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Private sanitation for every family in a village, constructed during one single communal project, increases comfort, decreases child mortality


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Bathroom with toilet
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Introduced at users level Twentyfold cost reduction Applicable within poverty Health Comfort Rural



Why
Comfort and hygiene with a sanitation and bathroom facility, at affordable cost to be constructed for every family in a given village within a few weeks through a communal village project. Easy adjustment to new hygienic habits. Safe handling and reuse of human waste. Sanitation for all will result in immediate reduction of child mortality from intestinal infection.

How
A family unit for bathing and sanitary use, comfortable and nice looking. The toilet is of the double vault dry composting type, separating urine, rinsed by bath water.

  • A comfortable space for bathing, also to be used for sanitation, nice looking, decorated, easy to clean,
  • Sufficient space for a parent to bath a small child and to teach it the proper use of a toilet.
  • Waste water from bathing rinses urine away, minimizing stink and use of flush water.
  • The bathroom/toilet unit can be configured as a composting toilet or to dry-fill a dug out.
  • The cost of the bathroom/toiltet unit is only the cost of one bag of cement. The work can be done by the adults and children of each family with guidance from an instructor.
  • MOST IMPORTANT, the method of construction is adjusted to a communal project. With some guidance of sanitation helpers (like WaterAid) the local carpenter makes a true scale model in wood of the toilet slab, gutter and other parts. Everybody can imagine what it will be like when later copied in concrete. With a special but simple trick an accurate impression or mold of the slab can be made into the dirt. Then concrete with some reinforcement is cast into the mold. Two such slabs and a gutter make one toilet. Personal decoration of the slabs is done by putting colored stones or bits of tiles in the mold before the concrete is poured over it.
  • MOST IMPORTANT, with the one wooden model of the slab all the cast forms for all the families around can be made within a few weeks.Thus ALL the families then own a private bathroom sanitation unit of high quality.
    When ALL the families in a neighbourhood use their own toilet this results in a far less illness, specially with children. If only a small part of the total number of families would be left out, this life-saving health improvement could not be attained.
  • How to instruct the user of the bathroom with toilet?
    It is not clear how users should best be instructed of how to use the toilet. The following options are concidered:
    - Children are instructed at school (preferably the local school takes the lead with improving sanitation).
    - At home it is the task of the mother to instruct and guide the children and female visitors.
    - It is the task of the man at home to instruct male visitors. He should supervise the proper hygienic condition of the toilet. When the feces is to be composted, he should take care in time of changing from the use of the one container to the other.
    - If feces is not reused, he should plan in time to dig a new pit and plan the move of the bathroom-toilet unit to this new site.
    The Bathroom-Toilet can be used in the way as inspired by the Nonolet of the "Twaalf Ambachten". The BathroomToilet-unit was used like this for many years at Demotech's own workshop.



  • Additional information

    The wooden mold
    Creating a mold
    Creating the gutter
    Finishing concrete
    Mounting parts



    Planned progress
    Construct top slab into three separate parts, of which the side parts are fixed K(to floor, basement or container. The central part with the hole can be taken out for emptying out compost. this part can also be exchanged for a seat in case people are used to sitting. The two concrete parts that will be fixed to the base are produced in one single cast from the mould.



    Internal links

    Large scale reuse of separately collected urine in a modern environment

    Small article published in the Dutch magazine "De Ingenieur" #6, 4/4/03, page 12.
    Large scale separately collection of urine is done in all of the new buildings of the Delft Technical University. Reason is the amount of trouble and cost involved in removing amonia out of waste water, while this amonia should become directly available for agricultural purposes

    2006 Budget for Sanitation in Development by the Dutch govenment

    Official comments on policy and budget of the Dutch policy for 2006 on water and sanitation in development. Read views and plans as to be compared to Demotech's approach on water and sanitation.

    WHO Millennium Goals: Health through safe drinking water and basic sanitation

    Health through safe drinking water and basic sanitation


    Millennium Goals for Water and Sanitation, as copied from above website. This paper highlights the intentions of the WHO. It gives recent data, plans and priorities.

    Sanitation in practice, experiences from a field worker

    How to make good concrete by hand

    This PDF is sadly only available in the Dutch language, but the clear pictures and the numbers given may be readable by English speaking people. Demotech hopes to find other similar info sources and give links at this place.
    This pdf: D036_ConcreteByHand.pdf will soon be made downloadable from this place.

    More on the Why and How of creating comfortable and hygienic bathrooom units

    Summary of the why and how of creating comfortable and hygienic sanitation and comfortable bathing for each family in any given village in only a few weeks by a communally organized approach.



    External Links

    Links related to Urban Farming

    Links related to composting and urine separating toilets

    Links related to organizations and events on urban sanitation

    • On-plot sanitation as in contrast with off-plot sanitation is highlighted by WEDC in their wbsite 'Sanitation Connections'
      http://www.sanicon.net/titles/topicintro.php3?topicId=22
    • The Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, the largest nationally and internationally recognised pan-India social service outfit with 35,000 volunteers on the rolls who work to promote human rights, environmental sanitation, health and hygiene, non-conventional sources of energy, waste management and social reforms through education, training and awareness campaig
      http://www.sulabhinternational.org/

    Links to other relevant information

    • Installation and performance of low-cost polyethylene tube biodigesters on small-scale farms
      Anaerobic digesting as described in this link is not considered in relation to the application of the BathroomToilet-units. This is because of too little waste available per family, potential contamination of surrounding area with human pathogens, reliability and extra work and discipline needed. If any of these factors change, for example a BathroomToilet-unit is used at a cattle farm, this low cost and well tested tube bio-digester as described in this link may be worth to consider.
      http://www.fao.org/ag/AGA/agap/frg/feedback/war/W5256t/W5256t06.htm
    • SaniCon, a portal for sanitation information recources
      Sanitation Connection is an Internet-based resource that gives you access to accurate, reliable and up-to-date information on technologies, institutions and financing of sanitation systems around the world. Institutions of international standing contribute to the information base by providing and maintaining a topic of their specialization.
      The site is structured around several broad themes and regional topics. For visitors interested in further discussion, these themes are developed in greater depth with specific topics, each of which are supported by extensive resources in a seachable database. Additionally, there is a Help Desk for specific queries or feedback, along with a listing of online databases. Finally, please visit the GPA/Sanitation Connection Links Page for GPA relevant information and data, especiallyon municipal wastewater management.
      http://www.sanicon.net/home.php3
    • Rethinking Rural Development
      Availability of proper sanitation is an important factor for rural develoment. But other factors matter as well. For more general infomation on Rural Development go to:
      http://www.demotech.org/design/designB.php?sub=232
    • "The India Water Portal" is for sharing water management knowledge amongst practitioners and the general public. It aims to draw on the rich experience of water-sector experts, package their knowledge and add value to it through technology and then disseminate it to a larger audience through the internet.
    • Ferro cement composting 3-toilet pots system with fly-catching screen: http://ferrocement.com/Compost_Toilet/compost-toilet-elements.en.html
    • Graph of strengh obtained by wire reinforcement of ferro cement walls:
      http://ferrocement.com/construction_Indici/constructionindex.en.html
    • What is basic sanitation? The jargon explained.
      World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) define basic sanitation as:
      � Development and implementation of Household sanitation systems
      � Improvement of sanitation in public institutions, especially in schools
      � Promotion of safe hygiene practices
      � Promotion of education and outreach focused on children, as agents of behavioral change
      Source:Unpacking Definitions, The MDG Target on Sanitation, Millennium Development Task Force on Water and Sanitation
      http://siteresources.worldbank.org/EXTWAT/Resources/4602122-121336629...
    • Send us an email form about any relevant link, that should be added here


    What other people say...

    If you like you can add your own comment

    by markedwardsudhir - Mon Dec 01 (2003)
    agree with your project
    Dear sir, Thankyou for your mail, We have many villages where people do not have any bath room and toilet, they use open ground for toilet and rivers for bathing. Tha is why many are facing physical problems, that is why your this project will be very much helpful for us. For a bath room it will cost $100/- and for toilet $250/- as it cost in our area. When we made it in our house. How much you will support? We have to do in many villages and for many house, who are very poor, who do not have even sufficient money to have food twice in a day. If we will help them I believe, surely God will bless us to bring them in the Church. please pray for it and help according to your process. Waiting to hear from you Thanking you. Sincerely yur's in Him Mr. Mark Edward Sudhir

    by Jayantkumar@vsnl.com - Sun Nov 02 (2003)
    Toilets for poor people
    In India there is an organization called Sulabh International - www.sulabhinternational.org which has done much work in designing and installing low cost toilets. It is an NGO which has also been awarded many contracts for the setting up and operation of public toilets at a large number of public places including tourist and pilgrimage centres.. It operates these toilets at a very nominal charge of Rs. 1 (1 Eouro = Rs. 58 approx.)per use. You may see its website and add a link to it to your projrct on the above subject.

    by Hans Baarslag - Tue Nov 02 (2004)
    dry toilet.
    this bathroomtoilet can also be used as a dry toilet by placing a buckket below the conical hole.By placing an extra piece of paper on top of it and pressing it flat you can use the bucket appr. 50 times before having to empty it on a composting heap.When using it as a composting toilet you have to add carboncontaining material.Making it possible for every family to have their own toilet and their own bathroom is a very good thing.This also helps to prevent diseases spreadng among the people.It is also safer to use and saves a lot of time.It really is a bathroom privy.

    by Hans Baarslag - Tue Nov 02 (2004)
    Bathroom with toilet
    I think this bathroom with toilet is a product excellently suited for a smal enterprise starting with a micro credit.Providers of microcredits can also provide idea,s and businessplans instead of "only" money
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    What name would YOU give to this devise?
    You can assist search machines to find this topic by sending Demotech an email form with one or more appropriate names for this device in your language. Such as: toilet, rural sanitation, droog composteren, dry composting, dorps ontwikkeling, village sanitation programm, on-plot sanitation, .... This is the synonym part...