Sewage management at the Tongon mine (Burkina Faso)

Tongon gold mine is faced with many problems of sanitation, whether the septic tank which collects wastewater from the workers’ town and the mini-stations in the camp, dysfunctions are regularly reported since 2010. So, the management of wastewater in the mine is an important environmental and health problem. To better address our study, we set ourselves the general objective of analyzing the domestic wastewater management system, its socio-economic dimensions and its variability within the mine. In order to give this research more objectivity and efficiency, we have favored a descriptive, qualitative and quantitative analytical approach. It is based on a review of the literature, the collection of qualitative data (interview guide) and quantitative data (household questionnaire), the taking of photographs, field observations and finally the processing and analysis of the data collected. The expected results propose a resizing of the septic tank in the workers’ housing estate and the installation of new wastewater treatment plants in the camp. They also show that the latrines are of good quality and in good condition, but the storage and treatment infrastructure for domestic wastewater from the mine is in a very advanced state of disfunction. The health and environmental risks remain real in such circumstances, jeopardizing the performance of the mine workers.