmental Code in Burkina Faso.
The same law provides in its article 136: “Is liable to a fine of five hundred thousand (500,000) to two million (2,000,000) francs, anyone who refrains from connecting his building or his establishment to a collective network sanitation in violation of the provisions of article 80 of this law”.
Although this law has existed for ten years, there are many Burkinabè people who empty their septic tanks in the street, especially after a heavy rain. Dejections that sometimes end up in front of neighbors’ doors. And what about subdivisions (or parcels of land) without “the construction of appropriate sanitation works”, in almost all of our cities. As we can unfortunately see, the Burkinabè have trouble respecting the laws and regulations that they themselves have set for living together in cohesion and mutual respect. Will this new decree adopted by the Council of Ministers on August 17 be more respected? Nothing is less sure !
Aly Konate
