Djibouti has a sewage system problem. This is because of the nature of the city's location and the existing sewage network. The network has served for nearly thirty years without maintenance or renewal. It is overly used by an increasing population, which has increased in the middle class districts by ten times.

The state tried to drain the rain water which often flooded the roads especially in popular districts, which in many cases, was mixed with the flooding sewage water and remained stagnant for long weeks causing many diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and cholera. This situation is repeated annually during the rainy seasons, especially after each flood in the neighboring valley or in the city, where most of the districts sink in water. Due to the lack of financial resources, the state's intervention has been very limited.

The state has tried to control the sewage problems and established a purification station. The capacity of its daily purification was 43000m3. Yet, this station stopped working because of technical problems in 1994. Before it stopped, the station used to receive 500m3 of used water daily which was less than one eight of its actual capacity because it was not connected with all the districts' networks. This station was supposed to serve districts with a population up to 30,000. The technology used was not in line with the country's technical and financial situation, thus, the high level of technology used was the reason behind its failure. There remained no choice but to continue draining the untreated wastewater to the sea.
The sewage network, which is 16.5 km long, is not the only way to get rid of the used water. Most of the capital districts, especially the northern high standards ones, use septic tanks. On the other hand, the popular districts in the south use ordinary ground holes. The city is made up of thirty districts, seventeen of which use septic or ordinary tanks, i.e., individual sewage drainage. Eleven districts use the sewage network, and two use the two methods together. Evidently, most of the capital's population uses the individual sewage drainage even though it has many side effects. Yet, these districts do not suffer from flooding problems. And they do not have direct impacts upon the sea.

According to a study conducted in 1996, 40% of the population were formally connected to the water network. In most of the suburbs and popular districts, people drilled wells inside the boundaries of their houses, where they also drilled ordinary ground holes for toilet purposes. This resulted in the spread of many diseases, which led in turn, to the increase of death rates among children in the capital, where it reached 147 out of 1000 children less than five years old. Yet, the situation improved to 114 out of 1000 children in 1991 where 42% of the families did not have a good system for wastewater drainage.

There is also the liquid industrial waste even though there is little industry in Djibouti. These include fuel, used oil, petroleum and non-petroleum liquids and highly salinated water drained from factories. This liquid waste is drained in the southern part of the city leading to the pollution of groundwater, which in turn is used as potable water. It also results in air pollution due to the smoke and gases that result from the burning of these fuels.

Several procedures have to be taken in order to improve the level of equipment and workers' performance as follows:

• Repairing all machines, renovating the infrastructure and buying some necessary equipment.
• Increasing the number of technicians, drivers and manual labor.
• Adopting a special system for the dumpsite.
• Putting water reservoirs and empty spaces at the disposal of the dump site administration for the purpose of fire extinguishing.
• Constructing shields around the dump site in order to limit its impact upon the environment.
• Raising the efficiency of combating intruders into the dumpsite.
• Raising the efficiency of the maintenance system of machines and vehicles.

All these procedures and investments require financial resources and effort. Yet, they would improve the dumpsite's capacity and its efficiency in the future. In this respect, a proposed study project financed by the African Bank for Development would show the best ways to be followed in the field of waste collection, processing and recycling part of the waste to produce organic compost.

The technical department in the governorate has already proposed the utilization of organic waste in the production of compost. If this project is implemented, it would lead to a longer sustainability of the Douda public dumpsite, which would last longer, and it would also improve the soil fertility.

As a matter of fact, the establishment of a waste sorting station and fermenting waste used for making fertilizers in Douda is not a new idea, it was already considered when the dump site project was implemented in Douda. A was provided for building the factory for manufacturing fertilizers and its different units. The location of the dumpsite was carefully chosen next to the station of wastewater treatment station so that it would respond to the needs of the factory, it is also located next to the agricultural areas in Douda and Humbli which would provide them with the manufactured organic fertilizers.

The project has to be implemented in Djibouti to serve the urban environment and develop the growth of gardens which have the problems of bad soil quality and water salination. This system could be easily operated. Meanwhile, a feasibility study has to be made with respect to the quantity of organic waste received by the dumpsite. The basic agricultural sectors have to be detected and tested, as well as the required quantity per hectare, the level of fertilization, the locations and the type of agriculture have to be examined and discussed in the preliminary study.

Although it is important to acquire advanced equipment in this field, there are several basic factors for building the capacity of specialized personnel responsible for collecting and treating waste:

• First: Development of human skills in the technical department of the governorate, The incompetence of technicians and the shortage of their number would have repercussions upon the equipment's lifetime. The actual structure of this department has to be changed in a way that would correspond to the current development in the city. Decentralization is a must so that, cities can manage their own financial resources.
• Second: Raising public awareness: people have to understand the importance of protecting their urban environment. They have to know their key role in taking care of the environment for the state cannot do everything. It cannot act alone in this field even if it is provided with all the resources. The individual has to know that improving his environment means improving his health.
• Third: The return of refugees and immigrants to their original neighboring countries: Otherwise, any effort would be fruitless, as it has been proven before.
• Fourth: Preparation of awareness programs for the urban population in order to improve its contribution to the protection of the environment. This could be done through radio and television as well as advertisements and the press. This project is important because of the social conditions in Djibouti. It can be an experimenting project for the neighboring states provided that it would include training and exchange of visits for workers and technicians in the field of collecting and treating waste. The cost would not exceed 18 million Francs (100,000 US dollars).
• Fifth: Preparation of a transition lot for waste in Balbala, in which the daily waste would be stored before it is transferred to the public dumpsite by bigger trucks. This operation has two advantages:

1- The trucks' efficiency would be improved. Workload would be less and fuel would be saved. It is worth mentioning that the trucks go to Douda half full. This, in itself, is a waste of time, effort and fuel.
2- At this stage, it is possible to get rid of some heavy materials in the waste. It would be an advanced sorting out stage. The project would include fences for the lot, containers and other equipment. The project would cost around 35 million Djibouti Francs (180,000 US dollars).