Use of Eco Toilets Improving Sanitation

Eco-friendly Toilets, a System Promoted by SOIL, an NGO Aims to Improve Sanitation in Haiti

When SOIL was founded back in 2006, only 4% of the rural population had access to proper toilets. Even in the capital Port-au-Prince it was only slightly higher at 6%, according to SOIL's co-founder Baudeler Magloire.

Many toilets which do exist often flush untreated waste straight into rivers or groundwater.

Open defecation in the streets led to the spread of disease.

After the devastating 2010 earthquake that killed more than 250,000 people and left 1.5 million living in temporary camps, poor sanitation caused a health crisis.

Cholera, a disease transmitted by drinking water or eating food contaminated by the faeces of an infected person, broke out later that year killing more than 9,000 people.

When cholera struck SOIL had already taken composting toilets to different parts of the country, but the fatal disease proved a setback.

At first glance, an eco toilet doesn't look too different from a portable toilet. The difference is inside.

Faeces and urine are collected in separate drums and, after each use, a layer of sawdust-like material made from sugar cane waste and peanut shells is added on top. This reduces the risk of infection and masks unpleasant odours.

However, during the cholera outbreak Haitians were told that poor sanitation was to blame, so many people thought collecting human waste added to the problem.

As a result, the NGO was asked to leave their neighbourhoods and take their toilets with them.

"In Haiti, when you talk to people about sanitation they're afraid of it," says Jimmy Louis, Sanitation Coordinator of SOIL.

'Own toilet'

But the organisation decided to face the criticism by raising awareness about sanitation and inviting community leaders to their facilities to see for themselves how the toilets worked.

Now, more than 8,000 people have access to these toilets in Haiti, a country of about 10 million people.

According to Erica Lloyd, SOIL's Program Manager in Port-au-Prince, most of the users of the eco toilets didn't have access to toilets before.

"People don't want that. Given the choice to have safe sanitation, people want that for themselves and for their communities and we actually have a waiting list to have a toilet."

One of them is Midi Idemon. He lives in the Gerald Bataille district in Port-au-Prince, and says the eco toilets dignified his family's lives.

"Before we had these toilets, there was a communal latrine. It wasn't good because some people didn't clean it, it smelt bad and there was a high risk of getting diseases.

"With this project, we have a better life because at night you can wake up, open your door, use the bathroom and clean your own toilet."

For Paul Christian Namphy, Coordinator for Haiti's Water and Sanitation Authority DINEPA, ecological sanitation is an important initiative for preventing cholera, offering a lot of promise for the future of Haiti.

"Cholera is the disease of the poor, of the disenfranchised, it's the disease of those that for centuries have not had the minimum of what people need to have a dignified existence.

"We need to make sure that people have access to treated water, to basic sanitation services and to hygiene practices that make it possible to cut the chain of transmission."

Source: BBC

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Taxonomy

• Water & Sanitation
• Sanitation & Hygiene