That is a long time that I'm discussing with different persons the idea of a WC without use of water flush, already developed in some “advanced” countries like whom in North Europe, and now I received a nice article related that I want to share with you.
The issue of water is really big if we consider that a part of the word -the biggest part- is leaving with no access, or limited access, to water..and not just drinkable water but water in general!!
Here, in Africa, the issue is even bigger, because many areas depend from the rainy season to have water for agriculture and also to wash, drink, etc etc....and to fill-in the under-land water canals.
Thanks to climate change, rainy seasons are always smaller and we can say that it is an African plague.
So I think that the idea of reducing the use of water is an important point to develop in Africa and every where, because :
1- the water is a limited resource -not renewable-
2- the bigger users of water is the Occident – and the biggest part of this water is used in an incorrect way and not recycled-
3- the “butterfly effect” links all the parts of the world, it means that if we finish the water in Europe that will affect Asia, Africa, etc etc and vs.
In the reality it has already started with an unknown process of African's water resource privatization, leaded by private non-African companies.
So what is it this idea of new WC?
The idea is based on the environmental principle of recycling everything that it is possible to recycle...it means almost everything!!!! Also human feces -sheet and pee:)-.
How can we do?
Using an alternative WC that looks totally the same of the “normal” one - you will sit comfortable and take a rest- but instead of being linked with the normal sewage, it will be linked with a “reservoir” - big hall...or composter-, and will be “washed” with a mix of soil, cinder, etc., to start a composting process.
The result is that, after one year, you can download the hall and use the compost to fertilize and growing plants.
Of course you can have different standard of this new WC, it depends from how much you can and want to spend. You can have one that mix and throw soil automatically inside -as a normal water flush- but also you can build a simple latrine, that will be filled up with all this mix of soil and feces and, after one year, the external structure will be removed and in the compost you will be able to plant -directly- fruit trees, etc.
I know, I know that the idea is disgusting...the idea of water that we have is that “just” water can wash and pushing away bad smells and dirtiness...but it is not true!
This is a no-smelling process, because the soil,
and the cinder -sometimes also leaves- make a mix that transform the feces in organic compost...it is the same of making a normal compost with organic kitchen waste.
It is a big answer to water problem of developing countries.
For example here in the school where I leave – it is a College to train teacher for rural areas- they built normal toilets - maybe with the hope of having normal water distribution or maybe just to waste a lot of money ?!- and the problem is that you have not water in the water flush but instead you have to put water with a bucket.
The idea of the normal WC is that about 20 Lt of water arrive on the feces with a big pressure and impact...and I can tell you that to make the same thing with the water from a bucket you have to work a lot!!! Considering also that the wheel is far from the house and you waste a lot of energy to collect it, you can understand that to go to toilet is not an easy issue!
The possibility of using a ecologic-WC will be the best solution of this water-energy-wasting process.
But there are other reasons: first of hall the hygiene.
In general, at least in the north of Angola, the villages have not latrine or toilets, not only the houses but in general...there are not toilets...meaning everyone goes to the “bush” - the “savanna”...open space- and defecate...instead to pee, for the men, every place is good...included near door's houses.
So the idea of building latrine, and use them, is really important to reduce the impact and spread of epidemic diseases as cholera, typhus, etc...that here, on malnourished person, can cause death.
The second point is that if is already long and difficult the process to convince village administrator, local administrator - “soba”-, people to help to build and use it...the best is to optimize the process and create a ecologic-latrine to create compost.
Let's now enjoy the article... :)
DEVELOPMENT: FAREWELL TO "FLUSH AND FORGET"
Analysis by Lester R. Brown*
WASHINGTON (IPS) - In urban settings, the one-time use of water to disperse human and industrial wastes is becoming an outmoded practice,made obsolete by new technologies and water shortages.
Water enters a city, becomes contaminated with human and industrial wastes, and leaves the city dangerously polluted. Toxic industrial wastes discharged into rivers and lakes or into wells also permeate aquifers, making water -- both surface and underground -- unsafe for drinking. And their toxic wastes are destroying marine ecosystems, including local fisheries.
The time has come to manage waste without discharging it into the local environment, allowing water to be recycled indefinitely and reducing both urban and industrial demand dramatically.
The current engineering concept for dealing with human waste is to use vast quantities of water to wash it away, preferably into a sewer system where it will be treated before being discharged into the local river. The "flush and forget" system is expensive, water-intensive, it disrupts the nutrient cycle, and it is a major source of disease in developing countries.
As water scarcity spreads, the viability of water-based sewage systems will diminish. Water-based sewage systems take nutrients originating in the soil and typically dump them into rivers, lakes, or the sea.
Not only are the nutrients lost from agriculture, but the nutrient overload has led to the death of many rivers and to the formation of some 200 dead zones in ocean coastal regions. Sewer systems that dump untreated sewage into rivers and streams are a major source of disease and death.
Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment in India argues convincingly that a water-based disposal system with sewage treatment facilities is neither environmentally nor economically viable for India. She notes that an Indian family of five, producing 250 litres of excrement in a year and using a water flush toilet, requires 150,000 litres of water to wash away its wastes.
As currently designed, India's sewer system is actually a
pathogen-dispersal system. It takes a small quantity of contaminated material and uses it to make vast quantities of water unfit for human use, often simply discharging it into nearby rivers or streams.
Narain says both "our rivers and our children are dying." India's government, like that of many other developing countries, is hopelessly chasing the goal of universal water-based sewage systems and sewage treatment facilities -- unable to close the huge gap between services needed and provided, but unwilling to admit that it is not an economically viable option. Narain concludes that the "flush and forget" approach is not working.
This dispersal of pathogens is a huge public health challenge.
Worldwide, poor sanitation and personal hygiene claim 2.7 million lives per year, second only to the 5.9 million claimed by hunger and malnutrition.
Fortunately, there is a low-cost alternative: the composting toilet.
This is a simple, waterless, odorless toilet linked to a small compost facility. Table waste can also be incorporated into the composter. The dry composting converts human fecal material into a soil-like humus, which is essentially odorless and is scarcely 10 percent of the original volume.
These compost facilities need to be emptied every year or so, depending on design and size. Vendors periodically collect the humus and can market it as a soil supplement, thus ensuring that the nutrients and organic matter return to the soil, reducing the need for fertilizer.
This technology reduces residential water use, thus cutting water bills and lowering the energy needed to pump and purify water. As a bonus, it also reduces garbage flow if table waste is incorporated, eliminates the sewage water disposal problem, and restores the nutrient cycle.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now lists several brands of dry toilets approved for use. Pioneered in Sweden, these toilet (END)
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