DOCSLIB.ORG

Amsurb2x – 2.4.3 Sanitation in the Absence of Infrastructure Hi

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Amsurb2x – 2.4.3 Sanitation in the Absence of Infrastructure Hi AMSURB2x – 2.4.3 Sanitation in the Absence of Infrastructure Hi! Let’s talk about a very urgent and health-threatening situation: the living conditions in Nairobi's infamous slum called Kibera. It is the largest urban slum of Africa. As the settlement was considered illegal from its outset, the government did not supply Kibera with public services like electricity, water, or sanitation infrastructure. And in a densely-populated area of about 2000 people per square kilometre, the area now lacks the space to build any. Kibera is said to be the birthplace of what is now called the infamous flying toilet. In this video we will introduce you to the Flying Toilets and the problems for environmental health they convey. We will introduce you to the biodegradable Pee Poo Bags that are considered a solution to these problems. Both plastic bags may help us answer the questions: What do people do when there is no toilet? And what does it take to arrange improved forms of sanitation in urban slums? So, what is actually a flying toilet? Flying toilets are a peoples’ emergency solution for a sheer lack of sanitation options in a densely-populated slum. A flying toilet is a thin plastic bag in which people relieve themselves before the bags end up in huge piles or start blocking the ditches in the area. This causes major environmental problems as well as health problems for the hundreds of thousands of people living in Kibera and even those beyond its borders. So, how could the situation in Kibera be improved? One solution that has been suggested and tested in Kibera is the Pee Poo bag. A Swedish NGO that has produced and distributed Pee Poo bags describe them as personal single-use, self-sanitising and fully biodegradable toilets. The material of the bags inactivates pathogens and breaks down the faeces, so that it turns the waste into fertilizer. The bags should therefore be collected and reused in urban agricultural sites. Now the Pee Poo organization wants to get the Pee Poo listed as “improved sanitation”. That term was coined by UNICEF and the World Health Organization in 2002, to help monitor the progress towards Millennium Development Goal Number 7 on access to improved sanitation. So far, the Pee Poo bag is not part of the list of improved sanitation solutions. The question is: should it be? Jan, what do you think about Pee Poo bag from an environmental technology perspective? Well, basically the Pee Poo bag is another fancy name for a flying toilet. The difference is that it should be part of an organised system and that the bag is made of a special bio- plastic. Compared to the conventional sanitation system, you could call the Pee Poo bag the toilet. The collection system for the bags can be considered as the sewers and the specific bio-plastic can be considered the treatment. The common feature of all improved sanitation systems is that human excreta are sealed and that the danger of exposure to those excreta including the possible pathogens is minimised. For the Pee Poo bag the collection system and the design of the bags are crucial to guarantee that. For this case, the collection system is not a technical system but mostly a social system. And Bas, what could you say about that? Well, two points actually. First of all: it is striking that the Pee Poo bag places our emphasis on toilets again, rather than on the waste and water chain. Indeed, a Pee Poo bag can only function if it is part of a whole socio-technical system, created and handled by both users and providers. This system does not only include collection, but also production and retail of the bags and reuse of the material as fertilizer by farmers. But this logistics part seems underdeveloped and lacks the support of public utility services. Secondly, I wonder how the Pee Poo bag will be received by its users. Do they indeed see it as a relief for the problem of lack of access to clean toilets? Or would they feel offended, as the Pee Poo bag - even when it is introduced as part of a whole system - in fact tells them a plastic bag is the only feasible sanitation they can get? This is a question about dignity. So, the Pee Poo bag urges us to think about the question: what is actually proper sanitation? The technical answer to this question is that proper sanitation is a system that prevents exposure to human excreta and associate pathogens. In that strict sense, the Pee Poo bag system as the basic elements of a sanitation system. Namely, a toilet in combination with a system that prevents exposure to human excreta. But the technical answer is not the only one. When evaluating the Pee Poo bag, or any other sanitation solution, we should consider the entire sanitation chain. In this case, the chain includes indicators for the production, the distribution, the use, the collection and reuse of Pee Poo bags. Beyond that, the acceptance of the new sanitation solution by people in the slum like Kibera, and issues such as safety, comfort and dignity should be part of any co-creation process for improved sanitation. .
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Adoption and Use of Self Sanitizing Biodegradable
    ADOPTION AND USE OF SELF SANITIZING BIODEGRADABLE TOILET BAGS IN KIBERA SLUMS, NAIROBI COUNTY, KENYA FAITH WANJIKU NDERITU (B.A) N50/CTY/PT/24897/2011 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of Master’s Degree in Environmental Studies (Community Development) in the School of Environmental Studies of Kenyatta University October 2015 ii DECLARATION iii DEDICATION This work is dedicated to my parents Aaron Nderitu Wambugu and Miriam Wambugu for their support towards my education. iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT First and foremost, I would want to thank God for enabling me to finish the study. Special thanks to my husband Jamlick Ng‟ang‟a for providing financial and moral support throughout the study. My sincere thanks go to my supervisors, Dr. Joseph K. Muriithi and Professor Aggrey D.M for their academic guidance and support throughout the study. Moreover, I would like to acknowledge the entire staff of Peepoople for providing information that guided my study. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my brother Solomon Gichuki for his financial commitment towards my studies. Last and not least, I would like to appreciate the resident of Silanga and Laini Saba for their participation, of which without their voluntary support, I would not have obtained the data. v TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .............................................................................................................................ii DEDICATION .............................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Public Toilets CHAMPIONING DELIVERY MODELS THAT WORK Public Disclosure Authorized
    Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized shared and public toilets CHAMPIONING DELIVERY MODELS THAT WORK Public Disclosure Authorized Rachel Cardone Alyse Schrecongost Rebecca Gilsdorf Public Disclosure Authorized About the Water Global Practice Launched in 2014, the World Bank Group's Water Global Practice brings together nancing, knowledge, and implementation in one platform. By combining the Bank's global knowledge with country investments, this model generates more repower for transformational solutions to help countries grow sustainably. Please visit us at www.worldbank.org/water or follow us on Twitter @WorldBankWater. About the Citywide Inclusive Sanitation Initiative The Water Global Practice, in conjunction with sector partners, has developed an approach to urban sanitation termed Citywide Inclusive Sanitation (CWIS). This comprehensive approach aims to shift the paradigm around urban sanitation interventions by promoting a range of technical solutions that help ensure everyone in a city bene ts from safely managed sanitation service delivery. The CWIS approach integrates nancial, institutional, regulatory and social dimensions, requiring that cities demonstrate political will and technical and managerial leadership to identify new and creative ways of providing sanitation services for all. shared and public toilets CHAMPIONING DELIVERY MODELS THAT WORK Rachel Cardone, Alyse Schrecongost, and Rebecca Gilsdorf © 2018 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet: www.worldbank.org This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board of Executive Directors, or the governments they represent.
    [Show full text]
  • Have You Ever Heard of Kibera?
    Spiritan Magazine Volume 33 Number 3 Fall Article 10 Fall 2009 Have you ever heard of Kibera? Eamonn Mulcahy Follow this and additional works at: https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc Recommended Citation Mulcahy, E. (2009). Have you ever heard of Kibera?. Spiritan Magazine, 33 (3). Retrieved from https://dsc.duq.edu/spiritan-tc/vol33/iss3/10 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Spiritan Collection at Duquesne Scholarship Collection. It has been accepted for inclusion in Spiritan Magazine by an authorized editor of Duquesne Scholarship Collection. Spiritan missionary in Kenya Have you ever heard of Kibera? Eamonn Mulcahy CSSp here are many slums and shanty-towns, favelas and an unplanned, higgledy-piggledy patchwork of shacks and bidonvilles spread around the world. Kibera is one of huts, and make-shift dwelling places of wood, plastic and Tthem. It is a slum. But not just any slum. They say that cardboard, on rough hilly terrain, with no tarmac roads, Kibera is the second largest slum on earth, the biggest in mountains of refuse and rubbish strewn all around, with raw Africa and still continually growing in population. It is just one sewage cascading down the sides of every path. The one- of five slums within the city of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and only a few kilometres from Spiritan House where I live and work. Easily an average of 6 or 7 people live Though geographically so close to the city-centre, socially, in each one-roomed hut, sleeping on the Kibera is a different planet compared to downtown Nairobi, a city of 4 million people, where a socio-economic apartheid same bed which also serves as a sofa flourishes.
    [Show full text]
  • Sanitation Options
    MIT OpenCourseWare http://ocw.mit.edu 11.479J / 1.851J Water and Sanitation Infrastructure in Developing Countries Spring 2007 For information about citing these materials or our Terms of Use, visit: http://ocw.mit.edu/terms. On-site Sanitation Brian Robinson and Susan Murcott Week 12 - MIT 11.479J / 1.851J Water and Sanitation Infrastructure in Developing Countries Mass. Institute of Technology May 8, 2007 On-site Sanitation • Sanitation ladder: options in sanitation • Ecological Sanitation • Case Study: Ecosan in Kenya Improved sanitation • connection to a public sewer • connection to septic system • pour-flush latrine • simple pit latrine • ventilated improved pit latrine The excreta disposal system is considered “adequate” if it is private or shared (but not public) and if it hygienically separates human excreta from human contact. "Not improved“ = service or bucket latrines (where excreta are manually removed), public latrines, latrines with an open pit. Sanitation “Ladder” Technology Hygiene 1. Open defecation, “flying toilet” 2. “Cathole” burial 3. Pit latrine 4. VIP 5. EcoSan 6. Pour-flush 7. Water-sealed toilets + neighborhood wastewater collection 8. Water-sealed toilets + neighborhood wastewater collection + treatment 1. No Poop sanitation *S. Murcott (T.P.) 2. “Cathole” burial Sanitation “Ladder” Technology Hygiene 1. Open defecation, “flying toilet” 2. “Cathole” burial 3. Pit latrine 4. VIP On-site sanitation 5. EcoSan 6. Pour-flush 7. Water-sealed toilets + neighborhood wastewater collection 8. Water-sealed toilets + neighborhood wastewater collection + treatment 3. Pit latrine – with pit Drainage? 3. Pit Latrine, No Pit 4. Ventilated Fly screen improved Air (ventilation) pit latrine (VIP) Vent pipe Seat cover A dry latrine system, with a screened vent pipe Pedestal to trap flies and often Pit collar Cover slab (May be extended to with double pits to base of pit in poor allow use on a ground conditions) permanent rotating basis.
    [Show full text]
  • Investigation Into Methods of Pit Latrine Emptying April 2009
    WRC PROJECT 1745 Management of sludge accumulation in VIP latrines Investigation into Methods of Pit Latrine Emptying April 2009 by Mark O’Riordan Mark O’Riordan Investigation of Methods of Pit Latrine Emptying Page - i Executive Summary Improving sanitation is now increasingly being recognized as a key factor in ending poverty; providing basic sanitation has been included in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) under target 10 of halving the proportion of people without access to adequate basic sanitation by 2015. In an attempt to reach this MDG target many developing countries have embarked on the construction of pit latrines and improved sanitation in people’s homes. An emerging challenge that is resulting from this work is what to do when the latrines are full. If they are to be emptied how should the waste be extracted, where should the waste go and what should be done to it and with it? The approaches to meeting this question are the focus of this report. The report aims to summarise all information currently available to PID resulting from; • General research • Durban’s pit latrine emptying programme • Work with the Vacutug on loan from UN Habitat • A visit to UN Habitat in Nairobi • Site visit to Vacutug facilitating charity Maji na Ufanisi working in Kibera, Nairobi • Design and development work on the ‘Gobbler’ The main part this report is a fairly high level introduction to the issue of faecal sludge management. Where details and information have been readily available the report goes into further depth. A large section of this report focuses on assessment of the United Nations Vacutug project in an attempt to build guidance for the development of a successful latrine exhausting system.
    [Show full text]
  • Today's Marking of the UN World Toilet Day May Not Attract a Lot Of
    November 17, 2009 Dear Editor, THE WORLD TOILET DAY - LET’S TALK ABOUT SH!T World Toilet Day, today (November 19), may pass unnoticed largely owing to lack of awareness of such a day. So, what is World Toilet Day for? It seeks to promote good toilet behavior and raise awareness on the effects of poor hygiene on people’s health. This year’s theme is ‘health of your child begins in the toilet’. It aims to raise awareness on the effects of faecal-oral contamination on children. This simply means how ‘eating shit’ can lead to contracting diarrhoeal diseases such as dysentery and cholera, and lead to death of children. It also contributes to absenteeism from school. Over 2.6 billion of the world population do not have proper toilet facilities. Worse still, even those with proper toilet facilities do not wash their hands properly after shitting. In Kenya, about 20 million people do not have proper toilet facilities. They defecate in the open or in a juala (flying toilet). Over 85% of Kenyans do not properly wash their hands after shitting. The implication? Four out of every five people you shake hands with today will most likely leave some human shit in your hands! As Kenyans, we worry a lot about where and how to get water, food, shelter and good health. However, when we do eat a meal, how many of us pause to think of where and how we shall dispose of it after it has gone through the digestive system? For a minority (VIPs, political elite, CEOs and the middle class), this is never an issue as toilets are readily available.
    [Show full text]
  • Determinants of Usage of Communal Sanitation Facilities in Informal Settlements of Kisumu, Kenya
    EAU0010.1177/0956247815616732Environment & UrbanizationShort Title 616732research-article2015 Determinants of usage of communal sanitation facilities in informal settlements of Kisumu, Kenya SHEILLAH SIMIYU Sheillah Simiyu is a PhD ABSTRACT Residents of informal settlements in developing countries are faced researcher in the School with various challenges, including a lack of household sanitation facilities, which of Public Leadership at leads to use of alternative methods such as open defecation. The lack of household Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Her PhD sanitation facilities and consequent use of improper methods necessitated the research is on sanitation introduction of communal sanitation facilities in informal settlements as a way of in informal settlements, increasing access to and use of sanitation facilities. However, little is known about and was carried out in their use and effectiveness, particularly in Africa’s informal settlements. This study Kisumu city in Kenya. She used a number of quantitative and qualitative methods to assess determinants has a Master’s degree of use of communal sanitation facilities in informal settlements of Kisumu, in Public Health (MPH) and a Bachelor’s degree a city in Kenya. Findings reveal that factors such as location/siting, inadequate (Honours) in Environmental maintenance, economic aspects, and gender issues influence the use of communal Studies – both from facilities, and they should therefore be included in future sanitation interventions. Kenyatta University, Kenya. Address: School of Public KEYWORDS communal sanitation / informal settlements / Kisumu / sanitation / Leadership, Stellenbosch shared sanitation University, Private Bag X1, Matieland, 7602, Stellenbosch, South Africa; e-mail: Sheillahshie@gmail. I. INTRODUCTION com, [email protected] Informal settlements are faced with various challenges, including a lack of household sanitation facilities.
    [Show full text]
  • Designing the Next Generation of Sanitation Businesses
    DESIGNING THE NEXT GENERATION OF SANITATION BUSINESSES A REPORT BY HYSTRA FOR THE TOILET BOARD COALITION - SEPTEMBER 2014 SPONSORED BY Authors Contributors Jessica Graf, Hystra Network Partner Heiko Gebauer, Eawag Olivier Kayser, Hystra Managing Director Lucie Klarsfeld, Hystra Project Manager Simon Brossard, Hystra Consultant Mathilde Moine, Hystra Junior Consultant To download this Report, visit www.hystra.com For more information on this project, please contact: [email protected] About Hystra Hystra is a global consulting firm that works with business and social sector pioneers to design and implement hybrid strategies, i.e. innovative market-like approaches that are economically sustainable, scalable and eradicate social and environmental problems, and combine the insights and resources of for-profit and not-for-profit sectors. For more information, visit www.hystra.com ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors of this Report would like to thank the Sponsors that made this work possible. Integrating their different perspectives has been critical in shaping meaningful recommendations for the sector. We also want to thank the social entrepreneurs who shared Nageshwara Charitable Trust (NCT), Sanishop India, their innovative work, and the experts who contributed eKutir: Rita Bhoyar, Mukund Dhok, HMB Murthy insights over the course of this study. Your support and (Nageshwara Charitable Trust), R. Subramaniam Iyer, commitment are deeply appreciated. Sundeep Vira (WTO), KC Mishra (eKutir), Tripti Naswa (Sattva) In addition, the authors would like to acknowledge that the SOIL/Re.source: Sasha Kramer, Leah Page work presented in the Report builds on the research work WaterSHED: Phav Daroath, Aun Hengly, Lyn Mclennan, undertaken by the Toilet Board Coalition, a global business- Geoff Revell led alliance that aims to promote market-based solutions X-Runner: Jessica Altenburger, Isabel Medem to sanitation and bring them to scale.
    [Show full text]
  • A Guide to Sanitation and Hygiene for Those Working in Developing Countries
    GLOBAL DRY TOILET CLUB OF FINLAND TAMPERE POLYTECHNIC University of Applied Sciences 1 A GUIDE TO SANITATION AND HYGIENE FOR THOSE WORKING IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES Sari Huuhtanen Ari Laukkanen Revised english edition by 2 Mika Korkeakoski TAMPERE POLYTECHNIC - University of Applied Sciences Publications TAMPERE 2006 Updated version 1 ISBN 952-5264-49-1 Sari Huuhtanen Ari Laukkanen A GUIDE TO SANITATION AND HYGIENE FOR THOSE WORKING 3 IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES GLOBAL DRY TOILET CLUB OF FINLAND TAMPERE POLYTECHNIC University of Applied Sciences CONTENTS Foreword ...................................................................................................................................................3 1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................................4 1.1. Definition of sanitation ........................................................................................................4 1.2. Ecological sanitation .............................................................................................................5 1.3. Water and sanitation situation of the world ..................................................................6 1.4. United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals ..........................................................9 2. Infectious diseases ............................................................................................................................. 11 2.1. How do diseases spread ....................................................................................................12
    [Show full text]
  • Turning Waste Into Resources in Haiti
    City University of New York (CUNY) CUNY Academic Works Capstones Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism 12-31-2014 Turning Waste into Resources in Haiti Alexis Barnes How does access to this work benefit ou?y Let us know! More information about this work at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu/gj_etds/41 Discover additional works at: https://academicworks.cuny.edu This work is made publicly available by the City University of New York (CUNY). Contact: [email protected] Alexis K. Barnes Turning Waste into Resources May Save Haiti or 14 years, Marline Jean did not have a toilet Fin her home. She used one of the many ways residents of Cap-Haitien without toilets relieve themselves: pit latrines, open defeCation, or the “flying toilet” method, where exCrement-filled plastic bags are thrown into ditches or trash piles. Even in the Haitian Capital 156 miles away, only 33.7 percent of Port-au-PrinCe’s 3 million residents have aCCess to improved sanitation facilities, like toilets or latrines, according to UNICEF. The toilets that are available usually empty, untreated, into rivers. Now, when Jean Climbs the wooden ladder to her concrete roof, a blue plastic port- o-potty houses her Composting toilet. Ten feet away, she has a garden where she grows vegetables, the soil a rich and fertile product of the toilet. It is urban gardening, on a small scale. “I am very happy about getting this garden and this toilet, beCause everyone who Comes here and goes to use the toilet always have a lot of questions about it,” said Jean.
    [Show full text]
  • Environmental Implications of Commercializing Public Toilets and Latrines in Kakamega Town
    IOSR Journal of Humanities And Social Science (IOSR-JHSS) Volume 25, Issue 12, Series 11 (December. 2020) 01-07 e-ISSN: 2279-0837, p-ISSN: 2279-0845. www.iosrjournals.org Environmental Implications of Commercializing Public Toilets and Latrines in Kakamega Town Okanga Mutambi Philip1, Immonje M. Magaret1, Sylvester Makhulo1 1Department of Geography, Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology. Kenya. Abstract Background. Waste management has been and continues to be a major challenge facing urban growth (Chadwic, 1842). Absence of basic sanitation facilities results in an unhealthy environment and contributes to illness and death (United Nations, 2007). Objective. This study sought to establish the environmental implications of commercializing public toilets and latrines in Kakamega Town. Design. The study was a descriptive cross-sectional study utilizing both quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection. Study population. The study was carried out in Kakamega Town with residents of the town and those on transit being included in the sample. A total of 351 participants were enrolled in the study. Analysis. Descriptive statistics for quantitative and qualitative data thematically analyzed. Results. Majority of respondents (59%) were age 21-30 years while the least respondents were above 40 accounting for (8.2%). Males were more (72.4%) than women (27.6%) with 73.2% having attained tertiary level of education. Commercializing public toilets created; a source of income to toilet investors, employment opportunities and ready market space for entrepreneurs. Uncleanliness was a major factor that inhibited the rate of public toilet usage thus most people prefer commercial public toilets due to their high level of hygienic standards and fear free public toilets due to their uncleanliness and security level.
    [Show full text]
  • Sustainable Water Engineering the Authors Dedicate the Book to Their Families and Colleagues Sustainable Water Engineering
    Sustainable Water Engineering The authors dedicate the book to their families and colleagues Sustainable Water Engineering Theory and Practice Ramesha Chandrappa Diganta B. Das This edition first published 2014 © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd Registered office John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, United Kingdom For details of our global editorial offices, for customer services and for information about how to apply for permission toreuse the copyright material in this book please see our website at www.wiley.com. The right of the author to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic books. Designations used by companies to distinguish their products are often claimed as trademarks. All brand names and product names used in this book are trade names, service marks, trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners. The publisher is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.
    [Show full text]