Septic or soakage pits can be used for secondary treatment.

In rural areas, most sanitation investment, usually for latrines or septic tanks, is undertaken by individual households.

Jordan states that these springs were contaminated by septic tanks and latrine pits at refugee settlements or by wastewater treatment plants.

These include biodigester septic tanks for treatment of domestic sewage anaerobic pond systems for treating agricultural processing wastes and anaerobic sludge reactors for the treatment of food processing waste water.

Between 1994 and 2002, the proportion of homes with improved sanitation services, defined as a lavatory bowl connected to a drainage system, a lavatory connected to a septic tank, or a flush toilet.

While high density urban settlements generally require sewerage networks and waste water treatment facilities, in low density settlements on site sanitation, such as septic tanks with sludge removal, may be an option with significantly lower costs.