Sustainable Sanitation Management Tool for Decision Making in Isolated Areas in Brazil

There is a worldwide range of technical sanitation guidelines focusing on small or traditional and isolated communities for ecological alternatives at the household level. However, a computational tool (software) that has a database and connects these guidelines in a single reference for resource-oriented sanitation concept decision making is still lacking. In this regard, an easy-to-use tool was developed using a participatory approach for the decision-making process from a choice of technical solutions to a type of system management. The results obtained from a pilot study indicate that the proposed tool in this paper will help with the decision-making process to aid in not only choosing sustainable sanitation solutions, but also sustainable operation and maintenance options for the systems. When presenting and discussing the tool with research groups and technicians, the potential for participatory application was noticed. The proposed tool can be used in the elaboration of municipal sanitation plans, assisting local technicians and environmental licensing agencies, designers and engineering students, among others. The software can be applied with other management tools, such as 5W2H and Canvas business model.