The technological advancements in decentralized technologies have been rapid and impressive. However, the tools needed to describe the elements and interdependencies between different technologies in order to build holistic systems have not developed to the same degree. As a result, it has become increasingly difficult to communicate and plan the complex systems which decentralized and separation technologies require. Whereas classical sanitation planning focused on the transport and treatment of a single waste stream, future sanitation systems will need to address several parallel processes, each carried out at different scales and managed by different stakeholders.
The goal of this chapter is to outline a method of conceptualizing the components of, and interdependencies between technologies which comprise a system. Within a system boundary, technical and operational responsibilities can be identified to improve the overall system efficiency to remove gaps and redundancies.
The chapter begins with a short description of the system components, elaborates the concept of linking components into a system, and finally discusses the importance of system boundaries and their implications for system management.