Infiltrated Pits: Using Regional Groundwater Data to Estimate Methane Emissions from Pit Latrines

On-site sanitation systems (OSS), such as pit latrines, are an important source of methane (CH4), with emissions increasing when they wet, and this occurs anaerobic conditions dominate. This paper presents the development a model, which uses seasonal changes in groundwater to account for fluctuating inundation and, therefore, associated CH4 from varying degrees anerobic examined. Given that observed timeseries table depth at high enough spatial temporal resolutions often difficult obtain low- middle-income countries (LMICs), inverse distance weighted (IDW) interpolation is used generate values whole region, then used, alongside average latrine depth, determine areas inundation. Outcomes further informed open-source contextual data, covering population, urban/rural split, facility before using methodologies Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) data. As case study, we use data Senegal illustrate how model works. Results show total month January be ~1.69 kt CH4. We have also discussed potential satellite remote sensing regions where access historical limited. Understanding most likely change could lead incentives better management strategies, well reduction production.