Appropriate Solutions

Appropriate Solutions
SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES
collected by
Why this document?

Due to our work with tribal communities in India, we wanted to get simple and (very) low-cost ways
to impact peoples lives. The cheaper materials or upcycling/recycling methods we can use the
better. And more than trying to create what is already created, we based ourselves on inspired
ideas and wonderful projects that we found on the internet. This document is just a collection of
some of the solutions that we found useful, always giving mention to the source because we just
want to spread what need to be spread, especially among the unprivileged ones. Standing on the
shoulders of giants, and passionately delivering what we have learned to another kind of giants.
Which are the methods in this document?

In this document you will find instructions on how to build stuff helpful for your life in terms of
water and hygiene, food, home and lifestyle. For instance:
Two types of solar cookers
Heat-retaining cooker
Two types of efficient cooking stoves
Briquettes as fuel to cook
Refrigerator without electricity
Washing machine without electricity
Rain harvesting methods
Solar dryer
Simple water filter and treatment
Organic farming and drip irrigation
Composting toilet that produces trees
Hand-washing device
Earth bricks for building homes
Pinhole camera for awareness projects
Who is Sapana?
We are a young non-profit organization that aims to solve what delays peoples lives, focusing on
social and economic empowerment of people and communities; with projects in Portugal and India.
Our motto is Empowering live from passion to action! and you can get to know us at:
http://SAPANA.org/en/
What is the context of Appropriate Solutions within Sapana?

This research was conducted during the initial phase of Sapana India, the branch of Sapana focused
on developing projects with tribal communities in India. Our aim is to empower underprivileged
tribes to be tribal-micro-entrepreneurs using innovative and eco-friendly livelihoods (which can
provide them a stable source of income while increasing their quality of life, like the ones presented
in this document), towards their dignity and self-sustainability instead of dependency and apathy to
change. You can see more information at: http:/SAPANA.org/en/india/
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Build a solar cooker

Why (this is helpful)
You can cook using this cooker when its sunny and youll save wood and time, because you dont
need to be around to take care of the fire, so you can do other activities while cooking. Also it
provokes less smoke so will not damage your health (red eyes, breathing diseases, etc).
What (you will need)
A piece of flat cardboard, about 60 cm wide by 120 cm long (you can also measure with your
arms, for example, pick a cardboard that has the same length as your two arms wide open,
it can be bigger (it will be better because you will have more surface to reflect the sun), the
only thing you need to check is that the width need to be half the size of the length)
Aluminum foil, shiny silver gift paper or chips packages turned inside out
Glue (mixed with water 50-50) or you can do rice paste by mixing one part of rice flour and
six parts of water and heat it while mixing to a smooth consistency
An old cloth or paper towel to spread the glue on the cardboard
Three pairs of small nuts and bolts, or string/rope/wire to hold the funnel together
One black cooking pot (the black color can retain better the heat)
Some black paint (in the case you dont have a black pot and want to paint one of your own)
A simple block of wood (you can measure with fingers, cut the block with five fingers width
and height, and two or three fingers thick)
A transparent plastic bag (take special care choosing one that will not melt with heat,
because you will need the plastic bag to serve as a green-house to your cooking pot, if
necessary test with different kinds of bag until understand which will fit better)
A cardboard box and some rocks, to help the cooker standing
How (you can do it)

1) On one the longest sides of your cardboard, cut a half-circle in the middle of the cardboard as
shown in the figure below. Use a cylinder (like a metal can or a plastic bucket) to help you cut a
perfect half-circle (anything with a round shape and double the size of the cooking pot we will
gone to use in the solar cooker, for example, for a pot with a diameter of one hand palm, cut a
half-circle with a diameter of two hand palms).
One palm
pot
Two palms half-circle cut
cardboard
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With the funnel formed, this becomes a full-circle and should be wide enough to go around your
cooking pot.
2) Form the funnel, bringing side A towards side B, as shown in the figures below.
Do this slowly, helping the cardboard to the shape of a funnel by using one hand to form creases
that radiate out from the half-circle. Work your way around the funnel, bending it in stages to form
the funnel shape, until the two sides overlap and the half-circle forms a complete circle. After this,
open the funnel again and lay it flat, with its inside part facing up, in preparation for the next step.
3) Glue the aluminum foil to the cardboard by applying glue over the surface (the inner surface of
the funnel), then quickly apply the aluminum foil on top of the glue, to affix the foil to the
cardboard.
Make sure the shiniest side of the foil is on top, since this becomes your reflective surface in the
funnel. Two or three layers of foil will be perfect, just try to smooth out the foil as much as you
reasonably can (but small wrinkles won't make much difference).
4) Join side A to side B (shown on the pictures above) to keep the funnel together. The easiest way
to do this is to pierce three holes in the cardboard that line up on side A and side B (see figure).
Then use the nuts and bolts to secure the two sides (A & B) together, put a string, small rope, or
wire in one hole and out the other, and tie together.
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When A and B are connected together (and the reflective funnel is ready), glue a piece of
aluminum foil across the hole at the bottom of the funnel, with its shiny side in.
For stability, place the funnel inside a cardboard or other kind of box to provide support, and place
some stones around to prevent falling due to heavy wind.
Final steps:
You should use a black pot in order to better retain the heat (due to the black color), or you can
also use a normal metal pot and paint it black or burn it using fire (the goal is to have a pot with
non-reflective surfaces). At this stage, you are ready to put food items or water into the cooking
pot, and put the lid on securely. Place the wooden block in the inside bottom of the cooking bag
then place the cooking pot containing the food or water on top of the wooden block, inside the
bag. Next, gather the top of the bag in your fingers and blow air into the bag, to inflate it. This will
form a small "greenhouse" around the cooking pot, to trap much of the heat inside. Close off the
bag with a tight twist tie or wire. Important: the bag should not touch the sides or lid of the cooking
pot. Place the entire bag and its contents inside the funnel near the bottom as shown in the picture
above, and place the solar cooker so that it faces the sun and captures as much sunlight as possible.
The design of the funnel allows it to collect solar energy for about one hour without needing to be
re-positioned. For longer cooking times, readjust the position of the funnel to follow the sun's path.
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Tips and warnings:

Sunlight can hurt your eyes, its better to wear sunglasses when using the solar cooker
Vegetables and eggs dont need water to cook on the solar cooker
Its always better to re-heat meat on a normal cooking stove and not in the solar cooker
Each time you finish cooking turn the plastic bag inside out to allow it to dry
If the plastic bag melts itself when touches the cooking pot, you can do a simple wireframe
around the pot to prevent the bag to touch it
You dont need to be around while the food is cooking; even if you leave the food too much
time in the cooker itll not burn (you can do other productive activities while cooking!)
Cooking times: vegetables = 1.5 hours, cereals and grains = 1.5-2 hours, beans = 2-3 hours,
eggs = 1-1.5 hours, chicken = 1.5 hours cut up or 2.5 hours whole, fish: 1-1.5 hours, breads
and cakes = 1-1.5 hours, roasted nuts = 1.5 hours
One of the most important advantages of the solar cooker is to avoid breathing any smoke
that is bad for health, and also you will save a lot of money in kerosene, wood or other
materials you normally use to cook on fire
Keep the inner surface of the solar cooker clean and shiny by wiping occasionally with a wet
towel (this will keep the solar cooker working at its best)
If your funnel gets out-of-round, it can be put back into a circular shape by attaching a rope
or string between opposite sides which need to be close together
Keep the cooker out of the rain and humidity to prevent the cardboard becoming wet (you
can also plaster the cardboard with wax to become waterproof)
Always adjust the funnel for capturing as much sunlight onto the cooking pot as possible.
Look at the pot to see where the light is hitting, and be sure the bottom is not in the shadow
Instead of having a pot inside a plastic bag, you can place it in a glass bowl, and cover with a
lid (like shown in the figure below). Try for a tight fit around the bottom to keep hot air
trapped inside. The metal pot or bowl should be supported around the rim only, with air
space all around the bottom (where the sunlight strikes it). Put a blackened lid on top of the
pot. Then place this pot-in-bowl down in the bottom of the funnel with no plastic bag (you
can check your food like in a normal stove!)
Source:
http://solarcooking.org/plans/funnel.htm
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Other model of solar cooker you can make is the CoolKit. For that you need almost all the materials
of the funnel cooker presented above (like aluminum foil, glue, cardboard, etc.) but, this time, the
cardboard should have some exacts measures, more precisely 0.9x1.2 meters. This is because you
need to cut it like in the following schematic (its better to first use a pencil to draw all the lines on
the cardboard and only after cut it properly).
Then you should fold it (following the angles presented above) and glue the aluminum foil in the
same manner as in the funnel cooker. Then you can use it in the same manner, with a black pot and
a plastic bag. Using this model, you can adjust different angles of the flaps to better following the
sun (like shown in the picture below), and another advantage is that you can fold it again to
become flat for better storage when you are not using it.
Source:
http://www.solarcooking.org/plans/Plans.pdf
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Build an efficient cooking stove

Because it will burn less wood than the typical three-stone fire so you will not need to buy or collect
wood so often (and you can also use it with the biomass briquettes presented on this document). In
addition, it doesnt produce so much smoke so will not give you health problems (red eyes,
breathing diseases, etc).
Clay (will be the main material of the stove) or adequate soil to produce clay
Sawdust
Two pipes (with 10cm diameter and 40cm long)
How (you can do it)

1) Firstly you need to prepare the pipes to be used in the stove making. They will not be part of
the final stove but rather be used as a mold for the clay. So, the only thing you need to do is to
cut one side of one of the pipes in 45 degrees like shown in the following picture:
10cm
40cm
45 cut
2) Now for the mixture that will be the main material of the stove, mix two parts of clay, six parts
of sawdust and one part of water (you can use less sawdust for more durability, but then the
stove will have less efficient heat transfer).
3) Now apply the mixture around the plastic pipes with a two to three centimeters thick layer all
around the pipes. Thicker walls will make the stove more durable, but will take longer for the
mass to heat up, which can cause smoke before the stove heats up. Make sure the clay is
applied with no bigger air gaps because the stove may crack while firing. Also make sure you
level the extremities of the stove, for the cooking pot stands on top of it without falling.
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4) Now you can pull the pipes out of the stove (while its still wet) and put it on the shade for
drying (dont put directly on the sunlight otherwise clay will probably crack). After some days
you can put it on sunlight and after one or two weeks the stove is ready to be fired (you can
notice when the stoves body is fully dry when it is not cold on a touch).
5) To fire the stove you need to use a kiln (in case you can have access to one) or else make a
rudimentary version of a kiln: dig a pit on the ground big enough to hold your stove (you can
also do a big one to fire many stoves at the same time). Fill the bottom of the pit with a layer of
ten or fifteen centimeters of sawdust, put in your stove and build up layers of sawdust,
scrunched newspapers, dry wood or even dried cow dung around it like shown in the below
picture (you need to add enough material to allow the fire to burn for one or two hours). After
the fire is extinguished just leave the stove cool down slowly (it will be very hot, only dig to take
it out after some hours). When the stove is already cooled down just clean it with a brush or
scrape with some metal tool (like a spoon) and you have your stove ready to use like shown in
the below picture!
Source:
http://briquettestoves.com/
http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/pit-fire-clay.html
http://www.mauipotter.com/article_pit_firing.html
Other simple way of making an efficient cooking stove, this time using metal cans instead of clay is:
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Sources:
http://pt.scribd.com/doc/55852309/Booklet-01-Make-Yourself-Ready
Illustrations by Joo Rocha.
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Build a heat-retaining cooker (or fireless cooker)

A heat-retaining cooker is a fireless cooker that, due to being filled with insulating material, you can
put the food youre cooking inside and the heat will not escape. You can use it by, after your food
starts to boil on a normal cooking stove or solar cooker, you change the cooking pot to this cooker.
It will finish cooking without burning your food, so you can do other things meanwhile (unlike fire,
its completely safe to leave it unattended). Also it can make you save up to 80% of the wood
because will you dont need to cook your food for so much time in the normal cooker or fire. In
addition it can maintain your food hot for hours, so its helpful if you want to cook your dinner on a
solar cooker during the afternoon and maintain it hot for night time.
basket or box (made of strong cardboard, wood or even made out of bamboo) with enough
size to store your biggest pot while having five fingers of space around it (to fill with
insulating material) and one palm of space between the pot and the top of the basket/box
lid for the basket/box (made of strong cardboard, wood, bamboo, etc.)
insulating material (use whatever you have available for free, can be scrunched newspapers,
dried grass, tailors waste, wood shavings, feathers, wool, dry banana leaves, etc)
cloths
scissors, sewing needles and strong thread
a flat stone more or less the same size as the bottom of your biggest pot
How (you can do it)

1) Fill the basket a third full with the insulating material.
2) Place the cooking pot in the centre of a piece of cloth. Join the corners of the cloth above the
centre to make a bag.
3) Place this bag inside the basket, on top of the insulating material. Firmly pack more insulating
material around the bag and up to the top of the basket.
1
4) Open out the bag and tuck the edges of the cloth down between the insulating material and the
inside of the basket. Stitch the cloth to the top rim of the basket.
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5) Make a cushion which is slightly larger than the lid of the cooking pot, filled with the same
insulating material.
6) Insulate the lid. Turn the lid upside down and fill it with insulating material, then cover with a
piece of cloth. Tuck the edges of the cloth between the insulating material and the inside of the
lid. Stitch the cloth all the way around, along the inside corner of the basket lid.
4
7) Add a shiny lining like aluminum foil or shiny gift paper to the pots nest to reflect the radiant
heat back into the pot (this will also help keep the insulation dry).
Thats it, your heat-retaining cooker is ready to use! You can cook by following this:
a) Heat your food with some water and let it simmer for the recommended time (see below)
b) At the same time, put the flat stone in or at the edge of the fire to heat up
c) When simmering time is over, put the heated flat stone at the bottom of basket/box
d) Put the pot on top of hot flat stone, quickly cover with the pillow and the insulated lid to stop
the heat escaping, and leave to cook for the recommended time.
In terms of recommended times, you need to test for yourself to understand in which kind of times
your heat-retaining cooker is able to cook, but you can start by following these illustrative times:
a) Rice boil for 8 minutes in a normal cooker and then leave it 25 minutes inside the basket/box
b) Chicken boil for 20 minutes and leave it 35 minutes on the basket
c) Vegetable curry boil for 10 minutes and leave it 30 minutes on the basket
d) Beans boil for 30 minutes and leave it 3 hours on the basket
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Some tips:
Keep the steam in the pot to preserve the heat, do not lift the lid to check right before to
put the pot on the basket/box
It is important to keep the insulating material dry (if it gets damp, it needs to be replaced)
When you use a pot that is a lot smaller than the basket/box, wrap up with cloth or a
blanket to fill the empty space around the pot
Remember that food does take longer to cook comparing with fire, so preparations need to
be made earlier (this is perfect for preparing the next meal right after you eat the previous
one, and leave it there on the heat-retaining cooker while you do other activities without
worrying because of unattended fire or food getting burned)
For health reasons, meat dishes should always be reboiled before serving
Sources:
www.paceproject.net/Userfiles/File/Energy/make%20a%20fireless%20cooker.pdf
http://reap-eastafrica.org/blogs.info/reap/pdf/MakeFirelessCooker.pdf
http://solarcooking.wikia.com/wiki/Heat-retention_cooking
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Make waste-material briquettes for cooking

You can use waste materials with no cost to make briquettes to burn for cooking, saving a lot of
wood and also being a product that you can sell on the market.
Waste materials to use as biomass to burn, they can be agricultural residues (coconut
husks/fibers, cob, stalks, leaves, stems, straw, sticks, shrubs, hay, sugar cane waste,
groundnut shells), waste from bio-product industries like sawmills, plywood or furniture
factories, or other locally available products that will burn fast, like shredded newspaper
A material that will work as binder of the materials above, like fish waste, algae, animal
manure, corn or wheat starch, resin, sludge, tar, pitch or asphalt
How (you can do it)

1) Collect some of the waste materials proposed above to use as biomass (from the woods, trash,
etc). Try to see what you have available for free that you can use.
2) Grind/chop the materials in to a big container. If some materials are not completely dry (for
instance shrubs) dry them out on the sunlight (protecting from rain/moisture).
3) Mix everything with some of the materials proposed above that will work as binder. You can
test different amounts of binder and also water, to see what will bind better and afterwards
test to understand what will become better to burn.
4) Press this mixture using some mold/press, to a shape and size that will be easy to store and
burn in your typical cooking device handle (can be balls, cubes, disks, etc). A possibility is to
make a press like the one in the figure on the right or, if you dont have this possibility or access
to other kind of press, you can try to find a strong but small box (made for instance of wood or
metal), put the mixture there and press with a brick or a stone with a flat surface (its important
that the briquettes end very consistent and packed together, like in the pictures of step 5).
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5) Let the briquettes fully dry on sunlight to increase the heating capacity (dont forget to protect
them from rain/moisture).
Sources:
http://www.watchman2012.com/articles/spout18.shtml http://www.sufficientself.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=36054
http://ngureco.hubpages.com/hub/Homemade-Briquetting-Presses-Simple-Briquette-Press-and-Briquetting-Machines
http://www.joe.ie/uploads/story/28138/eco2.jpg
http://pol-lux.pl/userfiles/image/brykiet/brykiet1.jpg
http://home.fuse.net/engineering/ewb_project.htm
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Build a solar dryer for food processing

Dried fruits and vegetables have more longevity and you can use this to make products to sell on
the market and raise your income. Also dried fruits can be an excellent source of nutrients, so its a
way of improving your health regardless the hot weather and other conditions that can spoil fresh
fruits/vegetables. Also dried products can be used in vegetable and curry preparations without any
changes in taste, allowing for instance the consumption (or selling with higher prices) of products in
their off-season.
Bamboo
Wire mesh
Black plastic sheet
Strong string/rope or malleable wire
Nails
Stones
How (you can do it)

1) The easier way of doing a solar dryer is to build a structure that will convert sun light into heat
and will retain this heat to dry the food you putted inside. For doing this, you can pick four
strong bamboo sticks with one meter and half up to two meters (but all of them with the same
size), and place them in a pyramidal manner, nailing on the top where all of them touch each
other with two nails in a perpendicular way.
2) Use smaller bamboo sticks to make three or four horizontal shells as shown in the picture
below, attaching them to the main structure with nails, strings/ropes or wires. With these
bamboo sticks putting together the other four, the whole structure should be stable.
3) Even so, to prevent falling due to strong winds, you can attach heavy stones to the structure
foots using some strings, ropes or wires.
4) Attach to the shells some squares of wire mesh to serve as shells floor.
5) Cut and/or glue the plastic sheets in order to fully cover the whole structure, taking into
account that its better to leave one of the pyramidal sides with easy access to see the
fruits/vegetables inside.
6) Then you already can use the solar dryer to put food and vegetables and let the sun process
them for you!
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Remember that, in order to conserve the processed food, is always better to package it using small
plastic bags, glass/plastic jars or even reuse water plastic bottles (if cleaned and dried). But consider
that if you have better packaging it will be easy to sell in the market and with better prices, because
your customers will have more confidence on the quality of the products you are selling (for
instance plastic bags or jars will prevent the food spoilage, so it will be more attractive to buy).
Regarding this package, is very important that you let the processed food cool down before putting
on the final packages, because otherwise the products will sweat inside the container, ruining
their quality.
Sources:
http://capart.nic.in/scheme/food_procesing.html
http://vigyanashram.com
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Build a refrigerator that runs without electricity

Storage fish, vegetables and fruits avoiding the hot weather spoil them. Itll be better for your
health and if you sell your products on the market youll have better prices for them.
Two clay pots (one bigger than the other, and the bigger the better)
A cloth to cover the pots
Sand
Water
How (you can do it)

1) Before start to build the refrigerator, please check if the pots have no holes in the bottom. If
they have it, cover them to become fully isolated. This is important to prevent the sand and the
water to running out the pots.
2) Put a small amount of sand into the larger pot and place the smaller pot inside the larger one.
The tops of the two pots should be at the same level, so you can add more or less sand in the
bottom of the larger pot if needed.
3) After placing the smaller pot inside the larger one, fill the space between the pots with the sand
(this will create the isolate layer of your refrigerator).
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4) Now put water on the sand until it can absorb. This is the most important part of the cooler
effect, because it will be the evaporation of the water that will help the temperature inside the
inner pot to become lower than the outside temperature.
5) Put some vegetables (or other products that you want to cool down) inside the inner pot, put a
cloth on the top to cover and leave it like that. After some hours you will be able to perceive the
cooler temperature inside. Actually you can maintain for almost one month some vegetables
that normally are fresh only for three or four days. For that you just need to maintain the sand
wet, so it will be needed to put more water at least two times a day.
Source:
http://www.appropedia.org/Zeer_pot_refrigeration_(design)
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Build a washing machine that runs without electricity

This will save you a lot of time that nowadays you spend doing the laundry, so youll have more
time to other activities, for instance taking care of your children or doing things to earn money.
Plastic bucket and its lid (for example an old 20-liters bucket commonly used for paints)
Bicycle tire
Nylon rope or other kind of plastic-fibers rope
Neoprene fabric (or alternatively, a large and tick cloth that fit around the bucket)
A needle to sew the fabric or cloth
Six nuts and six bolts (and a proper tool to screw them)
A sharp object to punch holes on the plastic bucket (even a knife will work)
Eight PVC pipes (approximately with a diameter of two fingers and a length of one hand palm)
or other kind of resistant pipes (you can try it with bamboo)
Four metal connectors that fit in the pipes (two in T-shape and other two in L-shape)
Two plastic rollers, one with an outer diameter of five fingers and other one with a two fingers.
Its very important to choose rollers that can be docked in the pipes (therefore having the same
inner diameter the pipes you chose) and with the shapes of the rollers marked below:
How (you can do it)

1) With a sharp object punch some holes around the
bucket like marked with circles in the figure.
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2) Cut a piece of the bicycle tire with the same height as the bucket. Now you need to secure it
inside the bucket as in the figure below. For that, you will need to punch another two holes in
the bucket but they must have the same size as your bolts. Also be sure that you are doing the
holes aligned in a vertical position along the bucket. After you punched the holes, place one
piece of tire as in the figure below and screw it to the bucket. After that, you just need to repeat
this task on the opposite side of the bucket.
the bucket viewed from the top
pieces of tire
nuts and bolts

to secure the
tire
3) Now you need to secure the plastic rollers. The bigger one will be used to roll the rope, and is to
be screwed on the bottom side of the bucket, like in the figure bellow (the left one). For that
you need again to punch some holes of the same size in the bucket and also in the roller. After
screwed the bigger roller, you need to secure the smaller one in the center of the bucket lid. For
that you need to make a hole in the lid with about two fingers where you can place the small
roller in a way that will not be displaced. It will be useful to use some strong glue to be sure that
the roller will not fall. In the end, you should have made the same of the scheme drawn below
(the right one). Please make sure that all the pieces are firmly fixed.
big roller
bolts and nuts
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holes in
thebucket
pieces of tire
small roller
buckets lid
4) With the main part of the washing machine already built, now you need to make the pipe
system to fix the device firmly into the ground. For that, connect the pipes as in the schematic
below, making sure that when connected the bucket can spin freely (note that the rotation of
the bucket is the most important step of the washing process). The two bottom pipes (as
marked in the figure) are supposed to be stuck on the ground, so a good approach is to sharp
them in order to be easier to stuck. Also the middle pipes (as marked in the schematic below)
will be the ones that support the whole device on the ground, so you should rotate them (and
consequently rotate the T-shaped connectors) to a position where they will provide more
stability (see the figure below the schematic, where an example of the pipes position is shown).
screw the top pipes to
the plastic rollers
T-shaped connectors
L-shaped connectors
middle pipes to rotate

to a stable position
ground level
bottom pipes to be
stuck into the ground
middle pipes in the

rotated position to give
stability to the washing
machine
5) Now you need to make a hole in the buckets lid, to be used to add water and detergent to the
machine. For that you need a lid of the same size which will fit in the hole and will not leak
water while you are using the washing machine. Now pick the neoprene fabric (or a common
large and tick cloth), wrap it around the bucket and sew the two sides (cutting the remaining
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fabric). Just make sure that the neoprene/cloth becomes a cylinder, very tight when putted on
the bucket. Also be aware that this machine is powered by foot, so when you are using it, you
will need to roll up the rope around the bigger plastic roller and leave the two ends hanging.
Now make a knot in each piece of rope to become a foot strap, as in the figure below. So, to do
the laundry, you will simply pedal like if you are riding a bicycle, and the bucket will spin and
wash the clothes inside.
neoprene or cloth sewed
to become a tight cylinder
around the bucket
rope rolled up around the

bigger plastic roller
hole used to add

water and detergent
posture while using
the machine
foot straps
to pedal
foot straps
to pedal
6) Now your washing machine is fully built! So, for using this device, you just need to assemble the
pipe system and stuck it into the ground (you can use a hammer or a rock to help you while
sticking into the ground), and after put your clothes inside the bucket.
7) Now open the small lid (the one made on the fifth step) to add some water and detergent (you
can use a plastic bottle cut in half to work as a funnel).
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8) Roll up the rope around the plastic roller and secure the foot straps. Now pedal like you were
riding a bicycle! This will spin the bucket and wash your clothes as an electric-powered washing
machine. While the bucket is spinning, you can use the outsider neoprene/cloth to rub other
clothes that have stains. You can do this by turns: half of the clothes are inside the bucket being
washed while the other half are outside for you to spot the hardest stains and rub them on the
outside surface. After that, you can switch and put the clothes that you rubbed inside the
bucket to be washed while you rub the other half already washed.
at the
same
time
at the
same
time
9) After some minutes pedaling and washing the clothes, its now time to get them out. Start by
removing the outside neoprene/cloth (and then the water will leak through the holes on the
bucket that were covered by the fabric). But still it will be a lot of water inside the bucket so you
need to roll again the rope on the plastic roller (but this time with only one end hanging, the
other one stays firmly fixed on the roller). After roll the whole rope, just pull hard to the bucket
spin as much fast as you can (this will help the clothes to dry out).
Now you can take the clothes out and hang for drying. Also when you are not using you can
disassemble the pipe system and put them inside the bucket to save some space.
The main advantages of this system are reducing the time and effort while doing the laundry,
increasing health in general due to not being needed to carry heavy loads of clothes to the river or
other place with a source of water, also avoiding bad postures like bending and tiring activities like
scrubbing. Note that the overall quality and durability of your clothes will also increase, due to not
be needed to scrub and to wring anymore, tasks that normally ruin the fabric after some time.
Source:
http://eliotcoven.wix.com/dev-world-laundry#!home/mainPage
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Some cheap methods of rain harvesting

To prevent scarcity during the summer its recommendable to collect as many water as possible
during the rainy season, using the local resources and cheap techniques.
To collect some information, like rainfall data (the average rainfall will give you information
about the amount of water you can collect, the rainfall intensity will give you an idea of the size
needed for the water structures, etc.), information about the soil and water courses of your
land (is the soil impermeable?), water demand (how many families will use the collected water
and how many liters they need?), quality needed (is it for drinking purposes or to feed cattle?,
to do the laundry or to irrigate your farm?, or just to recharge water on the ground and
maintain the soil moisture?), legislation and incentives (ask for help in your municipality, maybe
there are government schemes to provide money for this kind of community constructions)
To study the site for knowing, for instance, if there is some slope on your land, what are the
possible catchment areas to collect the rain, where they are located and how much big they are,
which is the space available for the water facilities, if there are some old structures that you can
reuse (pipes, tanks, bore wells, etc.)
To make some decisions, for instance you need to choose how many structures youll need,
their type and size, and which kind of filtration methods you should apply
Some materials but thats discusses below because depend on the method chose!
How (you can do it)

This is a big project so it needs some planning and also the engaging of the whole community, if
possible. You can also ask for help from others (e.g. your municipality, making partnerships with
non-governmental/non-profit organizations for advising or companies for asking leftover materials
theyll help you in the construction, etc).
So, before starting the implementation itself, you need to decide how the water structures will be
depending on the information you collected (explained above in the what section). If the place you
live has not intensive rainfall, uniformly distributed and with a high amount of rainy days, its better
to store the water; but if you live in an area where there is unimodal monsoon, with the rainfall
concentrated only in a few months, its recommended that you store the water but also recharge
the groundwater to survive better in the summer months.
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Regarding the conditions of the land you have available, you should consider:
Clayey soils are more

impermeable
Silty soils have moderate

infiltration rates
Sandy soils easily

infiltrate the water
They are better to

storage water
(for instance with ponds)
They are good for storage

water and recharge the
groundwater

groundwater
Hill and hard rock terrain
Fractured or faulted rocks
Flat or alluvial terrain
They are better to

storage water

groundwater

groundwater
So depending on the local conditions you can choose one or more of the following harvesting
structures:
Bore well (deep well to recharge deep aquifers)

Soak pit (a well, for instance one meter wide and two/three deep, with three filtration
layers on the bottom made by boulders (the lowest one), gravel and coarse sand (the upper
one), where the water will be filtrated and infiltrate to recharge shallow aquifers)
Trench (same as soak pit but in form of canals, for instance 0.5m wide, 1m deep and 20m
long, and also with boulders, gravel and coarse sand in the bottom)
Kund (area to catch rainfall with a slight slope to direct the water to a soak pit)
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Sub-surface dams (create underground dams on slopes by building sub-surface dykes

perpendicular to the slopes direction, made of an impermeable material (for instance by
digging trenches and filling them with clay) to catch the water that run underground along
the hill, but only if there are a shallow impermeable layer on the land as rocks)
Gabion (small streams harvesting, by building a wall of wire mesh and boulders, to create
small dams but allowing some water to pass thru the wall and continue the stream)
Lakes/Ponds (dug on flat lands)
Percolation tank (artificial lake made with a wall after a small slope, in order to recharge
shallow aquifers)
Chal (various ponds along a hill, increasing size while reaching its base, where the water is
stored in a big pond or percolation tank)
Bund (same purpose of a chal but made with small dykes along the slope to maintain the
water and preserve the soil moisture)
Roof water harvesting for houses or other buildings (and directing the water through pipes
for a well, soak pit, water tank, etc.)
Some examples of rain harvesting techniques:

Sub-surface dam
Soak pit
Trench
Chal
Percolation tank
Trench or soak detail
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To decide the size of the structures size (for instance a tank), you should taking into account the
water demands of the families that will use the collected water. To help you making the
calculations, the average water wasted in typical activities is (in liters):
One person taking a bath with a bucket (1-2 buckets): 15-30

Brushing teeth: 1
Hand-washing dishes/utensils: 30
Hand-washing clothes: 30-45
Drinking and cooking: 6-10
Then you need to multiply the demanded water per day with the amount of time that you will have
water scarcity. And, therefore, the total demanded water should be equal to the rainfall catchment
area, multiplied by the rainfall and by a coefficient to take into account the average of water
evaporation and other wastes:
Total water (in liters) = area (in square meters) x rainfall (in meters) x 0.8
This works if you are planning to do roof harvesting in your house or, for instance, a kund. The
collected water can be direct it to the groundwater aquifers, natural storage structures like
lakes/ponds or water tanks. If you will build some of these storage facilities like a tank, you then
need to do it with the volume equal to the total demanded water.
In terms of types of materials for water structures, you have plenty of options:
pavement area (cement) or unpavement (soil, grass) for the catchment area on the ground
concrete, galvanize iron or corrugated sheets for the catchment are on the roof
galvanized iron, pvc, bamboo or betel trunks for the half-pipe gutters
reinforced cement concrete (RCC), ferrocement, masonry, plastic (polyethylene) or metal
(galvanized iron) sheets for the storage tank
Regarding to the tank itself the cheapest and easiest option is a ferrocement tank, that can be done
by only two or three people without requiring high skills and with less materials (and cost) than the
other options. In this type of construction, thin layers of cement are spread by the two sides of a
wire mesh in a cylindrical form (and with the floor and ceiling also covered with ferrocement
plates), with a tap on the lower part to take water out and a hole on the top for allowing the escape
of excessive water.
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Also depending on the time of utilization that you will give to this water, you should think about
filtering the water. If you will go to use it for irrigation of your crops you dont to filter at all. If you
will use it to wash clothes or utensils, a simple filtration with a clean cloth it will be probably
enough. But if its for drinking purposes you need to apply better water treatment techniques. Take
into account the type of catchment area (if its available for contamination of oil, pesticides or other
chemicals you will need to apply heavy treatment to this water and probably you cannot use it to
drink). But if youre doing roof harvesting or harvesting in natural lands, its most probable that you
can follow the following rule:
Cloth filter
Charcoal/sand/gravel filter
Solar treatment
Drinking
Cooking (if boiling)
Cattle feeding
Washing
Farming
You can use the water!

You can make a cloth filter by placing a fine cloth (even and old piece of clothing, like a saari or a
dhoti) on a bucket and pour the dirty water through it. You can also do this, for instance if you have
a pipe to carry the water from catchment area to the storage structure, by fixing the cloth to a part
of the pipe itself. But dont forget to clean the cloth sometimes, as it will become dirt after a while.
Regarding the solar treatment and the charcoal/sand/gravel filter, they are explained in other
section of this document.
Some last notes about water harvesting:
In structures like soak pits/trenches and in water filters, when you are using sand to filter
the water, remember to clean the upper layer of the sand because will become with all the
dirt filtered;
When digging and moving soil, for instance for doing chals or dykes, always keep separated
from the rest of the soil, the one palm of soil that its on top. This is the soil rich in nutrients
and organic matter, essential to be on the surface of the land for growing plants. You can
use this special soil to put on the surface of dykes and grow some crops there;
Its better if you plaster the small ponds and lakes with clay, in order to become more
impermeable and retain the water;
Always perform a first flush on the first rains, allowing the water to pass through all the
water structures without storing it, in order to clean all the dirt accumulated;
Always build the water structures with good accessibility, in order to be easy to perform
maintenance and cleaning;
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When mounting pipes to connect the catchment area and the storage one, dont forget to
take into account the intensity of the rainfall in its peak, dont use pipes of fragile materials
and with narrow diameters, because the amount of water will no flow freely and can
damaged the pipes system;
Its always crucial to teach the whole community how to use and maintain the structures,
and also to take care of the collected water in a hygienic manner.
Regarding this hygiene topic, there are some golden rules for safe water:
No defecation or urination near or in a source of drinking or bathing water (for example the
ponds, catchment areas, etc);
Animals have to be kept away from water collection areas;
Drinking water need to be kept in a clean container, and when you take water make sure
you do with a clean recipient and that your hands do not touch the water inside (the best
method is using a tap to not touch the water inside);
The clean water recipients have to be covered against flies and dust, and also be washed
and have its water replaced from time to time;
Always hand-wash with water and soap (for example with a Tippytap, explained in other
section of this document) or rub your hands with ash before preparing food, eating or
feeding children, and after defecating or handling waste.
Always remember, drinking safe water and washing hands are the most effective and inexpensive
ways of prevent diarrheal and acute respiratory infections, which are the biggest responsible for
child death in the developing world.
Sources:
http://rainwaterconcepts.co.in/index_htm_files/Design_Methodology_Structures.pdf
http://nopr.niscair.res.in/bitstream/123456789/1716/1/IJTK%207(3)%20485-493.pdf
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/settings/wsh9204.pdf
http://www.ieham.org/html/docs/Caixa_%C1gua_Ferrocimento.pdf
http://www.indiawaterportal.org/node/7354
http://samvardhan.co.in/rwh_technique.php
http://cseindia.org/node/1162
http://cseindia.org/node/1147
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Build a low-cost water filter

It will help you to have better water for your family, cleaning the dirt and most of the bacteria, and
itll be even better if you use it together with solar the treatment explaining in this document.
Filtering materials like charcoal, sand, gravel and stones

A clean container for the water, for instance a drum, bucket or a clay pot
A small tap
How (you can do it)

You can make the filter in a drum, bucket or even a clay pot (but make sure itll not leak water, or
else you should plaster it). Just place the charcoal, gravel in sand like in the picture below, and
attach a small tap on the bottom of the pot you used (using a strong glue or some isolating material
to make sure itll not leak water). If you dont have access to charcoal, other option is to use just
sand, rocks and gravel with different sizes, as your filtering materials.
10cm of gravel (+/- five fingers)

10cm of charcoal (+/- five fingers)
25cm of sand (+/- one palm)
25cm of gravel (+/- one palm)
safe water!
You can also make this in an outdoor manner, with a simple bamboo tripod with layers of clothes
for the gravel, charcoal and sand, and pouring the dirty water from the upper layer to have clean
water in a pot below on the floor (like in the first picture below). Or even using a simple plastic bag
hanged on a tree. Also you can do it a portable manner by using a big plastic bottle, as shown in the
second picture below.
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If you have a little bit more money, you can do this in a more professional way like in picture
below, and even manufacturing this water filters to sell as a income-generator activity!
When after some weeks the water starts to flow slowly, it means that the filter needs to be
cleaned. You can do it by scraping off the part of the materials that will be dirt, probably the top
layer of sand. After some cleanings maybe you will need to add more materials, just drain the filter
in order to be easy to fill again with the layers of materials like shown in the first picture of the
water filter. Make sure you always have the water container closed with a lid, for preventing dirt
and flies to spoil the water. And if you fill other containers with clean water, make sure that when
youre taking water from them your hands do not touch the water inside, because you will spread
bacteria again to the water.
For drinking purposes is better to also apply solar water treatment to kill all the bacteria, a
technique explained in other part of this document.
Sources:
http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/hygiene/settings/wsh9204.pdf
http://www.emergencyhomepreparation.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=251
http://www.thetruthsource.org/diy/make-your-own-water-filter
http://practicalaction.org/support-us/appeal_community_info
http://www.whentechfails.com/print/27
http://cseindia.org/node/1147#filter
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Solar drinking water treatment with plastic bottles

Because its a free way to have safe water to drink as if you have expensive water treatment
systems and it only takes sun and a little patience.
Water
Plastic bottles (water or soda bottles, from one up to two liters and with a PET sign)
Newspaper
How (you can do it)

1) Choose some plastic bottles that have a sign similar to this (probably in the bottom):
This is the best material to use in this method.
2) Wash the plastic bottles and fill them with clean water (if you are using water with dirt, you can
use a clean cloth as a filter).
3) You can check if the water is sufficient clean by placing the bottle over a newspaper headline.
Now look to the bottom of the bottle from its neck, if the letters of the headline are readable
you can use the water, or else you will need to filter a little more.
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4) Now you just need to place the bottles in the sun. Be careful to put them in a horizontal
position to catch more sun, and also in a place that will be no shades during the day. A good
spot is on the roof of your house or other high place where no animal or children will move
them. The water will be safe to drink after 6 hours on a sunny day but if the sky is too cloudy
you must to place the bottles during two consecutive days.
This method is promoted by World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and Red Cross
organizations as a safe treatment for drinking water. The only time that will not work is in the rainy
season when there is no sun at all. During these days, it will be better to collect and drink the water
from the rain.
Source:
http://www.sodis.ch/methode/anwendung/index_EN
Illustrations by Joo Rocha.
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Simple organic farming and irrigation techniques

Doing organic farming will help you to have better prices in the market (people pay more if the
products are organic) and its possible to save money by using fertilizers and pesticides made of
organic matter. Youre also protecting the environment and your future yield by not damaging the
soil with chemicals. Also a good irrigation system will help you to save water and money, by
increasing the yield of your crops.
Plastic bottles or unglazed clay pots

Some waste materials (like coconut husks, straw or newspapers) depending on what you
have available (more details below)
Hoses
Nail and needle or pin to make holes
Small pieces of cloth and strings
Plastic sacks
Cheap plastic films
Bamboo sticks
Others, depending on the options you make (more details below)
How (you can do it)

1) For preparing your land for farming, besides the typical actions performed in normal
agriculture, you can apply some tricks to increase your yield. One is, in case you have a river
nearby, mixing some sand from there with your soil it will be a good way to enrich your soil with
nutrients.
2) Applying drainage is a good option if you live in a place with an intense monsoon season, where
the heavy rainfall can flood and damage your crops. This method simple consists in doing small
canals to carry the excessive water to a small excavated pond, preventing too much water to
stay where you are farming (and with the advantage that you can store water for using for
other purposes).
3) As a fence to prevent animals to enter your farm, you can make a simple structure to promote
greenhouse effect around your crops, providing your plants additional carbon dioxide.
Depending on the climate, neither heating nor cooling are essential for raising the yield, and
considering that carbon dioxide is heavier than air and therefore will accumulates near the
ground, you can do a greenhouse without roof (that would increase the cost of the structure),
so you can simply surround your crops by a cheap plastic film fixed with bamboo sticks stuck in
the ground.
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4) Mulching the land where you planted will preserve the soil moisture and temperature,
increasing its health and productivity and reducing the weeds growth. This is done by covering
the ground with materials like chopped tree leaves, bark chips, hay, straw, sawdust, banana
leaves, coconuts husks, shredded newspaper or cardboard.
5) In terms of fertilizers, besides the mulch (that depending if its made of organic matter can also
serve as fertilizer), you can also use urine and manure from healthy people or animals as your
natural fertilizer. Always use dried faeces to prevent bad smell and insects (for instance you can
mix with ash and soil to help the composite process).
6) Making a side-farm to grow azolla pinnata is also a great option for natural fertilization and
mulching. Azolla is a floating fern, growing on water at great speed, doubling itself every two or
three days. Azolla has applications like reducing aquatic weeds in flooded rice fields, reducing
by 70% the growth of weeds by using as a mulching (you can also add banana leaves to prevent
it to dry), as a biofertilizer (fresh, dried or composed) increasing the yield by 15-20%, as food to
dairy cattle, chicken and fish, etc.
Mulching with
organic matter
Azolla pinnata
7) In terms of irrigation, a solution that saves water and maintain your crops with a constant
supply of water (but never too much, like flooding) it will be the best option. A way of doing this
is drip irrigation, or using buried containers that allow the slow leakage of water, or by a big
container and hoses with small holes along its length. Regarding the first option, to purpose of
burying a container is to the water directly address the roots of the plants, avoiding evaporation
as a way to save water. For this you can use an unglazed clay pot (one that leaks water from its
surface) with its whole body underground and only with its opening at surface in order to easily
refill with water. Dont forget to cover the opening to prevent the entrance of dirt and insects.
Other interesting and cheaper option is to use common plastic bottles (for instance the big ones
of water or cold drink) instead of clay pots, by making lots of small holes along its body with a
pin/needle, and bury them vertically with the opening above ground to be easy to refill.
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The option of having a big container connected to hoses that spread the water along your crops is
also very cost-effective and with the advantage that youll save time by only need to refill the
container with water and not many bottles. This can be done like in the picture below, using a big
and strong plastic sack hanging on a stand made with strong sticks (like bamboo). For preparing the
sack, you can use half of a plastic bottle and a cloth to make a simple water filter, as shown in the
picture. Then, cut a hole in the bottom of the sack (made of strong plastic, like a garbage bag, or
you can even use two or three plastic bags inside each other to become stronger, or just a big
plastic bag inside a sack of other strong material like thick fabric), place the water filter inside and
connect to a long hose. Mount the stand, being careful to choose strong sticks that can hold the
water weight, and also that have the sufficient height to hang the sack at least one meter from the
floor (this is important because it will be this gravity force that will give pressure to the water run
through the whole hose system). Dig holes sufficiently deep for the stand not to fall off, and even
use stones around the sticks on the ground if necessary.
Then use the hose to reach to the whole area of your crops, using a heated nail to make the needed
holes. If you can buy some connectors you can make several rows of thinner hoses as shown in the
above picture. Or else, you can also think of using more large hoses, all of them connected to water
filters inside the sack and equally spread over your farm to reach all the vegetables. Make
experiences and take some attention to the watering range that a hole in a hose can reach,
understanding the best option to have all the area covered. You can also irrigate in a sprinkle
fashion, connecting the hoses to common plastic bottles with small holes made with a sharp object
(you can test different hole sizes, like the ones made with a needle or with a nail, and see what
work best for you). Place them horizontal on the ground and see if the pressure is enough to have a
good coverage of the whole planted area.
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You can also join the sack technique with the buried containers, using the hanging sack connected
by hoses to many plastic bottles or clay pots buried underground, and, therefore, being the refilling
process as simple as pouring water to the big sack, with the gravity taking care of the rest. Other
idea is to use bamboo instead of hoses, in case if you have plenty available in your area.
Lastly, if you are in an area with shortage of water, you should definitely look for crops that dont
need too many water to become healthy and productive. This includes millet, sorghum, corn and
sugar beet. You can try to look for an agriculture cooperative or other organization to ask for help
and advice in the best crops to plant in your area.
Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mulch
http://agropedia.iitk.ac.in/content/use-azolla
http://irinab.ecosapiens.ro/azolla-in-organic-farming/
http://www.infonet-biovision.org/print/ct/293/soilconservation
http://greenhouse&catid=13:agri-horticultural-technologies&Itemid=52
http://www.arti-india.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=25:low-costhttp://catherinetoddarchitecture.blogspot.in/2012/04/garden-sprinkler-from-plastic-bottle.html
http://thegreenists.com/the-growing-challenge/tip-of-the-day-another-use-for-plastic-bottles/1546
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Build an Arborloo composting toilet

Itll give you proper sanitation in a low-cost manner, for you not to defecate open air (which is bad
for your health and also not safe for women and children) and you dont need to wait in long lines
in public toilets. Also itll help you to plant trees for you to earn money by selling fruits.
Bamboo sticks or other types of wood available in your area

Leaves, plastic films and other materials to cover the walls and roof
Shovel to dig the pit
Bricks, stones, mud/clay, cement, or others, to build a ring around the pit
Strong strings, ropes or wires (optional: nails)
How (you can do it)

The Arborloo toilet consists of a shallow pit (which requires no lining), slab and a light weight structure
which can be moved from one point to another. This structure can be re-used and cost almost nothing due
to being built only with local materials (for instance bamboo, cheap plastic films etc). The purpose is to dig
new pits when the old ones are full, and use the old ones to plant trees or to use its compost matter as
organic fertilizer in your farming.
1) Choose a location away from any source of water and draw a circle on the ground, digging a pit between
0.5 and 1 meter deep.
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2) Use cement or clay/mud, earth bricks (as explained on other section of this document) or other strong
materials (for instance if you have available rocks that you can hold together tightly) to make a
protecting ring around the pit (to prevent the top of the pit from falling in). To build this ring, place a
series of bricks (or rocks) end-to-end around the pit to form a circle, and slightly rose from the ground
where the toilet is being built. Then make mortar (using cement, mud or clay, etc, as long as it will
become strong when dried) and using a trowel add the mortar between and above the bricks. Then add
a second layer of bricks on the first layer. The upper layer should sit on the joint between bricks of the
first one, and, again, use the mortar to hold all the bricks together. Put some of the soil that you dug out
of the pit, around the protecting ring and rammed hard in place to make the ring stronger.
3) Make a slab (made of cement, bamboo, wood, etc) which sits on the protecting ring:
4) Build the moveable structure to protect the toilet from weather and give privacy and safety. Start
building by placing four sticks with 1.2m tall (for instance bamboo sticks) horizontally on the ground to
form a square. Place other four sticks vertically on the corners of the sticks placed on the ground, tied
together with strong string/rope or wire (or you can also use nails). Then use more bamboo or other
materials to support and add strength to the structure, by attaching them in a horizontal way to the four
posts (four at the middle and other four at the top to join the middle and uppermost parts of the vertical
rods). After joining the middle and uppermost parts of the vertical rods, more straight woods or
bamboos should be added and tied together with strong string/rope or wire. Then add grass, banana
leaves, plastic film or other materials to cover all the walls (in order to give privacy and safety to the
toilet user), attaching it firmly with string/rope/wire. Then make a roof with the kind of materials used
on walls, to prevent rain and give privacy (you can also add a plastic water bottle as a solar lamp to give
you light in the toilet during the day, as explained in other section of this document).
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5) If you have a pvc pipe or a large bamboo stick that is hollow and can work as a pipe, it'll be good to place
inside the toilet and with one of the sides coming out through the roof, in order to ventilate bad smells.
For this is very important that both sides of the pipe, the one inside the toilet and the other one outside,
aren't obstructed with objects or, in case of the inside one, leaned directly on the floor. Use some strong
string/rope or wire to attach to the toilet wall. Also the outside opening should be protected against rain
and flies, so you may use some plastic to cover it (but without obstructing the air outlet), and attach to
the outlet a small piece of net to prevent the entrance of flies.
6) Place a bucket inside and keep it always with wood ash and soil (mix two parts of soil for each part of
ash), it's very important that after every use of the toilet the person add a few handfuls of this mixture
to the pit hole to cover the faeces, reducing the bad smell and helping in the composting process.
7) Make a lid (for instance with wood, or some plastic founded in trash) to cover the pit the whole time
when the toilet is not being used (this is very important because of the smells, flies and infections).
8) Build a hand-washing device beside the toilet, like the one explained in other section of this document.
Its crucial for your familys health that everyone hand-wash with water and soap after using the toilet.
9) Teach the whole community on how to use the toilet, the importance of always throwing some few
handfuls of soil/ash to the pit and cover it with the lid. Also ask to everyone being responsible to refill
the soil/ash bucket when it's almost empty, to maintain the toilet as clean as possible to prevent any
diseases, and to never throw garbage, plastics or everything else that is not organic to the pit.
10) After some months of using the pit will be full, so it's time to dig another one nearby and move the slab
and the toilet structure to the new one. The old pit should be cover with soil and will take a year to
become compost and, only then, you can take out and use in farming as organic fertilizer to grow better
vegetables (in this case you can reuse the old pit again for toilet after you take out the compost). Other
option, in case you don't do farming, is to plant a fruit tree on each full pit, so you will not reuse this pit
for toilet but the tree will grow because of the compost and you will have fruits for eating or sell on the
market as a new livelihood.
Source:
http://www.wateraid.org/documents/plugin_documents/arborloo_construction_means.pdf
http://www.instructables.com/id/Arbor-Loo-Composting-Toilet-for-Haiti/
http://crs.org/water-sanitation/downloads/WATSAN-innov-arborloo-final.pdf
http://labspace.open.ac.uk/mod/oucontent/view.php?id=453841&printable=1
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Build a device for hand-washing (the Tippy Tap)
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Make earth bricks for low-cost construction

Its a way to build good houses using local and free resources like sand, mud or crop waste.
Soil
Sand, clay, lime, cement, straw or rice husks, depending on the available soil
Water
Metal or wood for making the brick mold
How (you can do it)

1) First of all we need to collect the soil and perform some tests to see if the soil is good to use in
construction. Note that soil for bricks should never be taken directly from the floor, due to this
surface soil being loose and containing organic material. It's better to dig at least one or two
palm and extract soil from the resulting hole. Its also better to extract samples of soil from
different places to compare and see which will fit better for the earth bricks. The first tests you
can easily do is to check if the soil that you collected has bad smell (if it has dont use it,
probably is spoiled with vegetable elements) and its color: the red or brown soil is good to use
in bricks, light-yellow is even better, but if its black or white (like sand) you cannot use it.
2) After that, you can do a sedimentation test to understand the kind of soil you have. To perform
this test, pick a transparent jar or glass and mix two thirds of soil and one third of water with
two spoons of salt (the salt will help to separate the various elements of the soil). Mix very well
and wait for the elements to separate, and after you can measure and understand the
approximate percentages of sand, clay, etc. For instance if you end with 5cm of sand and 10cm
of clay, it means that you have two parts of clay for one of sand which is not good for bricks. For
instance a good soil for bricks is composed by two parts of sand for one of clay, where you can
also add other materials to give more strength to the brick, but well talk about it later, now
lets continue to understand if we have good soil to use.
water
clay
sand
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3) For that, lets do a contraction test making a malleable mixture with the soil and putting in a box
of 40x4x4cm. Let it dry in the shadow and when its completely dry, see if the mixture made
some curve on the centre like in the picture below, if not the soil is good to use. Also, when
doing this test the mixture usually shrinks and cracks. Push the mixture to one of the sides of
the box and measure how much it shrank. The soil is good for using if the mixture didnt shrank
more than 1/10 of its total size, so, in a 40cm box it should not be more that 4cm.
4) Other test that is good to do is making a strip with a mix of soil and water, with 20cm length,
2.5cm width and 5cm thick. Put on your hand and start pushing out with your thumb until it
breaks. If it breaks until 5cm is out of your hand, the soil mixture is too sandy, is it breaks after
15cm is too clayey, but if it breaks in the interval 5-15cm it mean that the mixture is good for
bricks. Now lets make the bricks!
5) Note that you can improve the performance of the soil mixture by adding sand or clay to
become a mixture of two parts of sand for one of clay, as mentioned on step 2. Or if needed,
you can add a maximum of one part of gravel, straw or rice husks (always chopped before
adding to the mixture) to help strengthen the earth bricks. If there arent these local and cheap
materials available, a little bit of cement or lime can be added for that purpose (for instance one
part of cement for twelve parts of soil it will work).
6) Mix all together with one part of water until the mixture appear to have a uniform color. If you
didnt need to use cement on the mixture, you can mix it for instance with your barefoot feet,
or else use some strong stick to mix it well. Now put on a mold (for instance made of wood or
metal) with the measures of the bricks you want to do. The most used measure is 30x15x10cm,
but other fine examples of sample measures are 40x10x8cm or 20x10x5cm. Regarding the
mold, you can do it already prepared to do bricks in bulk (see the two examples on the picture
below) and always keep in mind that if you use wood, you need to use a clean and flat one, and
also that you need to apply a layer of burned oil to the whole surface of the mold to become
waterproof. In addition, the best way to apply the soil mixture to the mold is, firstly, using water
to wet the mold, then dumping some mixture without filling the whole mold. Now apply some
pressure on the corners to compact the mixture and after dump the rest of the mixture to fill
the mold, using your wet hand to level/smooth the upper surface. You can also use a wooden
board of the same size of the desired brick to compress the mixture as much as you can.
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If you have some kind of press that you can use it will be even better. The compression is important
due to the fact that, depending on the quality of the bricks, the walls made with them may need to
be protected from rainfall (higher compression means less porosity and better isolation from the
water). Otherwise you can plaster the walls with a layer of cement and clay mixed together (50% of
cement with 50% of clay, also a good mixture for using as a mortar) or, in the last case, cow dung.
There is also the possibility of making bricks with holes inside (also called hollow blocks). This
technique is used to produce lighter bricks and save from 0 to 30% of soil mixture. You can perform
this by placing small objects in the middle of the soil mixture inside the mold. Some cheap and good
examples of objects are shown in the picture below, respectively metal cans, small bottles, boxes or
corn cobs.
Other thing you can do is using a modified mold to make bricks for round corners as in the picture
below.
7) Now slowly and carefully take the wooden mold to have your bricks ready to dry. Its suppose
for the brick to hold its form after you take the mold (if not, its because there is too much
water in the mixture) and also its suppose that no mixture will stay glued on the mold (if it
stays, its because the mixture need more water). Let the bricks dry for one or two days but not
on direct sunlight, to prevent cracks or deformations. Its better to put them on shadow or
cover with leaves/straw, and on afternoons wet them a little bit. Now, after they dried, lets test
them to see if they are solid enough to use in construction!
8) The three simple tests you should do are:
1. Place a brick on two other bricks like in the picture below and stand above it (its suppose
that the brick will not break)
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2. Soak a brick for four hours and after break it to see the amount of depth that became wet
(its suppose not be more than one centimeter)
3. Soak a brick during four hours and place it on two bricks, with six other bricks above it like in
the picture below (its suppose to hold all the weight for at least one minute before it breaks)
9) If the bricks you made passed successful all these tests, they are ready for construction and you
can start making them for your villages houses or for selling as a livelihood opportunity! If the
tests didnt went so well, its better to change the soil mixture and try again. Worst case
scenario, if all the bricks you make with the soil we have available cannot be successful on these
tests, you can still use them for other applications that dont require the support of heavy
weight (walls that dont need to support roof, community ovens, etc). In addition, two good
practices that you should perform when you start to make bricks serially is to leave the soil
mixture rest with a little bit of water for three days before using it for the bricks and, after
dried, leave the bricks without using for construction for about 15 to 20 days, standing on their
side and in open rows for ventilate them, like in the pictures below.
Source:
http://www.amazon.com/Barefoot-Architect-Johan-van-Lengen/dp/0936070420
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Build solar lamps with plastic bottles

If your home is too dark during the day, this is an almost free manner to have light during day time.
Youll not waste energy with light and it makes your indoor tasks easier.
Plastic bottles
Liquid bleach or klorin
Some surface of the same material as the roof of your house (e.g. galvanized iron sheet),
like a square with one hand palm as the size of the side
Material to cut an hole in your roof (e.g. a nail to make the first hole and a metal cutter)
Isolating material (epoxy, silicone, etc.)
A small piece of sand paper
Some tool to bend the metal sheet (like pliers)
Something to hold the metal square surface to the roof (like rivets or screws and bolts)
How (you can do it)

1) Collect some used water bottles, wash them as much as you can and remove labels. Use bottles
of water or soda (not juice or milk) and in terms of size, the bigger the best!
2) Fill almost the whole bottle with clean water (as much clean and purified as you can). Now, grab
a bottle of bleach or klorin, and throw three teaspoons of it into the bottle. The bleach or klorin
is important to prevent the water to become dirty, and consequently, less bright.
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3) Now shake a little bit to mix the water and the bleach/klorin, and close firmly the lid. If you have
some tape you can isolate the lid. Its important that the bottle remain closed and no insects or
other living micro organisms could get in the water.
4) Now measure the diameter of the bottle on the place where it will be fixed to the roof, more or
less at the upper third, and cut a circle on the centre of the metal square with 1cm less that that
(more or less a finger). This will serve for you to bend it like on the picture below in order to fix
the bottle. After placing the bottle like shown below, making sure that is well fixed and without
major slits between the bottle and the metal sheet, spread a layer of some isolating material
(epoxy, silicone, etc). You can also use the sand paper to rub the surface of the bottle in the
place where you will spread the isolating material, in order to allow it to better glue with each
other and be more durable.
5) Clean the roof on the place where you want to put the bottle. Make a hole on your roof with
the same size of the bottle (you can do this by using a nail and a stone to make some small
holes and then using a metal cutter to expand it to a circle with the same size of the bottle), and
spread another layer of isolating material around the hole. Place the metal square right after
(for instance if the isolating material is epoxy you need to make sure that you join the metal
square to the roof before it solidify), and then fix the metal to the roof with rivets or screws and
bolts (four, one on each corner of the square).
same size
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6) Make sure to isolate the space between the roof and the metal square, and all other places that
rain water can infiltrate, in order for the installation be completely waterproof during rainy
season. And thats it, now you have free light during the day in your house!
Tip: if after some months or years the water becomes dirty and less bright, you can repeat the
process and make a new lamp to replace the old one. Its very important that you dont use the old
water for any purpose, just empty the bottle in a safe place like throwing the dirty water in the
toilets sewer, and repeat the process with new water.
You can see examples of the bottle lamp in the figures below:
Source:
http://isanglitrongliwanag.org/
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Make a pinhole camera for awareness projects

Images are the best way of showing something new to other people. But cameras are expensive so
this is a way of making cameras with almost no cost, using a creative method with lots of
potentialities to do art that make people connect in a more emphatic manner!
Match-box
Two films (35mm), one new and one old
Scissors and cutter
Transparent tape and black tape
Black cardboard
Sewing needle or sharp pin (or other kind of fine object)
Empty aluminum can (e.g. cold drink, beer, etc.)
Old spiral ring binder
Black felt tipped pen, black permanent marker or other kind of black paint
How (you can do it)

1) Remove the inner part of the matchbox, the match tray. Mark out a 36mm x 24mm rectangle,
as shown in the first picture below. Carefully cut out the frame shape with a sharp knife,
keeping the edges as neat as possible (any rough edges and card fibres will appear around the
edges of each photo). Then, to reduce internal reflections in the camera, colour in the inside of
the tray with a black felt tipped pen, black permanent marker or other kind of black paint (as
shown in the second picture below). And then do the same to the inside front of the matchbox
sleeve, carefully colouring black to prevent reflections (third picture below). To finalize the
preparation of the matchbox, mark out a 6mm square exactly in the centre of the front of the
matchbox sleeve, and carefully cut this square out keeping the edges as neat as possible to
avoid fluffy fibres obscuring the image (as shown in the forth picture below).
2) Now you need to do the pinhole itself, the place where the light will enter in the camera to
make the photo. For that, cut out a piece of aluminium from a drinks can (e.g. cold drink, beer,
etc.) of about 15mm square. Place the aluminium onto some thick cardboard. Using the fine
sewing needle or sharp pin, gently press into the centre of the aluminium. Twist the pin
between your fingers while doing this so that it slowly "drills" a hole through the metal.
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Don't push down hard with the pin so that it goes straight through, the idea is to produce a very
small hole with clean edges (the smallest the better, if you drill a hole larger than 0.2mm the
photographs will become less sharp).
3) Colour the back of the pinhole black, again this should help reduce internal light reflections in
the camera. Place the aluminium square onto the box so that the pinhole is exactly in the centre
of the square hole in the top of the box, and then use the black tape to secure the four sides of
the aluminium square onto the box.
4) Now you need to add a shutter, the thing you will move to take a photo. Cut two pieces of thin
card, a square about 32mm, and a rectangle about 25mm x 40mm. In the square piece, cut out
a 6mm square in the centre like shown in the first picture below. Then place some black tape on
one side of the rectangular piece to help prevent light leaks (as shown on the second picture
below). Place the square piece over the pinhole and tape down three sides, leaving a gap in the
top into which the rectangular card can slide, like shown in the two last pictures below. Be sure
that the shutter (the rectangular card) can be pushed down to fully cover the pinhole.
5) Deciding how far to wind the film on between each photo can be a bit tricky. If you wind on too
far, film is wasted. Wind on too little and you get double exposures. A way to accurately wind
on between each photo, is to add a clicker to the pinhole camera. You need some fairly stiff
plastic which is thin, springy and curved: the spine of a spiral ring binder is deal. Cut off one of
the loops and place the pointed end so that it just enters one of the sprocket holes of a 35mm
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film. Then tape the plastic to the film canister securely, as shown in the third picture below. Test
the clicker by gently pulling out some film: the clicker should ride on the back of the film
smoothly and make a click as it drops into the sprocket holes. If it doesn't remove the tape,
wind the film back into the canister and try again to repositioning the clicker slightly.
6) Now you can start loading the camera. First, trim the leader of the film, cutting the edge as
squarely as possible, as shown on the first picture below. If the film stub from the empty
canister is not cut squarely across, trim it square too. Pull out a little more film and thread the
film through the matchbox, as shown on the second picture below. Making sure the non-shiny
side is facing the pinhole, use some clear sticky tape to splice the ends of the film together as
neatly as possible. Try to make sure the edges are lined up together so the film can pass easily
into the empty canister, and tape both sides and make sure the joint is secure.
7) Now slide the match tray back into the box, and turn the spindle of the empty film canister so
that the slack film is wound into it. Make sure the edges of each film canister are pushed up
tight to the matchbox and no film can be seen, like in the pictures below. The film is now
loaded, but still needs to be made light proof.
8) If you want your pictures to be free from light leaks, it's very important that no light at all can
get into the camera other than through the pinhole! Black electrical PVC tape is very effective
at keeping out light. The most important places to seal are between the film canisters and the
matchbox. Place strips of tape down the front on both sides. Use two layers and make sure it is
stuck down firmly all around. Pay attention to the ends of each reel. Add more tape here, trim
around the spindles so that the tape adhesive doesn't stick and prevent the film being wound
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on. Again, use a couple of layers and check all around both joints to make sure they are totally
sealed. The cardboard of the matchbox will also leak a small amount of light, especially in bright
conditions. This will give your photos a mottled red effect. If you don't want this, tape all over
the back and sides of the box so that no cardboard is showing, as shown in the picture below.
9) To make it easier to wind the film on, is a good practice to stick something into the top of the
empty spool (you can use the ring pull from the empty can for instance). Also, as you wind the
film on, the film in the take up spool will tend to keep springing back. To keep some tension on
the take up spool, place a little paper on the base of the take up spool and tape over it. Don't
make this too tight or it will be difficult to wind the film on. And thats it, the completed camera
is now ready to use! Dont forget to make sure the shutter (the small rectangular cardboard) is
always closed unless you want to take a picture, and that to wind the film on, you need to turn
the winder on the empty take up spool anticlockwise.
10) When taking photos on the outside, for getting a correct exposure to your photos you should
leave the shutter (the rectangular cardboard) open for 1 or 2 seconds if there is sunshine and 5
seconds if is a cloudy day. When taking photos indoor, its better to leave the shutter open for 5
to 10 minutes with the camera staying still, because of the low lighting conditions. When the
film can't be wound on any more it's time to unload the film. You can just cut the box open, but
if you are careful you can reuse the camera many times. If you are reusing the camera, carefully
push back the tape to find the end of the clicker plastic, grasp with a pair of pliers, and remove
the clicker. This prevents the clicker tearing the film as it is rewound. Seal the tape back down
again, and wind the film back into the original canister. Remove the tape carefully from around
this and cut off the film, leaving enough sticking out of the
camera to splice your next roll. The film can be developed by
any normal photo lab (and it might be a good idea to tell them
that the frame spacing might be a bit irregular when you drop
the film off, for them to take a little more care when printing).
Source:
http://matchboxpinhole.com
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Disclaimer
Sapana.org do not own the rights of any of this methods, this document is just a collection of them
to help poor communities in the places we are working. We announced the sources where we got
the information through the whole document, but if you detect some copyright infringement
please let us know. Thank you for the help.
For any questions or help for the training sessions, please contact us:
SAPANA India
Miguel Jernimo
Email: miguel@sapana.org
Mobile number: +91 9545031718
With the kind help of:
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Appropriate Solutions - Simple and Low-Cost Ways of Improving People's Lives

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SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Why this document?

Which are the methods in this document?

What is the context of Appropriate Solutions within Sapana?

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Build a solar cooker

How (you can do it)

Two palms half-circle cut

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Tips and warnings:

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Build an efficient cooking stove

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Build a heat-retaining cooker (or fireless cooker)

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Make waste-material briquettes for cooking

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Build a solar dryer for food processing

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Build a refrigerator that runs without electricity

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Build a washing machine that runs without electricity

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

nuts and bolts

bolts and nuts

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

middle pipes to rotate

middle pipes in the

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

rope rolled up around the

hole used to add

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Some cheap methods of rain harvesting

How (you can do it)

SIMPLE AND LOW-COST WAYS OF IMPROVING PEOPLES LIVES

Clayey soils are more

Silty soils have moderate