Eye opening report on Haitian sanitation and what the future holds

the challenge of sanitation

The  International Federation International Federation Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) realease  a 24 page report  titled Haiti: From sustaining lives to sustainable solutions –the challenge of sanitation in July 2010 Special report, six months on • July 2010

Contents are follows

• Top line messages
• Before the earthquake Tentative steps in the face of chronic under-development
  • It’s a dirty job,but somebody has to do it - Case Study
• Six months on: notable achievements, but substitution is not the answer
  • Hygiene promotion at Camp La Piste Case Study
  • Sanitation technicians –doing the work that nobody else wants to do Case Study
• The challenges of the next 6–12 months Taking the frst steps towards sustainable sanitation solutions
  • Making it fun to learn about hygiene Case Study
  • Cleaning up the camps Case Study
• The next ten years Innovation is the key
• Haiti earthquake operation in figures

The  Top line message is as follows

• Sanitation saves lives. Without it, there is a risk of a secondary disaster, in which the people who have survived the earthquake could succumb to preventable disease.
• The IFRC is calling on the international community to recognize sanitation as one of the absolute priorities in Haiti’s reconstruction, and to ensure that sufficient resources are devoted to it.
• The current situation is not sustainable. The IFRC and other agencies providing water and sanitation services on behalf of the Haitian authorities are currently stretched beyond their capacity and mandate.
• Haitian authorities must receive funding and support to build their capacities to provide the improved sanitation services the Haitian population needs and deserves.
• Access to appropriate sanitation is also a dignity and protection issue, particularly for women and children. Community participation is essential to identify ways to ensure that people feel safe when using sanitation facilities – toilets and showers – both at night and in the day.
• Innovative solutions for future sanitation provision are needed. For example research is needed into potential solutions such as small bore sewerage, large-scale composting of waste, or
  establishing biogas production.

They go on to say in  (footnotes are remove here but are  in original pdf)

“…Six months on, a large proportion of sanitation services (and two-thirds of the water trucking) continue to be provided by international partners. This is notsustainable. The IFRC calls upon the international community to recognize sanitation as one of the absolute priorities in Haiti’s reconstruction and ensure that sufficient resources are devoted to it….”

“…Before the earthquake, safe water access was amongst the lowest in Latin America and the Caribbean, nwhilst access to sanitation was amongst the lowest
in the world… “

“…Whilst the IFRC works mainly in larger camps and neighbourhoods, other agencies and NGOs are working in small camps that are not accessible to
larger de-sludging machines. They have also taken this “improve on what exists” approach, consulting with camp dwellers to learn and build upon their own practices. They are currently piloting a number of different options. These include field-testing the distribution and safe collection of biodegradable bags in locations where there appears to be no other viable solution (for example, no space for more conventional toilets), installing toilets that use little or no water, and investigating options to introduce manual de-sludging pumps that would improve upon the bayacou system of toilet clearance used prior to the earthquake…..”

“There are huge challenges in meeting the long-term sanitation needs for Haiti, but at the same time great opportunities exist to make substantial improvements
to the sanitary environment of Port-au-Prince and beyond. The key is to support the Haitian authorities in investigating and putting in place pioneering sanitation solutions. The crucial starting point is to ensure that equal importance, support and funding is channeled to sanitation as well as the provision of water in tackling the long-term rebuilding of Haiti…”

“…Investment in formative research is needed now  in areas such as the barriers and motivational factors to achieving improved sanitation within Haitian society,
the ability and willingness to pay for it, and whether there is an openness to adopt innovations such as the agricultural use of human-derived fertiliser or the conversion of excreta into energy through biogas production. All these issues must be properly researched, together with a better understanding in how to carry out urban mass sanitation, given that most experience to date stems from rural and peri-urban situations.

Haiti is still in the first phase of recovering from the devastating effects of the 12 January earthquake, but now is the time to look forward – to the next six months and also to the next 10 or 20 years. The decisions made now will have the most profound influence in helping the country deliver a prosperous future for its citizens. Making sure that sanitation is given equal priority and funding
to the provision of water – and seizing opportunities to put in place innovative long-term approaches to solid and human waste management in Haiti requires immediate action, research and planning.”

PDF LINK

DRY TOILET 2009 Conference proceedings and presentations

The proceedings from the DRY TOILET 2009 conference held by Global Dry Toilet Association of Finland are  available   They are  a great resource and available at  http://huussi.net/tapahtumat/DT2009/full.html

The summary  is also avaliable in  – suomi (Finish) and Russian as a pdf

The Suomi version of the  home page is http://www.huussi.net/

Session	Presentations & Country Focus
1 PROMOTING ECOLOGICAL SANITATION IN ORDER TO ACHIEVE MDG’S
“Composting Toilet – The Bangalore, India experience” Sustainable sanitation in Namibia’s lowest income urban areas: “The potential of composting toilets” “To dry or not to dry?-People matter in scaling up dry sanitation” “Dry Toilets in Tajikistan” “Sustainable sanitation beyond Taps & Toilet” “Prevalence of Ecological sanitation uptake and associated factors in Kabale municipality, Uganda”		India, Namibia, Finland, Tajikistan, Nepal, Uganda
2 HEALTH AND SAFETY ASPECTS RELATED TO DRY SANITATION
“Toilets and health throughout history” “The public health safety of using human excreta from urine diverting toilets for agriculture: The Philippine experience” “Dry Toilet – A boon to rural community” “Ecological sanitation: inactivation of pathogens in faeces from dry toilet – grey water disposal” “From pit latrine to a safe and sustainable toilet.” “Possible public health implication of excreta re-use in poorly sanitated rural farming communities of Ebonyi state, South-East Nigeria”		Philippines, India, Argentina, Belarus, Nigeria
3 IMPLEMENTING ECOLOGICAL SANITATION IN EMERGENCIES
“Sanitation in the disaster cycle – immediate response, preparedness and risk reduction” “Provision of Dry Toilets in earthquake hit areas of Pakistan – learning from first hand experience” “Eco-toilet for disaster preparedness” “Introducing ecological sanitation in emergency: Some lessons learned from a pilot project Bangladesh” “Sanitation in IDP and refugee camps in Chad: the current and future challenges”		Pakistan, Bangladesh, Chad
4a PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES IN RE-USE OF EXCRETA
“Pathogens of concern for developing countries and risk of reusing ecosan sludge in agriculture” “Urine from separating toilets for non-edible plants” “From pit latrine to nutrient conservation” “Re-use of human’s urine in market-gardening in South-Benin: financial returns analysis” “Biogas generation – a multi-dimensional development approach”		Mexico, Benin, Ethiopia
4b PROSPECTS AND CHALLENGES IN RE-USE OF EXCRETA continues
“Dry toilet compost and separated urine as fertilisers for cabbage and potato – a case study from Finland “ “Prospects and Challenges in the reuse of human excreta in Nakuru Municipality, Kenya” “Use of Faecal Sludge for Agriculture in Tamale Metropolis: perception of Farmers, Consumers and Relevant Agencies” “Positive spin offs using mobile urinals and UD toilets in Burkina Faso” “Study on the compost produced by compost bins and ecosan latrines and survey on knowledge attitudes and practices in usage of compost bins and ecosan latrines”		Finland, Kenya, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Sri Lanka
5 CHALLENGES IN IMPLEMENTING ECOLOGICAL SANITATION
“Evaluation of social and cultural acceptance of the biotoilet system” “Social representattions of hygiene and excretes disposal - The case of ecological dry toilets introduction in Quibdo and Tumaco-Columbia” “Towards a common goal. The challenges of the sanitation sector in Zambia” “Living with the marginalised: Addressing the socio-economic and cultural aspects in implementing Oka-Dry Toilets in Madimba; case of Lusaka” Sari Huuhtanen*, Finland; Michelo Katambo, Zambia: “The challenge of social change; experiences from Zambia dry-sanitation project (ZASP, 2006-2008)”		Mexico, Columbia, Zambia
6 GENDER ASPECTS RELATED TO DRY SANITATION
“Gender aspects of ecological sanitation with urine diverting dry toilets” “Female local latrine builders: Contributing towards objectives of International Year of Sanitation, 2008″ “Women and ecological sanitation” “Promotion of dry toilets for reducing vulnerability for the poor women having Islamic and cultural values in urban slums of Bangladesh”		Nepal, Uganda, Bangladesh
7a TECHNICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DRY TOILETS
“Is the Agricultural utilisation of Treated Urine and Faces recommendable?” “Developing low cost composting toilet for developing countries” “Solar thermal sanitation of human faeces – an affordable solution for ensuring sustainability of EcoSan activities” “Feasibility assessment of application of onsite volume reduction system (OVRS) for source-separated urine” “Urban slum dwellers in Kenya and Bangladesh benefit from using Peepoo bags which are self-sanitising and biodegradable”		Kenya and Bangladesh and others
7b TECHICAL DEVELOPMENT OF DRY TOILETS continues
“From the outhouse to indoor dry toilets in Finland” “Estimation of water evaporation rate from composting toilet” “Implementation of urine-diverting dry toilets in multi-storey apartment buildings in Ethiopia” Dry sanitation in multi-story apartment buildings: “The case of Dongsheng, Inner Mongolia, China” “The humanure toilet”		Finland, Ethiopia, Inner Mongolia, China
8 CAPACITY BUILDING
“Going to scale with urine diversion in Sweden – From individual households to municipal systems in 15 years” “The processes of adaption during the introducing urine diverting toilets in Kyrgyzstan” “Influence of social, cultural, economic and gender aspects in dry toilet as eco-sanitation tool. Case study of Sukuma-nomadic community in Malinyi, Tanzania.” “Experiences with ecosan systems to provide sustainable sanitation for schools in Kenya and India” “Gold Factory – An experimental art project with dry toilets”		Sweden, Kyrgyzstan, Tanzania,Kenya, India
Side event SUSTAINABLE SANITATION FOR TOURISM AND RECREATION
“Toilet provision in the Cairngorms national park, Scotland, UK” “Experience of biotoilet installations on Kizhi island, Republic of Karelia, Russia” “Promotion of sustainable development of rural communities around especially protected natural areas in Kazakhstan” “Public toilets and care practices in nature parks in Finland, current situation and recommendations for improvement”		Scotland, Republic of Karelia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Finland

WHO Technical Notes for Emergencies prepared by WEDC

from WEDC The Water, Engineering and Development Centre (WEDC) at Loughborough University

“Please be advised that the latest version of the WHO Technical Notes for Emergencies prepared by WEDC…”

http://wedc.lboro.ac.uk/knowledge/notes_emergencies.html

Titles include:

Please click below to view pdfs of the World Health Organization Technical Notes for Emergencies.

1. Cleaning and disinfecting wells
2. Cleaning and disinfecting boreholes
3. Cleaning and disinfecting water storage tanks and tankers
4. Rehabilitating small-scale piped water distribution systems
5. Emergency treatment of drinking water at the point of use
6. Rehabilitating water treatment works after an emergency
7. Solid waste management in emergencies
8. Disposal of dead bodies
9. How much water is needed
10. Hygiene promotion in emergencies
11. Measuring chlorine levels in water supplies
12. Delivering safe water by tanker
13. Planning for excreta disposal in emergencies
14. Technical options for excreta disposal
15. Cleaning wells after seawater flooding