An environmentallyfriendly toilet, which uses the chemistry of dehydration and evaporation, was presented as an option for Grahamstown to the Makana Council Infrastructural Development Committee at their last meeting.
An environmentallyfriendly toilet, which uses the chemistry of dehydration and evaporation, was presented as an option for Grahamstown to the Makana Council Infrastructural Development Committee at their last meeting.
This waterless toilet was developed by former Grahamstown mayor Dr Brian La Trobe and he received a 2005 Tech Museum Awards Laureate for inventing it. Brian’s son Gavin and one of the founders of Enviro Options, the company which manufactures, markets and installs Enviro Loo, did the presentation on the Sanix toilet which uses no water and no chemicals.
Nikki Köhly, who is installing a waterless toilet in her home, says: “Primarily, it’s a mindset difference. With waterborne sewerage, you flush and it’s gone and it’s no longer your problem but it ends up being somebody else’s problem.
This brings the reality of our own waste closer to home.” The responsibility mindshift is not the only one needed, the other one is to understand that other types of toilets are not as icky as you think. Köhly, the Safety, Health and Environmental Officer at Rhodes University, says waterless toilets that compost waste are hygienic, and “virtually pathogen free”.
The toilet is also low maintenance as a person uses a toilet brush and a small amount of water to clean it and, on average, the toilet only needs to be emptied of waste every three to six months.
The toilet does not smell as all odours are vented into the atmosphere via a winddriven extractor. Some people may be put off by the appearance of the toilet which is moulded in plastic and is only available in a small variety of colours, but aesethetics is a small price to pay when you consider the harmful environmental impact of flushing toilets.
“An average flush toilet could use somewhere between 22 000 litres of water per year. It’s not just the water that is lost when flushing but there’s also the cost involved in treating that water and piping it into our treatment works,” Köhly says.
“In practical terms, it’s not realistic to expect the whole of Grahamstown to convert to waterless sanitation but I think it’s important to consider all the different options.”
The toilet system works by separating solid and liquid waste. The liquid is drained to the bottom of the container while the faeces remains on a drying plate.
Both the liquid and the solid waste are exposed to a continuous flow of air that is driven through the unit by a forced aeration system.
The ventilation extraction unit helps with the movement of air which dehydrates the solid waste as it moves down to the drying plate.
The liquid waste then evaporates. Sunlight is absorbed by an inspection cover which increases the temperature within thecontainer.
The waste is then dehydrated and decomposed because of the intense heat and air which is drawn into the toilet.
This stimulates bacteria which converts the human waste into an inoffensive, dry, stabilised material and it is reduced to roughly 5% of its original volume.
This dry material can either be buried in a hole or can be thrown into a waste bag which goes to the landfill site.Siyazama pre-primary school in Joza Township has installed six waterless toilets.
The school was was built with the help of the school’s governing body, the Centre for Social Development, the Rotary Club of Grahamstown Sunset and the National Development Agency.
It was decided from the beginning that the school was going to be environmentally friendly and in addition to the waterless toilets, it has water tanks and a vegetable garden in which organic fertiliser is used.
Este Coetzee, treasurer of the governing body, says: “Environmental education needs to start with children as young as possible. We must not see environmental educationalists as specialists in specific areas but each of us must be an environmental educator.”
The school uses Eco San toilets and staff were trained on how to use the them. Coetzee says that the toilets were expensive to install costing R3 700 each excluding transport.
According to Köhly, the initial cost of the toilet is high but people will save money in the long-term as there are no sewerage connection rates or payment for any water which gets consumed with the flushing toilets.
La Trobe believes that Grahamstown has a viable market for the waterless toilet: “South Africa is faced with a sanitation crisis. Problems regarding waterborne sewage are reported across South Africa.
We believe the right decisions have to be made now, this has been going on for too long and the damage to our water sources, if unchecked, will have dire consequences.”
