Talking toilets

We all laugh at a bit of toilet humour – but the state of the world’s toilets is really no joke.

In September, the UN adopted new Global Goals on sustainable development and Goal 6 promises adequate, equitable access to water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone everywhere by 2030. In order to achieve this goal, we must ensure we provide context-specific solutions to communities and provide them with the skills and equipment they need to improve their lives.

When it comes to delivering sanitation, there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution. WaterAid works closely with communities to identify the most suitable one for their circumstances and we are consistently learning and developing new technologies and approaches.

Pit toilets and gulpers

Most of the world uses pit toilets – they require only basic technology and are easy to install. But emptying waste is a serious problem. In rural areas, many simply dig a new pit when one is full, but in built up areas, the issue becomes extreme. 

The use of gulpers – hand-operated pumps that suck sewage into a tank ready for transfer – has seen huge success. Gulpers are cheap, and can be fitted onto motorbikes to access even the narrowest alleys. Once the sewage has been extracted, a Decentralised Wastewater Treatment System (DEWAT) breaks down the waste into safe by-products of fertiliser and gas. This method has also supported entrepreneurship in people like Mattius (pictured), who operates a gulper in Tanzania. WaterAid supported Mattius to register as a company, which enabled him to access microfinance and bank loans. His wife uses the gas from the waste he collects and treats as fuel for their house, and Mattius is looking into selling the dried solids to farmers as manure.

Making space for sanitation in India’s slums – the eco-vapour toilet

Those living in urban slums in India face legal issues around ownership which prevents authorities from building the infrastructure that would normally serve a community.
When one woman challenged WaterAid India to provide a toilet that she could install above her 10 x 15 foot home, they looked around for an appropriate solution. Thanks to research conducted in the University of Delaware, they piloted the eco-vapour toilet. A type of drum, it uses a vapour permeable membrane which allows water vapour to escape, speeding up the drying process and leaving only the sludge in a cartridge which can be easily removed to a centralised waste management system.
This works well in built-up areas, as it needs to be kept high up, but at its current small scale it is an expensive solution and we are monitoring whether communities embrace the idea before it is scaled up.

Transforming waste into resource – the EcoSan toilet

In places where water is scarce, or where the water table is high and the risk of groundwater contamination is increased, the EcoSan toilet is proving to be a successful alternative to a pit toilet, with additional benefits. It is a closed system that does not need water and is based on the principle of recovery and recycling of nutrients from excreta to create a valuable resource for agriculture. When the pit of an EcoSan toilet fills up it is closed and sealed and users move to the second pit. After about eight to nine months, the faeces are completely composted to organic manure and can be used on farms.
Although particularly beneficial to areas with very scarce water, the EcoSan works best where there is strong leadership as there can be understandable resistance to handling waste.

Handypods for floating villages in Cambodia

When people living in the Tonlé Sap lake’s floating villages – who number well over 100,000 – need to go to the toilet, they take a boat to a secluded spot on the lake, go into the surrounding forest, or at night may squat off the side of their floating house. This same water around the houses is used to wash dishes and clothes. Young children swim in it.
A company called Wetlands Work! in Cambodia spent years developing the HandyPod to help tackle the sanitation crisis. Resembling a floating garden, or a child’s paddling pool with a garden in it, it contains a man-made wetland filled with water hyacinths.
In the system, a normal porcelain squat toilet on the back of a floating house connects to a drum where the anaerobic (oxygen-less) processes take place. From here, the waste passes through to the HandyPod floating nearby, where the roots of water hyacinths further break down the waste before it passes into the lake.
Last year, WaterAid began partnering with Wetlands Work! to see if this system can be scaled up. Education and behaviour change are important here to convince families to purchase a toilet when defecating in the lake is free, while there are additional challenges with getting all the required materials to remote locations.

While here in the UK, we take ‘spending a penny’ in a safe, clean toilet for granted across the world there are still 2.3 billion people living without this human right. Since 2004 WaterAid has reached 21 million people with improved sanitation, but there is more to do. This World Toilet Day (19 November) we are asking you to help raise awareness of this shocking number and help us reach everyone everywhere by 2030. Visit www.wateraid.org/uk/worldtoiletday to find out more.