Resource-Oriented Public Toilets in Developing Countries: Ideas, Design, Operation and Maintenance for Arba Minch, Ethiopia”
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MASTER THESIS Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Science in Environmental Engineering Hamburg University of Technology “Resource-Oriented Public Toilets in Developing Countries: Ideas, Design, Operation and Maintenance for Arba Minch, Ethiopia” Aleksandra Drewko Matriculation number: 33176 Supervised by: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Otterpohl Prof. Dr. oec. publ. Cornelius Herstatt September 2007 “Resource-Oriented Public Toilets in Developing Countries: Ideas, Design, Operation and Maintenance for Arba Minch, Ethiopia” “The conditions here are terrible. There is sewage everywhere. It pollutes our water. Most people use buckets and plastic bags for toilets. Our children suffer all the time from diarrhea and other diseases because it is so filthy.” Mary Akinyi, Kibera, Nairobi, Kenya Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis entitled “Resource-Oriented Public Toilets in Developing Countries: Ideas, Design, Operation and Maintenance for Arba Minch, Ethiopia”. All literal content and quotations from other sources are clearly pointed out and no other sources other than those declared have been used. Aleksandra Drewko Hamburg, 19.09.2007 1 Acknowledgements I gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) for my Master’s Study Course in Germany. I am deeply grateful to Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ralf Otterpohl, for his support in supervising this work, and Prof. Dr. oec. publ. Cornelius Herstatt, my second supervisor, thank you both for your support, assistance and help. I would also like to thank Dipl.-Ing. Franziska Meinzinger and Dipl.-Ing. oec. M. Sc. Dominic de Vries for their advice, valuable contributions, patience and kindness during the course of the work, thank you both. With the kindness and contributions of the people who provided me with useful information at the time of working on this thesis, I would not have been able to obtain the data used in this work. Therefore, I would like to thank: Patrick Bracken, Paul Calvert, George Anna Clark, Linus Dagerskog, Madeleine Fogde, Mayling Simpson-Hebert, Richard Holden, Elisabeth von Muench, Michael Oketch Omwodo, Moyin, Almaz Terrefe, Mekonnen Tesfaye and other members of the EcoSanRes discussion forum. I would also like to thank my family and friends who supported me all through the course of this work. 2 Abstract The sanitation crisis in the developing world calls for action. Inadequate sanitation or lack of access to sanitation poses a great threat to human health, taking a heavy death toll especially on children, and degrades the environment. On the other hand, good sanitation saves lives and prevents degradation of the environment. In most of the developing countries, it is common practice for people to answer the call of nature in the open field or use so-called “flying toilets”, which results in a poor sanitary, health and environmental situation. The conventional sanitation approach, such as “drop and store” (e.g. pit latrines) or “flush and discharge” systems, is not suitable for addressing the need for sanitary services in developing countries. First of all, they create environmental problems, such as groundwater pollution, pits are often not emptied and overflow, and sewage is not treated or only partially before being discharged into water bodies. They only contain human excreta, not allowing for reuse of nutrients. Moreover, they are not suitable for conditions found in developing countries (e.g. high congestion, high groundwater table, poor soil condition, lack of infrastructure, etc.). Last but not least, “flush and discharge” systems are expensive and most communities in developing countries cannot afford them. Ecological sanitation is a good alternative to the conventional approach. It is sustainable, inexpensive, offers a variety of technological options that can answer different local needs, prevents pollution through containment, sanitization of urine and feces and allows for reuse of nutrients. The work discussed here involved drafting a concrete project for a resource-oriented public toilet in the city of Arba Minch, Ethiopia, which is located about 500 km south from the capital city, Addis Ababa. The city has a poorly established infrastructure, a growing population, and its sanitary situation, solid waste and wastewater management is rather poor. The majority of the town population use dry pit latrines and pit emptying is one of the problematic issues. Most houses use temporary toilets, as they call them due to their poor construction. Also, gorges and jungle sites are potential open defecation areas and solid waste disposal sites. Public toilets are a very important sanitation issue. There are only two public VIP toilets in the city and they are not even present in the vicinity of the markets or bus station. Inadequate access to clean water, poor environmental sanitation and malnutrition are the major factors contributing to problems of water-borne (diarrhea, gastritis) and water-washed (skin) diseases in the city. Thus, apart from other burning problems that the city is facing, the municipality needs help in designing an appropriate public toilet system. The location for the public toilet to be built was chosen next to the bus station in kebele eleven, and there were two designs considered. Urine-diverting toilets were chosen instead of pour-flush toilets with anaerobic digestion. The reason for the choice was mainly the simplicity of building the units, and no need for effluent sludge management that would be required in case anaerobic digestion was employed. Based on estimations, it was decided that five toilet units would be built to serve 300 visitors daily. Harvested urine and feces would be sold to local farmers and users would pay 0.2 Birr for each visit. Investment costs would be covered by a loan provided by a local finance institution. Financial analysis of the project showed that the public toilet complex would make a profit, allowing for repayment of the loan within the first four years of operation. However, a very important issue shown by the sensitivity analysis of the project revealed that the public toilet complex must involve other means of generating income on top of providing toilets. The study showed that allowing for advertisements on the toilet cubicles, providing a showering facility or selling travel accessories should be practiced. In conclusion, sanitation systems in developing countries cannot be resource intensive and unsustainable because they will not respond to the local problems, but on the contrary, create even more problems. Also, their impact on human and environmental health needs to be taken into account. Thus, locally suitable alternative sanitation options, which consider local conditions and needs of potential users, just like the urine-diverting toilets used for the public toilet project in Arba Minch, must become the focus, especially for developing countries. 3 Table of contents Declaration……………………………………………………………………………………. 1 Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………………... 2 Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………... 3 Table of contents………………………………………………………………………………. 4 List of acronyms………………………………………………………………………………. 6 List of figures………………………………………………………………………………….. 7 List of tables…………………………………………………………………………………… 9 Chapter 1: Sanitation – definition, importance, problems, and different approaches.............. 10 1.1. Definition of sanitation............................................................................................. 10 1.2. Importance of sanitation........................................................................................... 10 1.3. Water-borne diseases................................................................................................ 13 1.4. The sanitation crisis.................................................................................................. 15 1.5. United Nations Millennium Development Goals and Sustainable Development .... 17 1.6. How people deal when nature calls in developing countries: examples of bad practice ................................................................................................................................. 19 1.7. Challenges to be tackled in the sanitation sector in developing countries ............... 22 1.8. Different approaches to sanitation............................................................................ 26 1.8.1. The real costs of “flush and discharge” sanitation approach.................................... 27 1.8.2. Shortcomings of implementing the conventional sanitation approach in developing countries .............................................................................................................................. 28 1.9. Alternative approach to the conventional sanitation................................................ 29 1.9.1. Ecological sanitation ................................................................................................ 29 1.9.2. Importance of recycling of nutrients ........................................................................ 32 1.9.3. Low-cost sanitation .................................................................................................. 34 Chapter 2: The need for public toilets in Africa....................................................................... 36 2.1. Africa- the scope of environmental and health problems......................................... 36 2.1.1. Water supply and sanitation coverage in Africa