Global Partnership of Laboratories for Faecal Sludge Analysis – GPLFSA

Unlike wastewater, there are very few laboratories that specialize in faecal sludge analysis. In addition, due to the lack of standard methods for sampling and analysing faecal sludge, standard methods from other fields, such as water, wastewater and soil science, are usually applied. This is why in 2019 the experts on faecal sludge analysis established the Global Partnership of Laboratories for Faecal Sludge Analysis (GPLFSA) to address these challenges and to work towards standardized methods for the characterization and quantification of faecal sludge from onsite sanitation technologies, including sampling techniques and health and safety procedures for faecal sludge handling.

The GPLFSA initiated In 2021 the book of Velkushanova K., Strande L., Ronteltap M., Koottatep T., Brdjanovic D., Buckley C. Ed. (2021) Methods for Faecal Sludge Analysis. IWA Publishing, pg 480. ISBN 9781780409115, the first of that kind in the field of sanitation.

The GPLFSA also delivers on-campus courses and training and aims to improve communication between sanitation practitioners, provide a comparative faecal sludge database, and improve confidence in the methods and obtained results. More info on the GPLFSA is available here.