ECO- SAN INDIA

ecosan.org.in
A voluntary organization working in the fields of Health and Sanitation
Prof.S.G.Bhate.
Architect & Social Entrepreneur

Res:D-9, Durvankur Society, Phase I, Panchavati, Pashan. Pune 411 008.

Res:2589 9527 M: 09890 440 648
Email: shrikantbhate@rediffmail.com,bhate48@gmail.com

What is ECO-SANITATION.
Eco sanitation is a term coined to indicate a way of disposing off the excreta, which is
eco friendly and without polluting the environment, it enriches it with added nutrients
and fertilizer. The process is carried out in such a way that the nature s loop is closed
without generating any harmful byproducts to human health. The waste generated by
human beings is cycled with the help of nature and resulting nutrient rich soil
conditioner is returned to the soil. This process causes least damage to the nature and
the ecological balance is maintained all the time.

Why practice Eco-Sanitation.

If we study the sewage disposal systems developed in any city or town, it will be
found that water conveyance based system uses huge amount of water, which is going
to be in short supply in near future due to reduction in average rain fall throughout
India. We use treated water for carrying excreta to the septic tanks or sewage
treatment plants. This is a colossal waste of resources considering almost non existent
sanitation system in rural areas. So it can be said that the urban areas are enjoying all
the benefits in the form of well laid out sewerage system at the cost of rural
development, which is so vital considering the spread of deadly epidemics. This
shows that eco-sanitation must be practiced by both urban and rural people and then
only the scarce resources can be distributed in proper proportion between urban and
rural population.

Issues of Eco-Sanitation.

If we observe the real issues in popularizing the practice of ECO-SANITATION, it

can be said that the complexity of the problem itself is so big that it is going to require
huge investments and Herculean efforts by the Govt and other financial institutions
for number of years to make any worthwhile impact on overall health and sanitation
of rural population.
The rapid growth of population, cultural taboos, poverty, and absence of education
and awareness make the problem more complicated. Majority of people will be
averse to using Urine as excellent nitrogen supplier and humus generated from
excreta as a good fertilizer and soil conditioner. This is the reason that huge efforts
are required in educating people, demonstrating the positive aspects of this sanitation,
and involvement of stake holders at grass root level. The movement will be successful
only when it is sustained by the people, for the people in which women will have to
play major role. Involvement of women Self Help Groups will go a long way in
alleviating daily drudgery of the women folk such as inadequate sanitation facilities,
polluted water, non availability of any form of energy for cooking, malnutrition etc.
The root cause obviously is poverty and ignorance.

How can we make Eco-sanitation a mass movement.

Considering the literacy level, cultural taboos, blind faith etc, we will require
persistent efforts to educate people by demonstrating the benefits of eco-
sanitation, namely improved health, less expenditure on medicines, clean
environmental conditions in and around the house, improved agricultural
produce due to use of urine, and rich fertilizer of excreta thereby generating
more income to the family and most importantly removing great hardships of
women community.

The movement will require whole hearted support and active participation from the
stake holders, NGO s, Govt officials and financial institutions in making more and
more finance available to this activity. We feel that by demonstrating the use of
toilets in the village and its impact on the family and agricultural produce which will
be seen in more income to the farmer, the popularity of these toilets will increase
manifold. So concerted efforts will be required to mitigate the problem of unhygienic
sanitation.

Design consideration for Eco-San toilets.

The design of toilets and its construction will very according to the region, cultural
traditions, human habits, availability of water, soil strata, subsoil water level, locally
available material and skilled labour. It is not possible to give one definite design
which can be replicated in all the regions and in all kinds of climatic conditions.
However certain parameters can be fixed as follows,

1. Urine is very rich source of Nitrogen and hence every effort should be
made to collect it.
2. Excreta mainly contains solid substance and also the harmful pathogens.
These pathogens can not survive in higher temperatures and if we can
create a situation in the pit with increased temperature, the pathogens will
get killed and the excreta will become harmless for human handling.
However we should avoid handling till it is fully converted in to humus
like substance.
3. The technology should be simple for the people to follow and its
construction should not involve very complicated procedures.
4. Attention may be given to a design where number of components can be
mass manufactured and only assembly will be done at the site. This will
 reduce the construction time, will result in better product quality and more
toilets can be constructed in less amount of time. This point is more
pertinent considering the huge quantity of toilets we require.
5. The farmer should be able to generate tangible financial income from the
toilet in addition to his saving on medicinal cost due to improved health
condition. The toilet should appear to be a bonus and an asset to the family
in real sense of the term then many families will wholeheartedly opt for it.
6. The toilet should require minimum amount of water and maintenance and
should not produce bad odors and unhygienic and filthy condition around.
7. Efforts may be made to use roof of toilet for fixing of solar panel which
will produce electricity and will solve the problem of light. This facility
can be offered after the family has improved its financial condition.
8. The toilet should be light, and portable and should be easily assembled on
site by any unskilled labour available in remotest part of India
9. Use of locally available material should be encouraged for covering and
enclosing the toilet.
10. The structure should merge with the surrounding nature and overall
environment very nicely without becoming a eyesore.

Our proposal for EcoSanToilet.

We have proposed few designs which consist of using bamboo, wooden bullies
and steel as basic materials for skeleton construction.

We also propose to divert urine and collect it separately.

For seat construction locally available stone slabs, concrete slabs, ferro-cement
slabs, or fiberglass molded seats can be used.

Considering the use of different material, the cost will very considerably but our
efforts are concentrated on giving very economical solution which will be
affordable to the poorest of poor from rural India.

We also wish to devise a model where entire sanitation programme will be run
and managed by women Self Help Groups.

The group will install toilets in each house, collect urine and manure and will sell
it to the farmers thereby generating income from the project. The farmers will in
turn sell the ORGANIC AGRI PRODUCE to these SHG s who will sell it in
cities and will generate more income.
 Alternative proposal of SOLAR TOILETS .

Our country boasts huge amount of solar energy and almost for the entire year barring
few days, we have very bright sunlight which can be harnessed to design Solar
Toilets.

MAIN CONCEPT OF SOLAR TOILTES.

The research has shown that the harmful Pathogens in excreta do not survive in
higher temperature of around 45 to 55 degrees Celsius.
This situation can be very easily created in the toilets by providing solar chamber at
the back end of the toilet where the excreta gets collected and which is covered on
sides by Galvanized Corrugated Sheets and on top with non breakable Acrylic
transparent sheet which will allow the solar heat to get collected in the solar chamber
thereby raising the inside temperature considerably and in the process destroying all
the harmful pathogens in very short time.

Since we are providing two separate chambers, they can be used alternatively and
allow the chamber which is full, to receive maximum solar heat and render the
excreta absolutely harmless before it is added to the agriculture field.

The excreta collection chambers in individual toilets are oriented towards South
side where maximum solar heat is available and also provided with lot of natural
ventilation and the Public Toilets Designs are provided with lot of natural and
Mechanical Ventilation so that the incoming air will dry the contents quickly by
evaporating the water with its heat and only very small percentage of solid
contents remain in the chamber in powder form which is then added to the soil
only after it is very safe to handle the excreta.

Thus we wish to empower the women community so that they become self sufficient
and lead a life of dignity, self respect and economical freedom.

Brief Bio- Data of Prof. S.G.Bhate.

Prof.Shrikant Bhate age 61, years is an Architect and Social Entrepreneur and
recently retired as Principal B.K.P.S College of Architecture, Pune. His areas of
interest and research are, cost effective technologies, energy conservation, pre-casting
and prefabrication techniques, eco sanitation, primary school buildings , low cost eco
friendly housing etc.

As a Social Entrepreneur and Director of NGO,Parisar Niyojan Samiti,he is very

much involved in Health and Sanitation Programmes.
Prof.S.G.Bhate can be contacted at shrikantbhate@rediffmail.com or
bhate48@gmail.com and his mobile no is-09890440648.
This document was created with Win2PDF available at http://www.win2pdf.com.
The unregistered version of Win2PDF is for evaluation or non-commercial use only.