Students test sanitation system in India using breathable fabric technology

Science Daily, January, 2015

Breathable fabric used in field test traps waste and allows only tiny water vapor molecules through.

 Credit: Evan Krape, University of Delaware

A team of researchers led by Steven K. Dentel, professor of civil and environmental engineering (University of Delaware), has been working for several years on a breathable fabric that can be used to line pit toilets and other basic sanitary facilities in developing nations.

Approximately 2.5 billion people around the world are still without adequate sanitation, which leads to water contamination responsible for hundreds of thousands of deaths each year. About a billion people still have to defecate in the open, without any privacy or sanitary facilities.

The fabric Dentel and his team are developing is similar to that used in sports jackets and raincoats; it only allows tiny water vapor molecules through.

Dentel realized this could be a valuable way to filter out liquid water from human waste, letting the pure water escape while retaining everything else. Sewage placed in a container of this fabric would become dehydrated and therefore less hospitable to bacteria and other disease-causing organisms.

Funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the project has been in the works for some time. The lab results look promising, but must still be tested in the field.

On Dec. 28, a small group led by doctoral student Shray Saxena headed to India to begin the first field test of the new fabric.

"A lot of people in India right now don't have improved toilet systems," says Saxena. "Even in cities like Kanpur, which are really quite developed, people do not have these facilities available to them."

Because sanitation in these cities is often decentralized, an advantage of this disposal system is that it does not require connection to central water or sewage lines.

Families in two cities, Kanpur and Puri, are trying out the new "eco-vapor" toilet system, with sewage collected in 55-gallon drums lined with the breathable fabric, allowing water vapor to evaporate.

The group is observing how the fabric performs under varying conditions of heat and humidity, which affect the rate at which water diffuses through the membrane. If external humidity is high, the lined drums may fill up before enough of the water can evaporate.

The nongovernmental organization WaterAid India is partnering with the research group on site selection and implementation of the pilot project.

In addition to Saxena, the team that went to India included Paul Imhoff, professor of civil and environmental engineering, doctoral student Babak Ebraziakhshayesh and two undergraduate students, Kelsey McWilliams and Dianna Kitt.

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Story Source:
The above story is based on materials provided by University of Delaware. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Coimbatore installs biogas plant

A Subburaj, TNN,  Dec 31, 2014


COIMBATORE: Kurudampalayam Panchayat shows the way in solid waste management by installing a bio-methanisation plant with the help of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). The plant installed at a cost of 30lakh generates four cylinders of gas per day which is supplied to the community hall built by the panchayat to fuel stoves. More than 250 families can use the stove free of cost to cook food on rotation basis.

"Trial runs are going on and the inauguration will be conducted on January 14, 2015. We will keep 20 fuel stoves at the community hall and families from Nehru Colony can cook their food using the stoves. We will issue tokens to each family based on which they could use the community hall for cooking on rotation basis. The project has been funded by the district rural development agencies (DRDA)," said D Ravi, president, Kurudampalayam village panchayat.

Behavioural change critical

• By T-, www.thehindu.com  October 12th, 2014

That high toilet coverage without concomitant utilisation of the facilities at a very high level and washing hands with soap will not bring about a reduction in diarrhoeal episodes and worm infestation, or any improvement in nutrition and growth, has been clearly brought out in a study undertaken in rural Odisha. The study involved about 4,600 households from 50 villages grouped in an intervention arm and about 4,900 households from 50 villages in a control group; there were nearly 25,000 individuals in each group. The coverage of toilets shot up from 9 per cent to 63 per cent among those in the intervention arm within 18 months, compared with an increase from 8 to 12 per cent in the control villages. Eleven of the 50 villages in the intervention arm had toilet coverage of 50 per cent and above; only two villages in the control group had coverage that was this high. 

Despite usage at the household level in the intervention arm being 84 per cent for women and 79 for men and children, it translated to only about 50 per cent at the community level. As a result, in both the arms the number of children below five years who were affected by diarrhoea was nearly the same. There was no difference in worm infestation rates or any improvement in nutrition or growth rates, either. There was no decrease in faecal contamination of water or any significant drop in contamination of the hands of individuals.

The results of the trial should serve as a painful reminder that emphasis on high toilet coverage without ensuring very high usage will not lead to improvement in health indicators. After all, the only way to reduce the overwhelming load of diarrhoeal and other pathogenic bacteria in the environment and improve health indicators is to refrain from shedding such bacteria in the environment. The timing of the results is perfect. 

The government recently rolled out its ambitious Swachh Bharat Mission with the aim of ensuring a toilet in every Indian household by the end of 2019; an earlier programme primarily targeted families that were below the poverty line. Building toilets is the necessary but easier part; bringing about behavioural change is the more daunting challenge. This is amply reflected in the study, done in accordance with the government’s earlier programme. 

The Mission should not remain a mere infrastructure-centred programme but should give equal priority to creating awareness of the benefits of toilet usage through a massive campaign. On paper, the “top priority” of the Mission is to improve toilet usage by bringing about behavioural change. There is also a provision to “monitor usage”. It is important that such ideals get translated into discernible actions and results on the ground.