Better environment, healthier society and human dignity through the tool of Sulabh technologies
by Sulabh International
The use of various technologies developed by us for human excreta disposal in the last three and a half decades are described below:-
For individual houses-the Sulabh two-pit, pour-flush, on-site technology which is appropriate, affordable and eco-friendly. To help in construction of two-pit, pour-flush, eco-friendly toilets and conversion of dry toilets to pour-flush, toilets in individual houses, to prevent defecation in the open and eliminate manual cleaning of human excreta by a class of people known as scavengers.
For public places, high-rise buildings, places of congregation and in non-sewered areas. To construct and maintain public toilets on a long term “pay and use” basis to provide a sustainable sanitation solution. Biogas digesters attached to public toilets recycle human excreta to biogas for further use. This promotes environmental improvement as well as provides human dignity. Other technologies are for waste-water treatment through duckweed with direct economic returns from pisciculture and composting of solid wastes through Sulabh Thermophilic Composting Treatment (STAC).
Implementation methodologies
Our methodology is that we propogate and implement the above technologies. This is done by education and motivation of beneficiaries when we go house to house, give information to them, motivate, educate and train them. We help them to construct toilets themselves, or design it and construct it for them. Implementation, maintenance and follow-up are done by members of our organisation.
Regarding construction and maintenance of public toilets, the land and funds for construction are provided by the local bodies and then leased to Sulabh for monitoring them on a pay and use basis. But, recently, the Govt. gives land and construction is done under Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) system. We follow a whole-town approach and cross-subsidize the funds.
The technique is that we have developed a model on how NGOs should work in partnership with Govt. agencies and local bodies on the one hand and people on the other; using appropriate and more useful technologies for effecting sanitation coverage. Sulabh has developed various strategies towards meeting the Millennium Development Goal on sanitation with involvement of all stakeholders and in partnership with Government, local bodies and communities.
United Nations ECOSOC and Sulabh International Social Service Organisation plan to work together in joint collaboration to help in empowering people throughout the world to achieve the Millennium Development Goal on Sanitation.
What is innovative about this approach/tool/project
Our project is innovative and unconventional as in the sustainable technologies developed by us, complete recycling of human waste takes place and it provides an alternative to the old technologies of sewerage and septic tank systems which are costly to construct, difficult to maintain and further pollute the environment.
Evidence of results and impact
The impact of our work is evident as we have constructed 1.2 million pour-flush toilets in individual homes in 25 states, 4 union territories and 1320 local bodies is cities/towns in India, in the last three and a half decades. We have constructed and are maintaining over 7,000 public toilets all over India, both of which are being used by 10 million people daily. Sulabh has constructed a public toilet in Bhutan and five public toilets with biogas digesters in Kabul, Afghanistan. Training on Sulabh technologies have been imparted to professionals from 14 African countries under the aegis of UN-Habitat to improve the sanitation status in Africa. Training is also imparted to professionals from abroad who come under capacity-building training programmes to various institutions in New Delhi. Besides, to familiarize nursing staff, students from various schools and representatives of NGOs with Sulabh technologies, models of toilets and technology implementation devices are shown to them.
Construction of Sulabh toilets / public toilets have resulted in less water-borne diseases, better environment and healthier society, particularly in slums in urban areas. Decomposition of human waste in individual household toilet pits has resulted in its conversion to fertilizer in a period of two years, which is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. Biogas digesters connected to public toilets recycle human waste to biogas which can be further used for lighting, cooking, electricity generation and body warming – a source of non-conventional energy. Both these systems help in reduction of green-house effect due to discharge of methane in the atmosphere by its absorption in the soil in toilet pits of individual households or by being burnt as biogas from digesters attached to public toilets. The wide application of Sulabh technologies has impacted the health of the people, their economic productivity (less loss of mandays) and provided human dignity to women and girls, who had to earlier resort to defecation in the open before sunrise or after sunset. The Sulabh Effluent Treatment Technology also purifies effluent from biogas digesters to decrease BOD levels and pathogenic bacteria level below 1 mg/l, thereby reducing pollution of water bodies and being used as a rich fertilizer for horticulture/agriculture.
The development of these technologies have shown how to eliminate defecation in the open and remove the practice of manual cleaning of human excreta by the people and enabled women to use toilets with dignity and safety and girls to secure benefits of toilets in schools. There is reduction in mortality rate of children because of diarrhoeal diseases. Untouchability and social discrimination have been removed from society by liberating and rehabilitating scavengers.
Cost associated with the development and implementation of the activity
The cost associated with the development and implementation of our activities is much lower than that involved in conventional styles of human waste disposal, which are expensive and unaffordable. Sulabh technologies based human waste disposal systems lead to decentralized, on-site human waste disposal system, besides being appropriate and affordable, even to the poorest of the poor, enabling them to easily adopt them and find a sustainable solution as compared to defecation in the open.