5th International Dry Toilet Conference: call for papers

The Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland will organize the 5th International Dry Toilet Conference (DT2015) in Tampere, Finland, in the Tampere University of Applied Sciences on 19th – 22nd of August 2015.

The main theme for DT2015 will be solutions, which will be reflected in all the presentations. The aim of the conference is to discuss concrete ideas and solutions through sessions and workshops, covering topics from ecological sanitation and nutrient cycling to dry toilet technologies and use of excreta as a fertilizer.

You can find the call for papers and register here: http://www.huussi.net/en/activities/dt-2015/

Joint conference on small water/wastewater systems & resource oriented sanitation

12th Specialised Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems and 4th Specialised Conference on Resource Oriented Sanitation
02-04 November 2014, Muscat, Oman
Website: www.iwahq.org/1wr/events/iwa-events/2014/swws-2014.html

Organised by: International Water Association (IWA)

Small water and wastewater treatment plants play an important role in the management of water quality in  rural and small communities to treat their domestic and industrial effluents. Resource oriented sanitation concepts promote ecologically socially and economically sound approaches.

1st International Conference on Terra Preta Sanitation, Hamburg, Germany, 29-30 August 2013

Terra Preta soil. Photo: TUHH

This conference brings together experts from different sectors – water/sanitation, agriculture, soil, energy and health – to share experiences in the new field of Terra Preta Sanitation (TPS). TPS is being promoted as integrated sustainable solution to address poor sanitation, food insecurity, and soil degradation. It is inspired by the discovery of the anthropogenic ancient soils in the Amazon called Terra Preta.

Wherever the Need puts sanitation first (video)

Wherever the Need has produced a simple, but effective sanitation promotion video narrated by Baroness Glenys Kinnock. Wherever the Need is a small UK-based charity with projects in India, Kenya and Sierra Leone.

Their latest activity is the introduction of income-generating ecosan toilets in rural Tamil Nadu, India. The state government is providing 50% subsidy for each ecosan  toilet.

Why Mr Khombe is building ecosan latrines for his neighbours

The poor villagers of Kaniche in Malawi can’t afford to buy fertilizer. That’s why villager elder, Chair of the Village Development Committee, local headman and community mason Mr. Khombe has built 30 ecosan latrines for his neighbours.

Mr. Khombe features in WaterAid’s latest fund raising appeal The Big Dig. The goal is to bring safe water to 134,000 poor people in rural Malawi.

WaterAid field officers Michael Kalane and Nathan Chiwoko are posting live reports from the project area using smartphones and Instagram.

The UK Government, through its UK Aid Match initiative, will double all donations the public gives before 18 September 2012.

First ever National Sustainable Sanitation Conference in Haiti

Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL) and UNICEF are organising Haiti’s first ever National Sustainable Sanitation Conference. It will be held in Port-au-Prince on 12-13 June 2012.

The conference aims to share information about innovative waste treatment technologies such as composting toilets and bio-systems, among NGOs and the Haitian government.

Agenda:

• Overview of National Sanitation Strategy presented by DINEPA’s Sanitation Office (DA)
• Presentations of lessons learned from previous projects and ongoing sustainable sanitation projects in Haiti
• Ateliers focused on different components of sustainable sanitation
• Stakeholder feedback
• Open forum to discuss National Standards for Composting Toilets and Biogas
• Production of a public document summarizing the findings of the conference

SOIL, US-registered non profit, has been promoting ecological sanitation solutions in Haiti since 2006.

For the full announcement and more information go to: www.oursoil.org/national-sustainable-sanitation-conference

The Application of Ecological Sanitation for Excreta Disposal in Disaster Relief

The Application of Ecological Sanitation for Excreta Disposal in Disaster Relief: Experience, Selection and Design; 2012.

• Full-text (pdf)

Katherine Kinsted. Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection.

When responding to an emergency situation, ensuring safe excreta disposal is an urgent priority in the disaster relief effort. Aid organizations typically dig trench or pit latrines, but in some challenging environments, different methods such as ecological sanitation (Ecosan) must be employed. Ecosan is sanitation methods and technologies which promote the safe reuse rather than the disposal of excreta. Currently, Ecosan is mostly implemented in disaster relief for flood-prone areas and locations where excavation is not possible. In addition to meeting the sanitation needs of the affected population, Ecosan can be implemented to allow added benefits such as nutrient recovery, reforestation, and to help begin post-disaster recovery and the transition to peaceful and sustainable development.

Several examples of disaster relief situations where Ecosan methods are employed are investigated. Statistics about these case studies are presented along with successful and challenging aspects of the implementation. Four forms of Ecosan, urine diverting dehydration toilets (UDDT), Arborloo, biodegradable bags and composting toilets are discussed in six countries (Bolivia, Haiti, Chad, Philippines, New Zealand and Bangladesh). UDDTs had the widest extent of implementation and their flexible design makes them a good option for areas where excavation is difficult or there is a high chance of groundwater pollution (such as in flood prone regions). The composting processes offer the best success with reuse of excreta material as compost. Unfortunately though, these processes were quite complicated and do not necessary provide groundwater protection. The Arborloo provided a simpler solution with resource reuse, but this design is unfortunately not appropriate in regions where either excavation is not possible or where high groundwater is present. The Peepoo solution has shown itself to be successful in the preliminary trials, but the design still has many challenges such as cost effectiveness and user-friendliness.

Humanitarian crises and sustainable sanitation: lessons from Eastern Chad

Latrine at Farchana refugee camp, Eastern Chad. Photo: Flickr/Sustainable sanitation

How important is sanitation during a humanitarian crisis? Why is it important to explore ecological and sustainable sanitation? Groupe URD looks at the case of Eastern Chad, an example of a major long-term crisis. From an acute emergency in 2003, the crisis has gone through a number of phases. The appropriateness of aid mechanisms is currently being questioned, with a particular focus on sanitation. Sustainable sanitation can help to improve the quality of life of refugees and IDPs as well as local populations. From this perspective, what lessons from Eastern Chad could be useful in other contexts?

Groupe URD concludes that the long-term success of alternatives to conventional sanitation in Chad, as elsewhere, does not depend on the application of particular technologies: it depends principally on the participation of the future users (from the design to the follow up) both in the building of the facilities and the re-use of products. Rather than reproducing a design, it is important to understand the principles of ecological sanitation in order to be able to adapt them to a particular context. The key ideas to be retained from the Chadian experience – which can be applied in many other contexts – are participation, awareness-raising, pilot projects, training and lesson sharing.

Read the full article by Julie Patinet of Groupe URD and Anne Delmaire of Toilettes du Monde

Source: Humanitarian Aid on the Move newsletter, no. 9, March 2012

WaterAid – Technical handbook: Construction of ecological sanitation latrine

Technical handbook – Construction of ecological sanitation latrine, 2011.

• Download (pdf)

WaterAid

This handbook is the outcome of the ecological sanitation latrine promotion projects carried out by WaterAid’s partners in Nepal: the Environment and Public Health Organisation, Lumanti Support Group for Shelter and Centre for Integrated Urban Development.

UK: Loughborough experts to ‘reinvent the toilet’ in global project

A multi-disciplinary team from the Water Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University led by Professor M.Sohail has won a £250,000 (US$ 408,000) grant in an international competition to “re-invent the toilet” organised by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In the project’s first phase, the team will validate certain key principles to design a toilet, which will recover energy and other valuable resources from human excreta without disposing any hazardous waste that could threaten human and environmental health.

Faeces will be transformed into a highly energetic combustible through a process combining hydrothermal carbonisation followed by combustion. The process will be powered by heat generated during the combustion phase of faeces processing.

The likely results are converting human waste into useful material for energy generation or soil conditioning, including water for hand-washing and other ablutions.

The toilet must be able to work in both single-family and community environments and should cost just pennies a day per person to run.

The WEDC team will present the results of their work to teh Gates Foundation at meeting in August 2012.

Source: Loughborough University, 20 Jul 2011