Toilet is the most powerful force for change

Just imagine that you have to choose whether or not you will skip dinner. Not because there is lack of food, but because there is no toilet in the neighborhood. This is a dilemma that millions of people struggle with every day. They walk long distances to use a decent toilet. ´Isn´t nature big enough to take care of your urges?', you may ask. But leaving human excreta in the open leads to sickness and contagious diseases. We in the Western world have readily access to one of life's most powerful forces for change: the toilet. UNESCO-IHE fights to make sure that everybody living in the third world countries will also obtain this possibility. JOEP DERKSEN reports.

Take a look at these numbers: Every minute a child dies of a water-related disease. Women and children spend 140 million hours a day collecting water. 1 in 9 people lack access to safe water. More people have a mobile phone than a toilet. For every $1 spent on water and sanitation, there is a $4 economic return.

The Netherlands is well-known for its skills in water management. Famous are the stories for creating land for the realization of an airport, the construction of dikes and canals and the global fights against the raging seas and floods. But the Netherlands is also supporting UNESCO-IHE in one of the most important battles of all: making sure that every human on this Earth can be master of his/her own throne. UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education is category 1 institute of UNESCO, located in Delft from 1957.

A very successful initiative of UNESCO-IHE is the realization of emergency toilets, which can be used in conflict areas, during humanitarian disasters, but also as a permanent toilet in backward regions. These so-called ‘emergency Sanitation Operation Systems’ (eSOS) smart toilets are designed to provide a sustainable, holistic and affordable sanitation solution during the aftermath of a disaster. The eSOS concept reinvents (emergency) toilet and treatment facilities, and uses modern technology to bring cost savings to the entire sanitation management chain.

The toilet improves the quality of life of people in need during emergency situations - from natural to anthropological disasters - and minimizes the threat to public health of the most vulnerable members of society. The eSOS concept has been developed by Prof. Damir Brdjanovic. Its development has partly been funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Asian Development Bank.

The eSOS toilet is a urine diversion toilet with separate collection of urine and feces, with both dry and wet sanitation options. It includes both sanitation and germicidal features. The eSOS emergency toilets are easily deployable in disaster areas because of their robust and light-weight specifications. This type of toilet is currently tested in a refugee camp in Tacloban City, Philippines. The eSOS toilet has been used in the refugee camp for a few weeks now and the first results look very promising. Plans are being made to also use it in other countries in the coming years.

Damir Brdjanovic is Professor of Sanitary Engineering and Head of the EEWT Department of UNESCO-IHE. His professional mission is to contribute to knowledge development, research and capacity building in the urban sanitation field with particular emphasis on pro-poor sanitation.

He explains how the idea of the eSOS toilet came up: ‘Three years ago we hosted an event for emergency practitioners, NGO's, relief agencies, equipment manufacturers and academics, where we heard about number of challenges in provision of emergency sanitation. I decided to tackle some of them and introduce new concepts. With help of partners we developed the eSOS concept by looking into the entire chain of provisions of emergency sanitation.’

'A safe and clean toilet in a refugee camp is of the utmost importance', the professor states. ‘In the heaviest period of their lives, people need to have proper sanitation, which they can use decently, safely and with dignity. Next to shelter and food, the toilet is a symbol of hope for a better future life. As scientists, we want to contribute to it.’  

Brdjanovic: ‘In the first few weeks that the prototype was used by 85 families, we encountered several challenges, but they have all been resolved. For example, the toilet comes with an electronic lock and people were afraid to be locked in the toilet. They also had insufficient knowledge about the possibilities for anal cleansing. Our researchers explained how this system should be used. Also, male users who used the toilet standing were instructed to aim for the urine holder or to take a seat, so that their urine would not mix with the feces. To answer our scientific questions we need to know also social and behavioral aspects of how the people in need used and experienced the toilet.’

The toilet is now functional for longer than a week and has been used over 200 times. When this number has risen to 1,000, the information gathered will be used to build a full scale and final prototype in the Netherlands, which can be produced in large scale. Brdjanovic concludes: ‘We want to evolve the eSOS toilet into a disease prevention unit in the future. With the prevention of some most common diseases we expect to improve public health in the emergency settings in the coming years.’

It is expected that eSOS smart toilets will be soon made available to relief agencies, but they will also be viable sanitation option for organizers of, for instance, public events, open-air concerts and religious gatherings.

(Published in: The Holland Times, May edition)