List of abbreviations used in sanitation

This is a list of abbreviations and acronyms commonly used in the sanitation sector or more broadly in the WASH sector.

A

 * AA - Activated alumina
 * ADB - Asian Development Bank
 * ABR - Anaerobic baffled reactor - improved septic tank with baffles, see also Anaerobic digestion and DEWATS
 * ACP - Anaerobic contact process
 * AD - Anaerobic digestion
 * AF - Anaerobic filters, see also Anaerobic digestion
 * AfDB - African Development Bank
 * AfWA - African Water Association
 * AIT - Asian Institute of Technology in Bangkok, Thailand
 * aka or a.k.a. - "also known as"
 * AMCOW - African Ministers’ Council on Water
 * As - Arsenic
 * ATS - Aerobic treatment system
 * AusAID - Australian Agency for International Development
 * AWF - African Water Facility, an initiative of the African Ministers’ Council on Water (AMCOW), hosted and administered by African Development Bank (AfDB)

B

 * BCC - Behavioral change communication
 * BMGF - Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
 * BMZ - Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
 * BOD or BOD5 - Biological oxygen demand (measured for five days)
 * BOP or BoP - Bottom of the pyramid (or base of the pyramid)
 * BOT - Build-operate-transfer
 * BSF - Black soldier fly or Biosand filter
 * BSFL - Black soldier fly larvae

C

 * cap - capita, as per capita (or per person)
 * CAPEX - Capital expenditure
 * CATS - Community approaches to total sanitation, a term coined by UNICEF
 * CBO - Community-based organization
 * CBOD - Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand
 * CBS - Container-based sanitation
 * CCT - Conditional cash transfer
 * CHC - Community Health Clubs
 * CHP - Combined heat and power
 * CLTS - Community-led total sanitation
 * CLUES - Community Led Urban Environmental Sanitation
 * CFU - Colony-forming unit
 * COD - Controlled open defecation
 * COD - Chemical oxygen demand
 * CoP - Community of practice
 * CP - Contact precipitation, see precipitation
 * CSO - Combined sewer overflow or Civil Society Organization (same as Non-governmental organization)
 * CSR - Corporate social responsibility
 * CW - Constructed wetland

D

 * DALY - Disability-adjusted life year
 * DEWATS - Decentralized wastewater treatment system
 * DFID - Department for International Development (United Kingdom)
 * DNA - Deoxyribonucleic acid
 * DO - Dissolved oxygen
 * DRC - Democratic Republic of the Congo
 * DRR - Disaster risk reduction

E

 * Ecosan - Ecological sanitation
 * EC - Electrical conductivity
 * Eh - Redox potential
 * EIA - Environmental impact assessment
 * EM - Effective microorganisms
 * EN - European standards (the N stands for Normalisation in French), e.g. EN 12566
 * EPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency
 * EPS - Extracellular polymeric substances
 * EQND - Equality and nondiscrimination
 * ESARO - East and Southern Africa Region
 * EU - European Union

F

 * FAO - Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
 * FAQ - Frequently asked questions
 * FC - Fecal coliforms
 * FECR - Fecal egg count reduction; closest article is on anthelmintic
 * FFS (or F4S) - Fit for School
 * FGD - Focus group discussion; closest article may be Qualitative psychological research
 * FGM - Female genital mutilation
 * FOAM - Focus on Opportunity, Ability and Motivation
 * FS - Fecal (or faecal) sludge; closest article is septage
 * FSM - Fecal (or faecal) sludge management
 * FSSM - Fecal sludge and septage management
 * FSTP - Fecal sludge treatment plant
 * FTI - Faecally-transmitted infections; closest article is fecal–oral transmission

G

 * GAP - Good agricultural practices
 * GHG - Greenhouse gases
 * GIZ - Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit
 * GLAAS - UN-Water Global Analysis and Assessment of Sanitation and Drinking-Water
 * GPS - Global positioning system
 * GSF - Global sanitation fund, closest page is Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council

H

 * HACCP - Hazard analysis and critical control points
 * hab. - inhabitant or user, used in design parameters of wastewater treatment, e.g. 60 g BOD/hab.
 * HAI - Hospital-acquired infection
 * HCF - Health care facility
 * HEDF - Human excreta derived fertiliser (see reuse of excreta)
 * HEW - Health Extension Worker
 * HH - Household
 * HIA - Health impact assessment
 * HQ - Headquarters
 * HRWS - Human right to water and sanitation
 * HWF - Handwashing facility

I

 * ICT - Information and communications technology
 * IDP - Internally displaced person, often used as "IDP camp"
 * IEC - Information, education, communication; closest article may be Behavior change (public health)
 * INR - Indian rupee, currency in India
 * IWRM - Integrated water resources management

J

 * JMP - Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation of WHO and UNICEF

K

 * KAP - Knowledge, attitude and practice
 * kL (or Kl) - Kilo liters (or 1000 liters, same as 1 cubic meter)
 * KM - Knowledge management
 * Ksh - Kenyan shilling, currency in Kenya
 * KVIP - Kumasi ventilated-improved pit, closest article is Pit latrine

L

 * L - Lakh, used for one hundred thousand in India
 * L - Liter (or litre in British English spelling)
 * LCC - Life-cycle cost, see Whole-life cost or Life-cycle cost analysis
 * LCCA - Life-cycle cost analysis
 * LGA - Local government area
 * LMICs - Low and middle income countries
 * LNOB - Leave no one behind
 * lpcd - Liters per capita per day (liters per person per day), e.g. for daily wastewater flowrate

M

 * MBBR - Moving Bed Biofilm Reactor
 * MBR - Membrane bioreactor
 * MCA - Multiple criteria analysis, see Multiple-criteria decision analysis
 * MCDA - Multiple-criteria decision analysis
 * MDA - Mass drug administration
 * MDG - Millennium Development Goal
 * M&E - Monitoring and evaluation
 * MENA - Middle East and North Africa
 * MFC - Microbial fuel cell
 * MFI - Microfinance institution
 * mg - Milligram
 * μg - Microgram
 * MHM - Menstrual hygiene management
 * ML - Megaliter or 1 million liter or 1000 cubic meters
 * MLD - Million liters per day
 * MOH - Ministry of health (see also List of health departments and ministries)
 * MOOC - Massive open online course
 * MOS - Manual of style, see also: MOS for WikiProject Sanitation
 * MoU - Memorandum of understanding
 * MoUD - Ministry of Urban Development
 * MSW - Municipal solid waste

N

 * NBA - Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan in India, formerly called "Total Sanitation Campaign" (TSC) - not to be confused with CLTS
 * NGO - Non-governmental organization
 * NIMBY - Not In My Back Yard
 * NRW - Non-revenue water
 * NSS - Non-sewered sanitation (similar term to fecal sludge management)
 * NTDs - Neglected tropical diseases

O

 * OBA - Output based aid
 * OD - Open defecation
 * ODA - Official development assistance
 * ODK - Open Data Kit
 * O&M - Operation and maintenance
 * ODF - Open defecation free, i.e. a community without open defecation taking place
 * OP - Omni Processor
 * OPEX - Operational expenditure (or operating expense)
 * ORP - Oxidation reduction potential
 * ORT - Oral rehydration therapy

P

 * PbR - Payment by results
 * PC - Preventive chemotherapy; closest article is helminthiasis
 * PFU - Plaque-forming unit
 * PHC - Primary health centre
 * PIM - Post implementation monitoring; no article yet, see WASH
 * PMU - Project management unit
 * PSP - Public sector participation, see also Public–private partnership
 * PVC - Polyvinyl chloride
 * PPP - Public private partnership
 * ppm - Parts per million
 * ppb - Parts per billion

Q

 * QA/QC - Quality assurance / quality control
 * Q&A - Question and answer, see also FAQ
 * QMRA - Quantitative Microbiological Risk Assessment

R

 * RBF - Results-based financing, see also Output based aid or Payment by Results
 * RCT - Randomized controlled trial
 * R&D - Research and development
 * RNA - Ribonucleic acid
 * RRR - Resource Recovery and Reuse
 * RTI - Reproductive tract infection
 * RTTC - Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, an R&D funding scheme by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
 * RVO - Rijksdienst voor Ondernemend Nederland (Netherlands Enterprise Agency)

S

 * SAR - Sodium adsorption ratio
 * SBA (or SBM) - Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, Clean India Mission or Swachh Bharat Mission
 * SBR - Sequencing batch reactor
 * SDG - Sustainable Development Goal
 * SDG6 - Sustainable Development Goal Number 6: "Clean Water and Sanitation"
 * SFD - Shit Flow Diagram, see example here
 * SHG - Self-help group
 * SLA - Service-level agreement
 * SLB - Service-level benchmarking
 * SLTS - School-led total sanitation, see Community-led total sanitation
 * SME - Small and medium-sized enterprise
 * SMS - Short message service
 * SOP - Standard operating procedure
 * STP - Sewage treatment plant
 * SRHR - Sexual and reproductive health and rights
 * SRT - Solids retention time, see also Activated sludge
 * SS - Suspended solids
 * SSA - Sub-Saharan Africa
 * SSLA - Sanitation Service-level agreement
 * SSP - Sanitation safety planning; closest page might be Water safety plan
 * SuSanA - Sustainable Sanitation Alliance
 * SWASH - School Water, Sanitation and Hygiene, see Water, Sanitation and Hygiene

T

 * T90 - Time at which 90 percent reduction in pathogens is achieved
 * TAF - Technology Applicability Framework
 * ThOD - Theoretical oxygen demand
 * ToR - Terms of reference
 * TSC - Total sanitation campaign in India, now called Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan - not to be confused with CLTS
 * TSS - Total suspended solids (in sanitary engineering) or Toxic shock syndrome (medical field)
 * TSSM - Total Sanitation and Sanitation Marketing
 * TSU - Technical support unit

U

 * UASB - Upflow anaerobic sludge blanket reactor
 * UCD - User-centered design
 * UDDT - Urine-diverting dry toilet
 * UDT - Urine diversion toilet
 * UDFT - Urine Diverting Flush Toilet
 * μg - Microgram
 * ULB - Urban local body
 * UNDP - United Nations Development Programme
 * UNEP - United Nations Environment Programme
 * UNSGAB - United Nations Secretary General's Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation
 * USEPA - United States Environmental Protection Agency
 * UTI - Urinary tract infection

V

 * VIP - Ventilated improved pit latrine
 * VND - Vietnamese Dong (currency in Vietnam)

W

 * WASH or WaSH - Water, sanitation and hygiene
 * WASH2 - Water, sanitation, hygiene and health
 * WatSan - Water and sanitation, used in the same way as WASH
 * WC - Water closet
 * WEF - Water-Energy-Food nexus
 * WG - Working group, e.g. working groups of SuSanA
 * WinS - WASH in schools
 * WHO - World Health Organization
 * WPM - Water point mapping
 * WSP:
 * Water and sanitation program of the World Bank
 * Water safety plan
 * Waste stabilization pond
 * WSUP - Water and sanitation for the urban poor
 * WSH - Water, sanitation, hygiene
 * WSSCC - Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council
 * WTD - World Toilet Day
 * WTP:
 * Water treatment plant
 * Willingness to pay
 * WWD - World Water Day
 * WWTP - Wastewater treatment plant
 * WYSIWYG - What You See is What You Get