Warning Notification

Before you start make sure you have all the basic information you need.

Step One: Enter general information about the city or urban area, then select the sanitation systems in use in your city or urban area using the SFD selection grid.
(For more information on how to incorporate other sanitation systems not shown on the selection grid, see FAQs 25 and 39).

Step Two: Now you are ready to create your SFD matrix, so click the "Create SFD matrix" button.

In the SFD matrix, enter information about the proportion of people using each type of system and the proportion of each system that is emptied, transported and treated.

Remember you can look up detailed definitions in the Glossary of the SFD manual. If you want to add or remove systems just go back to Step One – unchanged data will not be lost.

Step Three: Click on the “Draw SFD graphic” button to create your SFD graphic. You can still go back and make changes in your systems selection or in the matrix – unchanged data will still not be lost.

When you are satisfied, click the "Download data" and "Download selected file" buttons (after selecting the type of output); these export your data and the graphic for sharing or importing into reports and publications.

Data required for creating an SFD graphic are stored in individual json text files. Each file contains the raw data describing a city and its sanitation systems.

When an SFD json file is uploaded into this web page, the tool automatically populates the SFD selection grid and the SFD matrix and draws the SFD graphic. If you wish, you can then tweak the system (by adding and/or deleting systems or changing values) to produce an updated version.

If you do make changes, remember to click the "Download data" button at the end of the process.

Data required for creating an SFD graphic are stored in individual json text files. Each file contains the raw data describing a city and its sanitation systems.

When an SFD json file is uploaded into this web page, the tool automatically populates the SFD selection grid and the SFD matrix and draws the SFD graphic. If you wish, you can then tweak the system (by adding and/or deleting systems or changing values) to produce an updated version.

If you do make changes, remember to click the Save data button at the end of the process.

In the "Population" column enter information about the proportion of people using each type of system. If these values do not sum to 100% a warning message will appear.

Then, in the following columns, enter data about the proportion of each type of system that is emptied and/or delivered to treatment and is treated.

For instance, an example answer for “proportion of faecal sludge emptied, which is delivered to treatment plants” would be "50%".

Where it is known that the faecal waste flow is along two different pathways, but the percentage split is not known, assume a split of 50:50 will minimise the maximum error.

Remember that you can look up details of each type of system in the Glossary of the SFD manual.

If you want to add or delete a system go back to Step One - your data will not be lost.

This is the proportion of the contents of each type of onsite container which may be emptied periodically.

For example:

Use the default "100%" value where onsite containers are connected to soak pits, to water bodies, open ground or have no outlet. This will model the contents as 100% faecal sludge and a proportion of this may be emptied periodically (you will enter this value in the SFD matrix). The remaining not emptied fraction is made up of one or more of the following: faecal sludge which remains in the container, supernatant (when discharging to water bodies or to open ground), and infiltrate.

Where onsite containers are connected to a sewer network or to open drains, using a value of "50%" means that half the contents are modelled as faecal sludge; a proportion of this may be emptied periodically (you will enter this value in the SFD matrix). The remaining not emptied fraction will comprise faecal sludge which remains in the container and, in the case of open-bottomed tanks, infiltrate. The other half of the contents is modelled as supernatant discharging into the sewer network or to open drains.

For more information you can either watch the video below (link here ), use this interactive PowerPoint or refer to the Definitions of Terms and the Sanitation Containment Systems: Schematics in the Glossary for further details.

If you want to keep a record of your data, then remember to click the "Download data" button (data will be lost if you make changes without saving).

Downloaded data is stored in a json file. This is a text file containing the SFD data for a city and its sanitation systems. You can pass the file to another user for them to upload, or they can give you their data for you to upload.

When an SFD json file is uploaded into this web page, the tool automatically populates the selection grid and the SFD matrix and creates the SFD graphic. If you wish, you can then tweak the system (by adding and/or deleting systems or changing values) to produce an updated version – but again, if you do make changes, remember to click the “Download data” button.

You can download the data entered and the SFD created as png (picture) files; use the drop-down selector to download the SFD graphic, the SFD matrix and the SFD selection grid. These are ready for you to include in your own reports and publications.

Select the "SFD matrix as CSV" option to download the SFD matrix data as comma separated value (CSV) file, for use in Excel or similar, and select the "SFD graphics as svg" to download as a scalable vector graphic (SVG) file.