LAUSR

Through the Free Basic Sanitation (FBSan) service policy, many informal settlements in South Africa have been provided with basic sanitation facilities. However, access to these facilities remains challenging for many residents. These challenges have compelled residents to adopt a range of alternative sanitation practices. Through interviews, observation and focus group discussions in five informal settlements in the Western Cape, South Africa, 383 randomly selected respondents identified factors that shape their sanitation practices and how these practices impact on access to, and sustainability of sanitation services in the policy context of the FBSan. Residents’ sanitation practices include the use of buckets, porta-potties, plastic bags, and existing facilities within and outside their settlements for either defecating or discharging the bucket contents and open defecation. These sanitation practices are informed by factors including safety concerns, poor conditions of the facilities, lack of privacy and choice. These findings suggest that the provision of facilities through the FBSan policy should consider the multiple and varied needs of residents, practices and conditions of their settlements prior to the selection and deployment of facilities to informal settlements in South Africa. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Licence (CC BY 4.0), which permits copying, adaptation and redistribution, provided the original work is properly cited (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). doi: 10.2166/washdev.2020.123 om http://iwaponline.com/washdev/article-pdf/10/2/238/713011/washdev0100238.pdf er 2020 Christophe Muanda (corresponding author) Rainer Haldenwang Department of Civil Engineering and Surveying, Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, Cape Peninsula University of Technology, P.O. Box 1906, Bellville 7535, South Africa E-mail: [email protected] Jacqueline Goldin Centre of UNESCO Chair in Groundwater, Faculty of Earth Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Private Bag X17, Bellville 7535, South Africa This article has been made Open Access thanks to the generous support of a global network of libraries as part of the Knowledge Unlatched Select initiative.