At the end of March, we and our community partner, SOIL, finished 2 urine-diverting dry toilets (a.k.a. ecosan toilets) in Shada, Cap-Haitien.

Here is part 2 of the pictorial how-to. You can find Part 1 here.

Building the stairs.

Molds for the toilet holes and pouring the concrete floor. Four plastic buckets are used to form the mold for where the toilet holes will be located for the 2 chambers. The concrete is poured and allowed to cure.

Lids for unused toilet holes.

Building the toilet house out of concrete block.

Finishing touches. The roof and door are added as well as a few accents. The chambers are sealed.

Urine Diverting Toilet and Urinal

Unfinished interior with urinal and 2 toilets (1 for adults, 1 for children). The simple urinal was constructed from cement with a wooden mold.

Urine collection drum and air vent. Hoses drain urine into the urine collection drum.

Pa jete fatra andedan twalet la!!! Don’t throw trash in the toilet. Latrine design allows for natural light and ventilation.

Toilet finished and painted is ready for use.

Related Posts:
Tech Tuesday: Urine-Diverting (Dry) Toilet [Shada, Haiti] Pt 1
Communities We Are Working With: Shada, Haiti
Ecosan (a.k.a. dry latrines) from around the world

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At the end of March, we and our community partner, SOIL, finished 2 urine-diverting dry toilets (a.k.a. ecosan toilets) in Shada, Cap-Haitien. The latrines are equipped two chambers where waste is converted into fertilizer, a urinal, 2 toilet bowls (one for adults and a shorter one for children) that separates urine and feces, and a pipe that diverts urine to a separate container. For the chambers, one side is used while waste in the other dries and decomposes.

Information on the basic design of urine-diverting toilets can be found in Hesperian Foundation’s Sanitation and Cleanliness for a Healthy Environment [available free at a pdf on their site, 52 pages].

The good:

Urine diverting dry toilets offer a safe and sanitary way to deal with fecal material, can be permanently sited as opposed to pit latrines, and don’t require water. The dry conditions kill most pathogens and parasites, including roundworm eggs. These above ground systems, which provide easy access for emptying, are best in places where people will use treated human waste as fertilizer and/or where the ground water is high/there is risk of flooding. Urine collected in a separate container (e.g. plastic jug, etc.) can be mixed with water and used as fertilizer. The latrines we built together will serve 200 people each.

The bad:

Safe use requires training as they work differently from pit latrines, overhang toilets, etc. Specifically, dry litter (e.g. dirt, ash, grass, leaves, sawdust) must be added after each use to prevent unpleasant odors and accelerate decomposition.

Human waste, which its potential store of cysts, worms, harmful protozoa, etc. takes a year of composting before it is safe for use on crops. While humanure is a great source of soil nutrients, many are not particularly keen on using it (or urine) as fertilizer. There are also cultural prejudices in handling latrine waste that must be dealt with. This leaves the inconvenient problem of what to do with the waste once both chambers are full.

We’re working with SOIL on setting up a municipal compost site. They have identified agro-businesses that are interested in the fertilizer if it proves to be without harmful pathogens after the year-long composting/decomposition period. Surveys of families with latrines have indicated that there is demand for an emptying service. One of the businesses that we intend to create will be involved in the emptying of wet latrines for biogas production and dry latrines for compost.

Check out this very interesting post from Haiti innovation on the current secret practices for latrine emptying in Maissade: Nocturnal Latrine Cleaners (And Other Surreal Sanitation Stories)

The bottom line:

Dry composting latrine are a safe sanitation solution for locations where flooding occurs or where the water table is high. However, in cultures where individuals do not wish to use humanure or urine as fertilizer, alternative solutions for final disposal/use of waste must be sought.

Pictorial How-to (Part 1)

What follows is a rudimentary step by step guide to the construction process. Photos are from the 2 builds.

Materials:

The Foundation

Outlining the base of the toilet.

Prepping the site. The trench for the foundation is dug.

Foundation is built in a footing of poured concrete. Because Shada is prone to flooding and has a high water table, the foundation will ensure that feces will not leak into the groundwater.

The form is filled with a layer of sand, then gravel …

… then reinforced with wire mesh…

… after which a layer of concrete in poured, smoothed and allowed to cure.

The two chambers

Once the foundation has dried enough, the two chambers of the latrine can be built. Spaces between the two chambers are left for the vent pipe and pipes for urine diversion from the urinal and toilets.

Constructing the floor slab

Wood is used to construct the formwork that covers the chambers. Bamboo stalks are used to support the wood underneath.

Wire mesh and rebar are placed to reinforce the floor. Note spaces are left to accommodate where the toilet holes will be.

To be continued…

More info on ecological toilets:
Sanitation and Cleanliness for a Healthy Environment
Composting Toilet Construction Manual [Different design done in Vanuatu]
The Humanure Handbook

Related Posts:
Urine-Diverting (Dry) Toilet [Shada, Haiti] Pt 2
Ecosan (a.k.a. dry latrines) from around the world
Communities We Are Working With: Shada, Haiti

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Vampire Energy: I’m in your house, stealing your vatts [View larger image]

Even when household appliances are turned off, most are still using some electricity. Appliances are either in passive standby mode (the clock on the microwave is still ticking) or active standby mode (the VCR is off, but programmed to record something).

Hmm, plasma TVs are shocking energy hogs. Yet another reason they’re losing out to LCDs.

FYI: This odd title comes from the “I am in your base killing your d00ds” meme.

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I’ve been promising to post photos/videos from the road but have been seriously derelict. However, because it’s Friday and my brain is rather fried, a work update will have to wait for the weekend or Monday. Instead here are a few non-work pics to get a sense what off-hours are like here in Cap.

Pete

Me (yeah yeah yeah this is really touristy, but in 20 years time, I figured I’d want this picture.)

Sarah Brownell of SOIL, who worked with us as Haiti program manager for a few months, is one of the reasons we got moving on the ground so quickly in Haiti.

Two cheeky children, Pete and Sasha Kramer of SOIL, one of the most skillful networkers I’ve ever met aside form Sweet Joy Hachuela.

Our water tank needs to be filled once every 2 weeks or so. Last time, it had to be filled by bucket! This time, the water truck came by for a delivery.

The school/church (not sure) behind our house. We often hear the kids singing and/or doing lessons in the morning.

Our rooftop woodworking space. I love the colored lamina. In the pic, Sunny, Pete, Isnido, Elizabeth, and Roudelin.

The Main Square a few blocks away from the office/home

Hostellerie Roi Christophe, Ritzy hotel down the street where we can have a swim and electricity/satellite internet when the electricity is down.

Part of SOIL’s lovely rooftop garden, fed with homegrown compost. These enviro-heroes have built a fab urine-diverting composting toilet for themselves on the 2nd floor.

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The vast bulk of international telephone and Internet traffic travels through underwater cables. This map shows the cables that were in use as of the end of 2004 and gives an indication of where traffic is heaviest.

From CNET

Updated Maps from Telegeography

Related News:
Submarine cable cut torpedoes Middle East access from the Register

A submarine cable in the Mediterranean was cut earlier today, resulting in a dramatic slowdown in internet access for people in India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan and much of the Middle East.

A spokesman for Flag Telecom, the owner of the severed cable, told the Reg: “It is a problem off the coast of Alexandria in Egypt. For some reason ships were asked to anchor in a different place to normal - 8.3km from the beach. One of the ship’s anchors cut our cable but there are multiple cuts - we’re not the only company having problems.”
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Apart from being serious for the region, the cable break could also hit large UK and US enterprises which have offshored business processes and backoffice functions to companies in India, Pakistan or the Middle East.

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From the Center for Global Development:

Rich and poor countries are linked in many ways by foreign aid, commerce, migration, the environment, and military affairs. The Commitment to Development Index (CDI) rates 21 rich countries on how much they help poor countries build prosperity, good government, and security. Each rich country gets scores in seven policy areas, which are averaged for an overall score.

Here are the overall rankings, as well as scores for aid, environment and technology. Visit the site to see info on Trade, Investment, Migration and Security.

Foreign Aid

Most comparisons between donors are based on how much aid each gives, either in absolute terms or as a percentage of GDP. For the CDI, quantity is merely a starting point in a review that also assesses aid quality. The Index penalizes “tied” aid, which recipients are required to spend on products from the donor nation; this prevents them from shopping around and raises project costs by 15–30 percent. The Index also subtracts debt payments the rich countries receive from developing countries on aid loans. And it looks at where aid goes, favoring poor, uncorrupt nations. Aid to Iraq, for instance, is counted at 10¢ on the dollar, since in Iraq corruption is rampant and rule of law weak. Aid to Mozambique, on the other hand, with its high poverty and relatively good governance, is counted at 77¢ on the dollar. Finally, donors are penalized for overloading recipient governments with too many small aid projects. When projects are many and recipient officials few, the obligation to host visits from donor officials and file regular reports becomes a serious burden.

Environment

The U.S. with its “Global Warming? Pschaw!” and non-Kyoto signing ways is dead last.

The environment component looks at what rich countries are doing to reduce their disproportionate exploitation of the global commons. Are they reining in greenhouse gas emissions? How complicit are they in environmental destruction in developing countries, for example by importing commodities such as tropical timber? Do they subsidize fishing fleets that deplete fisheries off the coasts of such countries as Senegal and India?

Technology

The Index rewards polices that support the creation and dissemination of innovations of value to developing countries. It rewards government subsidies for research and development (R&D), whether delivered through spending or tax breaks. Spending on military R&D is discounted by half. On the one hand, much military R&D does more to improve the destructive capacity of rich countries than the productive capacity of poor ones. On the other, military security is important for development, and military R&D can have civilian spin-offs. Consider that the Pentagon partly funded the early development of the Internet.

Also factored in are policies on intellectual property rights (IPRs) that can inhibit the international flow of innovations. These take the form of patent laws that arguably go too far in advancing the interests of those who produce innovations at the expense of those who use them. Some countries, for example, allow patenting of plant and animal varieties. In such countries, a company could develop a crop variety, say, that thrives in poor tropical soils, patent it, and then opt not to sell it because the poor who could use it have inadequate buying power.

Overall

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by Flickr User destro100

via Sustainable Design Update

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A nice bit of guerrilla marketing done by Naga DDB Malaysia for Regional Environmental Awareness.

Text: “Don’t let this be our future. Save our rainforest, stop global warming”.

via Treehugger

Let’s not forget the other Waterworld, apparently a movie that only I liked.

Related Posts:
Sea of People Rally - Step it Up NYC [Pics]
Link of the Day 7/7/07: Sea Level Rise Google Maps mashup
Today in We’re Doomed: This Summer’s Arctic Sea Ice Melting

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Children attend class at the Dongzhong (literally meaning “in cave”) primary school at a Miao village in Ziyun county, southwest China’s Guizhou province, November 14, 2007. The school is built in a huge, aircraft hangar-sized natural cave, carved out of a mountain over thousands of years by wind, water and seismic shifts.

From Reuters via Boing Boing

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See larger version

I disagree with one assertion from this graphic in particular. It states that as the U.S. increases the production of ethanol, corn exports will have to shrink to meet internal demand. Since we currently export 2/3 of the world’s corn, this would lead to the worsening of global hunger.

Hmm, but how is it possible for the U.S. to export that much corn and outcompete local producers in developing countries in the first place? U.S. agricultural subsidies allow us to sell corn and other foodstuffs at such low prices that many producers/farmers in emerging markets are forced out of business. I would argue that in the long term, the reduction of corn exports by the U.S. would have a better chance of decreasing global hunger as local providers could sell their wares at competitive prices and bolster their local economies.

From the Economist:

Three-quarters of the world’s poor live in rural areas. The depressed world prices created by farm policies over the past few decades have had a devastating effect. There has been a long-term fall in investment in farming and the things that sustain it, such as irrigation. The share of public spending going to agriculture in developing countries has fallen by half since 1980. Poor countries that used to export food now import it.

Reducing subsidies in the West would help reverse this. The World Bank reckons that if you free up agricultural trade, the prices of things poor countries specialise in (like cotton) would rise and developing countries would capture the gains by increasing exports. And because farming accounts for two-thirds of jobs in the poorest countries, it is the most important contributor to the early stages of economic growth. According to the World Bank, the really poor get three times as much extra income from an increase in farm productivity as from the same gain in industry or services. In the long term, thriving farms and open markets provide a secure food supply.

Update: Pete sent me this interesting story on Farmers in Africa fighting back against Western subsidies.

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