The biggest problem in rural India is with the Septic tank seepage to nearby wells, contaminating drinking water. Houses are built very close to each other, and each house having own well and septic tank for the latrine. The system will work only if drinking water supply is though pipeline.
It is more healthy to defacate in the open air than doing it behind closed doors. The stench inside the closed doors is unbearable, where as in open air, it spreads. That message is being taken seriously by our village breathren and those living near railway tracks.
A villager is knows more about ecology than even an educated and trained ecologist from the city. When the villagers defecate in the fields the feaces serves at-least another stage of food cycle. It is eaten by dogs, pigs some times even birds, insects and worms. Insects and worms convert the feaces into natural fertilizer. There is no place for this in our cities and we drain it into the sewer which ends up in a water body like lake or river. Which way of disposal is cleaner?
Re: The reasons for not having a latterine at home are ecological
by bigben bigben on Jun 15, 2014 09:54 AM
You are wrong. Bacteria from feces finds its way into the water table and results in cholera and typhoid. No country in the world has more typhoid and cholera than India. And open defecation is responsible for it.
Re: Re: The reasons for not having a latterine at home are ecolog
by riyfkm on Jun 16, 2014 11:34 AM
And imagine Surendran Shukla's happiness.... when he actually stomps on human waste while walking.... must be thinking.. he's spreading it for faster conversion of waste into fertilizer???
thanks Sangita for bringing focus on Sanitation. Though having multiple impacts it is also much neglected ! However having delivered 300k rural individual toilets (133K of them last year alone) we at FINISH think 'Behaviour change'though essential is not the only need. it needs more especially if we want a timebound solution!
Re: water needed for toilets
by anand verma on Jun 13, 2014 12:22 PM
I find this is the strongest reason why people in rural area still feel toilet is more un-sanitised than toilet in open.
Re: water needed for toilets
by Ashwin on Jun 15, 2014 09:23 AM
You said it. Experts & Planning Commission members think, its very simple; construct Toilets & expect people to defecate in the Toilet. But they have to carry loads of water to clean,flush etc. Ultimately its another similar story like RTE,RTI,Aadhaar card, Gas Subsidy etc. Unless there is total systemic change, we can not achieve 100% results in any field, like education, transportation, housing etc., much less in sanitation.
Re: water needed for toilets
by bigben bigben on Jun 15, 2014 09:56 AM
Clean piped water should be provided to every home first, before enforcing toilets. As many here have mentioned, biggest problem is leaking septic tanks polluting water in adjacent borewells.
We forget about the past, and build new india with all the basic amnieties for each and every citizen in this country. May be education is very important for urban and rural citizensm, and the right infrastrcture.
most of the septic tanks are built with inferior materials. the bricks ,the cement are not of good quality.people spend huge money on building beautiful houses,with western style toilets .the septic build is very inferior quality. the waste water is leaked in to the ground and is polluting the ground water, as we draw ground water from bore well with motors , due to the pressure from the motors the dirty water is sucked and mixed with the water. first we have to importance to the septic tank quality.
