MYANMAR building experts have highlighted the need for upgraded sanitation systems in Yangon as building density increases.

With many buildings in Myanmar still reliant on septic tanks to store waste, building industry sources have told Myanmar Times more efficient sanitation systems are required if the needs of inhabitants in Yangon’s new high-rise projects are to be met.

“Septic tanks currently used in most buildings in Myanmar are not practical anymore for buildings which have a large number of residents,” said U Yin Htwe Thet, managing director of Central Engineering and Construction Company Limited.

Yangon City Development Committee has a standard for effluent allowed to flow into the public drainage system which sets requirements on the oxygen level and solidity of sewage. U Yin Htwe Thet says that these standards should be enforced.

“However, people should also have sufficient education on this,” he added.

In Myanmar, where most areas still depend on underground water from wells and hand-operated pumps, “we have to be very careful about septic tanks”, U Yin Htwe Thet said, adding that they should be at least 50 feet away from water sources, particularly those for drinking water, to avoid contamination.

In other countries, although septic tanks are still used in some cases, updated technology is applied to make tanks more effective and compact.

However, sewage treatment plants, a modern method commonly used in other countries, should replace septic tanks, especially for high rises, sources said.

“In buildings with more than 200 – maximum 300 – residents, sewage treatment plants should be used,” U Yin Htwe Thet said. “They can save space and get rid of water pollution, although they are far more costly than septic tanks.”

He acknowledged though that many developers choose septic tanks over a more sophisticated approach to sewage treatment due to budgetary constraints. Sewage treatment facilities cost three to four times more than septic tanks, which could become cheaper as construction technology develops, U Yin Htwe Thet said.

“In developed countries, they even change wastewater back to clean water, not only for the environment, but also for saving water resources,” he said, adding that Myanmar building companies would have to initiate sewage treatment facilities themselves to make up for the lack of public infrastructure.

In considering whether to include essential or luxury facilities in a building, U Yin Htwe Thet said wastewater sanitation was essential, “as it is directly linked to public health and the environment”.

U Khin Maung Win, managing director of Myanmar Water Engineering and Products Company Limited, agreed that “in some areas, ailments like diarrhoea occur due to a lack of sanitary systems and people are still unaware”.

Yangon had had a sewage system since Myanmar was colonised. In the centre of the city, pipes took the effluent to a treatment facility in Botahtaung township.

The government plans to build a wastewater purification project in Thanlynn Sun to purify water from six downtown townships including Botahtaung.