Toilets and Urinals

The Big Necessity - The unmentionable world of human waste and why it matters By Rose George

Prakash Kumar, an ecological sanitation consultant with UNICEF/Stockholm Institute provides an update on some recent work on ecological sanitation in India:

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1. We are in the process of supporting I I T Delhi for nutrient recovery project for developing complete process for converting liquid urine in to the crystalline form.
2. We are in the final stage of supporting SCOPE for demonstration of ecosan toilet in a govt. middle school at Musiri, Trichy.
3. Comprehensive evaluation of Tamilnadu ecosan project will be taken up shortly.
4. Last batch of training of CCDU officials have been completed . This year total 5 batches got training on ecosan.

 Biome Solutions, a Bangalore-based company working on sustainable architecture and buildings visited some flood affected areas in Guntur to observe the situation and see the suitability of applying "Ecological Sanitation", a new approach to sanitation. (Search on India Water Portal for "Ecological sanitation" for more information on this). Their report  after their travels can be seen below.

A point of interest is the picture of a flooded toilet. Pit toilets which are the norm in rural areas have the disadvantage that during floods the pit below the toilet (where the human waste accumulates over time) gets flooded and the toilet becomes unusable. The faecal matter can come out of the toilet pan and create a real mess which needs to be cleaned up. 

Read their report at: 

http://biomesolutions.blogspot.com/2009/10/visit-to-flood-affected-areas-in-guntur.html

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We will like to work in India, with the express purpose of helping install toilet facilities in schools, which lack such facilities at the present time.
 

TSC and Ecosan's initiative to bring about sustainable sanitation in India based on technologically advanced and eco friendly approaches towards sanitation, involving NGO, Community and Individual participation. Read more

The survey was done using a closed-ended questionnaire which was administered to key stakeholders including teachers, school children and sometimes the SDMC (School Development and Management Committee) members. All government and aided schools were included in the survey. 

Some of the main findings of the status report on water resources in Tikamgarh and Jhansi districts by Development Alternatives are –

The Water Portal had previously covered ASHWAS, an ambitious water and sanitation survey in Karnataka conducted by Arghyam and partner organisations.

"Innovations in Microfinance" Series

A debate on Private Sector approaches to Water Management for the poor provides a unique opportunity to learn about private sectro microfinance approaches to water management that have been used for a range of purposes from purchasing household water connections and clean water storage units, like rainwater harvesting tanks to the construction of household latrines.

The debate sponsored by the Citi Foundation & Arc Finance is to be held at the New York Asia Society and Museum. The event can also be accessed via a free live video webcast. More details below the fold.

Approximately 1.1 billion people lack clean water supplies and 2.7 billion have no access to proper sanitation. To combat conditions that lead to sickness and disease, low income families across Asia are asking for clean water and improved sanitation to keep their families healthy and productive. Sophisticated modern piped water networks are too expensive for most developing countries and poor people living in the slums often pay 5 to 10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city. Sensing a business opportunity, microfinance organizations are beginning to explore the market for making water more accessible to the poor.