On-site sanitation systems dispose of human excreta, with or without treatment, on the residents' housing plot. Examples include pit latrines and septic tanks with drainage fields. This study reviews the risks to health posed by groundwater contamination from on-site sanitation (particularly latrines). Detailed understanding of groundwater contamination is complicated by a host of factors, broadly grouped into substantial and often unknown variations in subsurface conditions, contaminants, and the mechanisms of their movement. The problem is further complicated by the multiplicity of other pathways by which contaminants may be ingested, the variation in human response to a given dose, and the variety of approaches that may be taken to reduce such risks.
Cave, B., Kolsky, P. (1999). Groundwater, latrines and health London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine and Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University, United Kingdom
Groundwater protection (WG11)English