Written a couple of days after the World Toilet Day, however this remained in the draft for a while, so without further delay, publishing it now
If you had been to the Chowpatty beach in Mumbai on 19th November, you would have found a group of people squatting. In fact you would also have found a couple of portable toilets in the vicinity. If you didn’t check the papers in the morning, you would think that it were a ritual of some bizarre cult. These people instead, were doing it to show support for the 2.5 billion people all over the world who lack basic sanitary facilities. And they weren’t the only ones. People all over the world were celebrating the “World Toilet Day” by taking part in “The Big Squat“. (click here for pictures from all over the world)
If there are five people in each family, then we require 500 million household toilets. Then, we require another 500 million away-from-home toilets – in the workplace, in schools, in religious places, in the marketplace, in transport centers. So in this market, we need 1 billion toilets.
says Jack Sim, founder of World Toilet Organization (WTO) (which conceptualized the World Toilet Day) in a interview with Beyond Profit.
The oft-avoided topic is becoming a major cause of worry for developing countries. According to a paper written by Rowshan Nantaz (Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engg, BUET), Dhaka City Corporation runs only 69 public toilets for a city whose population is beyond 10 million. And this isn’t half as bad as the condition in Nigeria (est 2008 pop:151.3 million), where reports suggest that there are less than 500 public toilets.
In a recent article by Reuters Sim was quoted saying “You see it long enough, and there is a basic acceptance that dirt is normal. But being repulsed by dirt, it’s smell and sight is a natural defence against disease”. He estimates that the sanitation market is in excess of 1 trillion USD (just for the sake of comparison, this also happens to be India’s GDP). Yet, it’s interesting to note there have been times in the past where investors have hesitated to invest in this sector. Case in point being Saraplast, which is one of the fastest growing portable public toilets company in India today. They had a tough time attracting investors despite having made record profits for the last three years. Aavishkar finally saw sense in the business and bought a 21% stake for an undisclosed amount this August. Saraplast will be tying up with the New Delhi municipality for the Commonwealth Games in Delhi next year.
Ecotact is another interesting organization working in the sanitation industry which has received a lot of media publicity off late. It’s Ikotoilet brand works on the build-operate transfer principle of public-private partnership and plans to open another 200 facilities in Kenya in the near future. An interesting variation to the standard pay per use toilet model here is that it complements the toilet facility with additional service such as shoe shining, soft drinks and newspapers, which apart from keeping the customers occupied also bring in additional revenue.
The Pee Poo bag, made by a Swedish architect provides an effective solution to the problem for its low cost, biodegradable and since its lined with urea, it sanitizes the feces and doubles up as fertilizer when buried. However, such solutions can at best be a short term measure to a problem which is closely related to the water and sewage industry.
In a lot of rural areas, the sanitation is suffering due to the poor state of the water works and the high costs involved as an initial investment. Also, once the public toilets are setup, the major challenge then becomes to maintain the establishment. Issues such as keeping the toilet dry, ensuring there is adequate water supply and that the flush is working become issues of prime importance. An interesting idea that I came across which could be implemented in public toilets was the concept of a tap which could be operated using one’s foot. By pressing a lever somewhere, one could obtain the water. Having seen the condition of public toilets at least in India, I marveled at this simple solution which could help in preventing a lot of diseases.
A Nextbillion article sometime back emphasized on the need to provide (and where applicable improve upon) sanitation, while covering the Clinton Global Initiative 2008. Do check that out as well.
Crossposted on the Nextbillion blog with a few minor edits
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I want to quote your post in my blog. It can?
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