FINAL REPORT

ASSESSMENT OF ECOSAN TOILETS

IN NEPAL

Submitted by:

April 2006

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................. 1 1.1 BACKGROUND................................................................................................................ 1 1.2 GOAL OF STUDY ............................................................................................................. 2

2.0 OBJECTIVES...................................................................................................... 2

3.0 METHODOLOGY................................................................................................ 2 3.1 LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................................... 2 3.2 DEVELOPMENT OF QUESTIONNAIRE............................................................................... 3 3.3 FIELD TEST .................................................................................................................... 3 3.4 FINALIZATION OF QUESTIONNAIRES .............................................................................. 3 3.5 ORIENTATION TRAINING TO ENUMERATORS.................................................................. 3 3.6 FIELD SURVEY ............................................................................................................... 4 3.7 HOUSEHOLD VISITS ....................................................................................................... 4 3.8 FOCUS GROUP DISCUSSION............................................................................................ 4 3.9 INTERVIEWS WITH KEY PERSONALS............................................................................... 4 3.10 CONSULTATION WITH ORGANIZATIONS ......................................................................... 5 3.11 DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS................................................................................ 5

4.0 LIMITATIONS ..................................................................................................... 5

5.0 STATUS OF WATER SUPPLY AND SANITATION IN NEPAL......................... 6

5.1 WATER SUPPLY ............................................................................................................. 6 5.2 SANITATION................................................................................................................... 6 5.3 TYPES OF TOILETS.......................................................................................................... 6

5.3.1 Direct Pit Latrine............................................................................................................................ 6 5.3.2 Ventilated Improved Pits (VIP)....................................................................................................... 7 5.3.3 Offset Pit Latrine............................................................................................................................. 7 5.3.4 Toilet with Septic Tank.................................................................................................................... 8 5.3.5 Toilet connected to Sewerage System ............................................................................................. 8

6.0 ECOSAN TOILETS IN NEPAL........................................................................... 9 6.1 STATUS OF ECOSAN TOILETS ......................................................................................... 9 6.2 TYPES OF ECOSAN TOILETS IN NEPAL....................................................................... 10

6.2.1 Double Vault Type ........................................................................................................................ 10 6.2.2 Double vault solar model.............................................................................................................. 11 6.2.3 Single vault replaceable buckets................................................................................................... 12 6.2.4 Urine diversion pour flush toilets ................................................................................................. 12

6.3 IMPLEMENTING AGENCIES ........................................................................................... 13 6.3.1 Lumanti ......................................................................................................................................... 13 6.3.2 Environment and Public Health Organization ............................................................................. 14 6.3.3 Center for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD) ..................................................................... 14 6.3.4 Community Development Forum (CODEF) ................................................................................. 14 6.3.5 Development Networks (DNet) Pvt Ltd......................................................................................... 14 6.3.6 Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH) ............................................................................................... 14 6.3.7 Nepal Red Cross Society ............................................................................................................... 15

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6.3.8 Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project........................................................................ 15 6.3.9 Plan Nepal .................................................................................................................................... 15 6.3.10 Donors Agencies ...................................................................................................................... 15 6.3.11 DWSS/ WHO ............................................................................................................................ 15 6.3.12 Water Aid Nepal....................................................................................................................... 15 6.3.13 UN-HABITAT........................................................................................................................... 16 6.3.14 Practical Action ....................................................................................................................... 16

5 5.0 STUDY LOCATIONS.................................................................................. 17

5.1 5.1 PERI-URBAN AREA OF KATHMANDU VALLEY ......................................................... 17 5.1.1 5.1.1 Siddhipur.............................................................................................................................. 17 5.1.2 5.1.2 Khokana ............................................................................................................................... 17 5.1.3 5.1.3 Tokha.................................................................................................................................... 18 5.1.4 5.1.4 Thecho.................................................................................................................................. 18 5.1.5 5.1.5 Imadol .................................................................................................................................. 18 5.1.6 5.1.6 Thimi .................................................................................................................................... 19 5.1.7 5.1.7 Lubhu ................................................................................................................................... 19 5.1.8 5.1.8 Tigani ................................................................................................................................... 19 5.1.9 5.1.9 Duwakot ............................................................................................................................... 19 5.1.10 5.1.10 Gamcha ......................................................................................................................... 19 5.1.11 5.1.11 Shankhamul ................................................................................................................... 20

5.2 5.2 ECOSAN TOILETS IN SOUTHERN PLAIN .................................................................... 20 5.2.1 5.2.1 Sabaithawa........................................................................................................................... 20

5.3 5.3 ECOSAN TOILETS IN HILL AREA .............................................................................. 20 5.3.1 5.3.1 Gorkha ................................................................................................................................. 20

5.4 5.4 OTHER LOCATIONS................................................................................................. 21

6 6.0 TECHNICAL EVALUATION OF DRY TOILETS USED IN NEPAL............ 22 6.1 6.1 PANS ...................................................................................................................... 22

6.1.1 6.1.1 Squatting pan with two faeces holes .................................................................................... 22 6.1.2 6.1.2 Two pan system .................................................................................................................... 22 6.1.3 6.1.3 Pan cover ............................................................................................................................. 23

6.2 6.2 EXCRETA COLLECTION TANKS................................................................................ 23 6.2.1 6.2.1 Faeces collection tank.......................................................................................................... 23 6.2.2 6.2.2 Urine pipes and urine collection tank.................................................................................. 23

6.3 6.3 VENTILATIONS ....................................................................................................... 24 6.3.1 6.3.1 Ventilation pipes .................................................................................................................. 24 6.3.2 6.3.2 Lighting and ventilation inside the cubical.......................................................................... 24

6.4 6.4 ACCESS .................................................................................................................. 24 6.4.1 6.4.1 Access door in vaults ........................................................................................................... 24 6.4.2 6.4.2 Door shutter ......................................................................................................................... 25

6.5 6.5 WALLS AND ROOF .................................................................................................. 25 6.5.1 6.5.1 Height of toilet ..................................................................................................................... 25 6.5.2 6.5.2 Roof ...................................................................................................................................... 25

7 7.0 NUTRIENTS VALUE OF URINE AND FAECES........................................ 26

8 26

9 27

10 27

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11 8.0 SWOT ANALYSIS OF ECOSAN TOILETS................................................ 28 11.1 8.1 STRENGTH OF ECOSAN TOILETS.............................................................................. 28 11.2 8.2 WEAKNESS OF ECOSAN TOILETS............................................................................. 28 11.3 8.3 OPPORTUNITY ........................................................................................................ 29 11.4 8.4 THREATS ................................................................................................................ 29

12 9.0 KNOWLEDGE ATTITUDE AND PRACTICES (KAP) ................................ 30

12.1 9.1 KNOWLEDGE.......................................................................................................... 30 12.2 9.2 ATTITUDE .............................................................................................................. 30 12.3 9.3 PRACTICES ............................................................................................................. 31 12.4 9.4 GAP BETWEEN KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES......................................................... 31

13 10.0 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ..................................................................... 32

13 10.0 RESULTS AND ANALYSIS ..................................................................... 33

13.1 10.1 URINE DIVERSION DRY TOILETS ........................................................................... 33 13.1.1 10.1.1 Ecosan toilet number and population ........................................................................... 33 13.1.2 10.1.2 Household size and population ..................................................................................... 33 13.1.3 10.1.3 Occupation .................................................................................................................... 33 13.1.4 10.1.4 Landholding .................................................................................................................. 33 13.1.5 10.1.5 Alternative toilets .......................................................................................................... 34 13.1.6 10.1.5 Motivation factor for the ecosan toilet.......................................................................... 34 13.1.7 10.1.6 Use of ecosan toilet ....................................................................................................... 34 13.1.8 10.1.7 Cleaning of ecosan toilet............................................................................................... 35 13.1.9 10.1.8 Perception towards ecosan toilet .................................................................................. 35 13.1.10 10.1.9 Additive materials ......................................................................................................... 36 13.1.11 10.1.10 Faeces management .................................................................................................... 37 13.1.12 10.1.11 Emptying the vault ...................................................................................................... 37 13.1.13 10.1.12 Use of dry faeces ......................................................................................................... 38 13.1.14 10.1.13 Condition during vault emptying process ................................................................... 39 13.1.15 10.1.14 Odors during emptying ............................................................................................... 39 13.1.16 10.1.15 Moisture in the content of vault during emptying ....................................................... 39 13.1.17 10.1.16 Vault emptying ............................................................................................................ 40 13.1.18 10.1.17 Management of urine .................................................................................................. 40 13.1.19 10.1.18 Urine collection tank................................................................................................... 40 13.1.20 10.1.19 Use of urine ................................................................................................................. 41 13.1.21 10.1.20 Effect of urine in agriculture....................................................................................... 43 13.1.22 10.1.21 Financial benefits of ecosan toilet .............................................................................. 44 13.1.23 10.1.22 Social acceptance of ecosan toilet .............................................................................. 44 13.1.24 10.1.23 The main problem with ecosan toilet .......................................................................... 44 13.1.25 10.1.24 Advantages of ecosan toilets ....................................................................................... 45 13.1.26 10.1.25 Perception of neighbors .............................................................................................. 45 13.1.27 10.1.26 Future of the ecosan toilets in Nepal .......................................................................... 46

13.2 10.2 URINE DIVERSION POUR FLUSH (WET ECOSAN) TOILETS ....................................... 46 13.2.1 10.2.1 Location and accessibility............................................................................................. 47 13.2.2 10.2.2 Ecosan toilet.................................................................................................................. 47 13.2.3 10.2.3 Sanitary condition ......................................................................................................... 47 13.2.4 10.2.4 Water supply situation .................................................................................................. 47 13.2.5 10.2.5 Motivation for ecosan use ............................................................................................. 47 13.2.6 10.2.6 Use of ecosan toilets ..................................................................................................... 48 13.2.7 10.2.7 Status of toilet................................................................................................................ 48 13.2.8 10.2.8 Management of faeces.................................................................................................. 48

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13.2.9 10.2.9 Use of urine ................................................................................................................... 48 13.2.10 10.2.10 General attitude toward ecosan .................................................................................. 49

14 11.0 PERCEPTION STUDY OF NEIGHBORS................................................. 50 14.1 11.1 GENERAL ............................................................................................................. 50

14.1.1 11.1.1 Demography.................................................................................................................. 50 14.1.2 11.1.2 Occupation .................................................................................................................... 50

14.2 11.2 TOILETS ............................................................................................................... 51 14.2.1 11.2.1 Access to toilets ............................................................................................................. 51 14.2.2 11.2.2 Willingness to build toilets ............................................................................................ 52

14.3 11.3 ECOSAN TOILETS .................................................................................................. 52 14.3.1 11.3.1 Knowledge about ecosan toilets.................................................................................... 52 14.3.2 11.3.2 Attitude towards ecosan ................................................................................................ 52 14.3.3 11.3.3 Willingness to install ecosan toilets .............................................................................. 53 14.3.4 11.3.4 Attitude towards nutrient recycle .................................................................................. 53

15 12.0 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................ 54

15.1 12.1 CONCLUSIONS ...................................................................................................... 54 15.1.1 12.1.1 Total sanitation scenario .............................................................................................. 54 15.1.2 12.1.2 Use of ecosan ................................................................................................................ 54 15.1.3 12.1.3 Nutrients recycle ........................................................................................................... 55 15.1.4 12.1.4 Social status of ecosan toilets ....................................................................................... 55 15.1.5 12.1.5 Investment in toilets ...................................................................................................... 56 15.1.6 12.1.6 Cost of ecosan toilets .................................................................................................... 56 15.1.7 11.1.7 Environmental factors................................................................................................... 56 15.1.8 11.1.8 Attitude of key persons .................................................................................................. 56 15.1.9 11.1.9 Acceptance ladder......................................................................................................... 57

15.2 11.2 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................ 57

ANNEXES

SAMPLE QUESTIONNAIRES

RESULTS OF SURVEY

LABORATORY RESULTS OF NPK TEST

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1.0 Introduction

1.1 Background

Although access to drinking water has improved significantly over time in Nepal, the progress in the sanitation coverage has been lagging far behind. The sanitation coverage in the 1990s (access to latrine only) was estimated to be 34% in the urban and 3% in the rural, with the national average at 6% of the total population. Recent figures show that the sanitation coverage in 2005 is at 39% (WAN).

To improve sanitation coverage, Nepal has also set its pace to achieve the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) in water and sanitation by 2015. However, it is estimated that with the current pace of development the MDG target is likely to be unfulfilled. It is calculated that to achieve the MDG targets, an additional 14,000 toilets need to be constructed per month between 2000 and 2015 (WaterAid Nepal, 2004). So far most of the sanitation intervention programmes have been merely focused on providing access to toilet facilities such as promotion of pit latrines or pour flush toilets with poorly designed septic tanks and pits. Not much attention has been given to the type and design of toilets and this has often resulted into negative impacts on the environment such as ground water pollution from over flow of effluents from septic tanks or from intrusion of fecal matters. Therefore in light of these problems, while increasing the sanitation coverage it is also equally important to promote appropriate technologies which are environmentally sound and which suits to the local context and needs of the people.

As a test to promote eco-friendly technologies in sanitation, ENPHO in association with WaterAid Nepal introduced the urine diversion dehydrating toilets or Ecological Sanitation for the first time in the country during 2002/2003. Ecosan is a holistic concept to conserve water, prevent pollution and recycle nutrients present in the human excreta. The Ecosan concept considers human excreta as a resource rather than waste as earlier understood. Urine is used as fertilizer while feaces is used for making compost.

ENPHO under the support of WAN piloted 10 Ecosan units in Khokana, a peri-urban settlement located in the Kathmandu Valley. During the same year, the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) in collaboration with WHO also initiated a pilot Ecosan implementation program in Siddhipur of Lalitpur district. Following these pilot programmes ENPHO extensively expanded the Ecosan toilet program in other settlements of Katmandu valley like Khokana, Sidhhipur, Thimi and also in areas outside the valley. Since then, many governmental and non governmental organizations have joined hands in scaling up this initiative and promoted it in several parts of the country. Till date over 500 Ecosan toilets

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have been built. With the successful adoption of these systems in Nepal, it was felt necessary to document the lessons learnt on one hand while on the other hand it was important to carry out a detail assessment to track down the strengths and weakness of these systems.

1.2 Goal of study

The major goal of the study was to assess the technical, social and financial aspects of the technology and to come up with suggestions and recommendations for further improvement and scaling up.

2.0 Objectives Following are the major objectives of this study:

a. to conduct a social, technical and financial assessment of the Ecosan toilets constructed in Nepal

b. to document the state of art practices and problems mainly analyzing the strengths and weakness of Ecosan toilets

c. to recommend measures for further improvement of the Ecosan toilets

3.0 Methodology The following methodologies and processes were used as part of the assessment:

Literature review

Users survey

Observations

Focus Group Discussion

Interviews with key informants (Experts, Promoters and users)

Laboratory Analysis

3.1 Literature review Before stepping to the actual survey work, the published materials related to ecosan toilets were studied carefully. All the published project reports of ecosan toilets, brochures, booklets and books available in Nepal were studied and reviewed.

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3.2 Development of Questionnaire Based on the practical experiences and literature study the questionnaires for the household level survey were prepared. Three different types of questionnaires were prepared, viz.

Questionnaire for Ecosan users Questionnaires non Ecosan users Observation Checklists

3.3 Field Test The questionnaires were tested in field to know the practicality of questions and type of expected responses. About 6 households were used for the testing purposes. The responses of each question and expected responses were reviewed.

3.4 Finalization of Questionnaires Following the field test, results obtained were discussed with some experts and team members. Keeping the objectives and goal in mind the questionnaires were revised. Final versions of the questionnaire and observation sheet were printed. As per the revision, it was decided that survey would be conducted in household which were being used for at least a month. Similarly, it was decided that survey of the neighboring households (one for every four Ecosan toilet user) would be conducted i.e. 25% of Ecosan users. Please see Annex for the questionnaires.

3.5 Orientation Training to Enumerators To conduct the household survey enumerators form each project site were selected. Before the commencement of survey work, orientation training was given to each enumerator. About 22 enumerators form nine project sites were selected. During the orientation the objectives of each question were explained and discussed in detail. A general standard for evaluation of various parameters were set. Some skill related topics necessary for the conduction of survey were also discussed. To have a confident in work, some practical works to conduct survey was also done during the orientation training.

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3.6 Field Survey The enumerators of respective project sites conducted the questionnaire survey. Household using Ecosan toilets for at least a month were surveyed. For every four Ecosan users one non Ecosan user from a neighboring household were selected and interviewed to know their perceptions. The questionnaires submitted by the enumerators were checked on a daily basis, any discrepancies found were corrected immediately by revisiting the users again.

3.7 Household Visits The study team members also carried out household visits in all the project area. During the visits house owner were interviewed on the use of toilets, its benefits and drawbacks. At the same time observations were made to study the design and functioning aspects. The user friendliness aspects of Ecosan toilets for children and women were also studied during house visit.

3.8 Focus Group Discussion After the completion of questionnaire survey, a focus group discussion was organized in each of the surveyed areas. Open discussions were held on the use, importance, advantages, disadvantages and drawbacks of the Ecosan toilets mainly to understand the collective opinion of the users. Preliminary results of questionnaire survey conducted in the respective sites were also discussed during the FGD. Some of the issues which were highlighted by some households during the survey were also shared during the discussion to find out opinion of other users. Besides, identifying the pros and cons, discussions were also held future initiatives that should be taken up to scale up the ecosan toilets.

3.9 Interviews with Key Personals Open interviews were also conducted as part of the assessment with some key informants at the programme areas. The key persons were people who are involved extensively in the promotion of ecosan toilets during the implementation phase from the community, persons using Ecosan toilets for a long period, social leaders, local level politicians, technicians, engineers and some sociologists.

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3.10 Consultation with Organizations Before the commencement of the field work the study team also visited most of the organizations who were promoting Ecosan toilets as part of their sanitation programmes. The study objectives and tentative work schedule were discussed with the responsible staff and also arrangements were made on how they could assist in the study.

3.11 Data Processing and Analysis After completing all above stated activities the data obtained were tabulated and analyzed. The data obtained from HH survey, observation, house visit, interviews etc were synchronized to obtain single result.

4.0 Limitations

The following are the limitation of the study:

Ecosan toilets constructed in Surkhet and in Tulimgtar could not be included in the surveyed due to time and budget limitations. However, feedback were collected from the organizations promoting the system

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5.0 Status of Water Supply and Sanitation in Nepal

5.1 Water Supply Nepal is one of the least developed countries in world. About 85% of the total population of Nepal lives in rural area of Nepal. The physical infrastructure in rural as well as in urban area is very poor. Water supply and sanitation is no exception. Springs, rivers, dug wells, shallow tube well and deep wells are some of the major water sources of water.

As per the census report 2001, 82% of total population of Nepal has access to improved water sources. Splitting in to rural and urban area, 81% of rural population and 89% of urban population are benefited. But, if we see in terms of travel distance only about 42% of rural and 78% of urban, comprising 48% of total population have access to improved water supply considering 15 minutes travel time to fetch water (WAN 2004). If we see in terms of water quality and reliability of service, the situation is even worse. Only a small portion of water supplied through improved system is safe and service is reliable.

5.2 Sanitation The status of sanitation coverage is quite low as compared to the water supply situation in the country. Only about 39% of total population has access to sanitation facilities. The percentage of population connected to sewerage system is also very low. Sewerage systems are concentrated only in the core area of the urban centers. Wastewater from the sewer lines are often discharged directly into the river without any from of treatment thus creating enormous water pollution. As per WAN (2004), around 000% have access to sanitary latrine in urban areas while only 000% have access in the rural areas of Nepal. Pit latrines are the dominant type of latrines in the rural areas which are mostly of temporary type. After pit latrines, single or double pit pour flush toilets are most common.

5.3 Types of toilets Some common types of toilets used in Nepal with their merits and demerits are given below:

5.3.1 Direct Pit Latrine

A simple and most economic type of toilet famous in Nepal is simple direct pit latrine. A pit of about 1.5 m in height and 1.2 m diameter is dug and covered with a slab depending upon the availability of materials. A hole is made in the slab and the excreta are stored in the pit until it is filled up. Depending upon the soil type the pit may or may not be lined. The lining

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material may be bricks, stone, concrete or some time bamboo mat. The cubical is made of any available local materials. Once the pit is filled it is either emptied or buried and another pit is built for feaces collection.

Pit latrines are cheap to construct as compared to other types of latrines, less water consuming and suitable for scattered settlements. However in many cases, these toilets are unhygienic as they are temporarily built and produce odour problems attracting flies and mosquitoes. In addition there are chances of ground water contamination from pits which do not have a proper lining. Since pits tend to fill up quickly they have to be emptied regularly. However in areas where there are no feacal sludge cleaning services, emptying pits is a problem.

5.3.2 Ventilated Improved Pits (VIP)

VIP latrines are an improvement over direct pit latrine. In this type a vent pipe is provided from the pit so that the odor inside the toilets is less compared to direct pit. Other advantages and disadvantages of this toilet are similar to that of direct pit latrines.

5.3.3 Offset Pit Latrine

Offset pit latrine differs from normal pit. The pits are built a few meters away from the squatting pan or toilets. A pipe is laid between squatting pan and pit. Water is used to transport the excreta from the pan to pit. This type of latrines is also called as pour flush toilets or sulav latrines. Since the distance between pan and pit is kept as small as possible and the slope of pipe is kept as high as possible, comparatively less water is used in these toilets. These latrines can either use single pits or double pits. In a double pit system the pits are used alternately. This helps to digest the content of pit before emptying.

The offset pit latrines are good for areas where there is no sewerage system. This technology has been quite popular and is considered as one of the good technologies at the point of use. However, there are certain disadvantages of the system. Like other pit latrines, this type of toilets is not suitable in areas where the water table is very high. Similarly, the construction cost is higher as compared to pit latrines. Likewise de-sludging of the pits has to be done frequently.

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5.3.4 Toilet with Septic Tank

A toilet attached with septic tank is one of the popular options of toilets system. This is famous where the sewerage system is not available. In this option the fecal materials are not only stored but also treated to some extent. The degraded solid particles settles at the bottom of the tank whereas the liquid fraction is allowed to percolate into soak pits. Despite many advantages over other systems the system has a few drawbacks. Construction of septic tank involves high costs. Likewise, additional sludge emptying costs have to be borne frequently by the septic tank users due to deposition of feacal sludge in the tanks. Besides, as the medium of feaces transport is water borne costs are also required for water.

5.3.5 Toilet connected to Sewerage System

Toilet connected with central sewerage system is one of the popular modes of sanitation. From the users point of view this is also known as the “flush and forget” system. Besides number of advantages some points to be kept in mind are as follows:

Sewerage system is one of the costlier urban infrastructures. Huge amount of

investment is required to install the system.

Treatment plants are necessary for end pipe treatment which requires high costs

Operation and maintenance of the treatment plant is difficult and costly.

Huge amount of water is needed to transport excreta.

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6.0 ECOSAN Toilets in Nepal In Nepal, the ecological sanitation toilet concept was first introduced in 2002/2003 by ENPHO under the support of WaterAid Nepal in Khokana. As part of the pilot programme, ENPHO constructed 10 Ecosan units in Khokana. In the same year the Department of Water Supply and Sewerage (DWSS) under the support of WHO also constructed 10 Ecosan units as a pilot project in Siddhipur. Due to the traditional practice of using feaces and urine as fertilizers, adopting a new technology but with a similar concept of usage was not new for the locals of Khokana and Sidhhipur. Hence both the programmes in these communities were successful and well received locally. After the success of these pilot projects, the ecosan concept was extensively expanded to other peri-urban areas of Katmandu by ENPHO, Lumanti and CIUD under the financial support from various donors like Water Aid Nepal, UN-HABITAT, etc.

6.1 Status of Ecosan Toilets

During the last five years there has been rapid progress in the promotion of Ecosan toilets. There were 36 toilets in 2003 while currently there are around 517 Ecosan toilets in Nepal (Figure 1). The toilets constructed are of various designs and at different stages of use. Some of the constructed toilets are also not in use.

Figure 1: Status of Ecosan Toilets in Nepal

Majority of Ecosan toilets have been built in the peri-urban areas of Kathmandu valley. Few toilets have also been constructed outside the Katmandu valley like in Gorkha, Tumlingtar, Sankhuwasabha, Surkhet, Parsa and Makawanpur. The toilets built outside the valley are few in number and have been built for the purpose of demonstration. The status of the toilets has been provided in Table 1.

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Table 1: Status of Ecosan Toilets in different areas of Nepal

6.2 Types of ECOSAN Toilets in Nepal The ecosan toilets constructed within Nepal have some variation in design, construction materials and use. Based on the principle of operation some major designs are mentioned below.

6.2.1 Double Vault Type

This is one of the oldest and wide spread designs of Ecosan toilets in Nepal. The first pilot program was done with this model. This is modification of Vietnamese double vault dry toilets. Basic components of these toilets are two separate watertight chambers with vent pipe for storage of feaces and one urine collection vessel.

The chambers are constructed above the ground level to avoid the seepage of ground water, two chambers are separated with masonry wall, and the internal size of each chamber is kept almost 0.35 cubic meters. The outer size of the toilets is 5’x4’2” and all the brick walls are made of 4” thickness. The height of the chamber is 2’0”. The inner walls of chambers are plastered with cement sand mortar. A small chamber is also made for the percolation of wash

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water. A polythene pipe of 50 mm dia. has been provided to divert the urine from the urine bowl to urine collection bowl. The urine collection bowl is made of brick masonry, plastic tank or Jerry can. The size of the urine tank varies at project to project. But in the toilets made at initial stage, the capacity was about 50 liters. The plastic tanks used in most of the toilets are of 100-liter capacity.

A flush door of size not less than 6”x6” are provided in each of the chamber to facilitate the removal of dry content. The holes are closed with metal sheet, concrete slab, or transparent PVC sheet. Depending upon the covering materials the size of holes is also different.

The super structures are also made of masonry wall. For detail refer the drawing attached with annexes.

6.2.2 Double Vault Solar Model

The basic component of this model is also same as the previous double vault model. The difference is that of keeping the access hole cover vertical, it is kept inclined and a metal sheet painted with black color is used as cover. The size of the metal sheet is larger than other cover. The main principal behind the solar model is the sheets are oriented towards sunlight, by which the sheet will be heated and the temperature inside the chamber rises. Few of these models have been installed in Siddhipur and Khokana. Other components of those toilets are same as that of DVUD toilets.

Picture 1: Double Vault Solar Models

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6.2.3 Single Vault with Replaceable Buckets

Picture 2: Single vault with replaceable buckets

This model is designed for the indoor type of dry toilet. A plastic container mounted on the metal box is placed jut below the squatting pan of toilet. The shit is stored in this container and once the container is filled up, will be replaced by next container. The urine collection system is same as

mentioned above. This model has been developed for the use at place where there is no land out side the home. Altogether there are five such units installed in Siddhipur. These toilets are just completed and the effects or impacts are not visible at the moment.

6.2.4 Urine Diversion Pour Flush type

This model has been designed and tested in the Terai areas of Nepal keeping in view that compost from human feaces is not accepted locally. This system is twin pit pour flush toilet. However, the only difference from pit latrines is that urine is separated and not mixed with the feaces. In this model there are two pits made of RCC rings. Both the rings are covered with cover slabs. Instead of a common squatting pan, a urine-separating pan is used. A single pit is used first and after filling the second pit is used.

The user of this model can use water for anal cleaning and the toilet can be flushed as well. But the urine is collected separately.

All the models are well accepted by the users. During the time of survey very few of the users complaint about the un-easiness of the toilets. The people using the dry toilets for the first time feels little uneasy but after using couple of times, they do not feel any problems.

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Urine tank

Pits

In sun model, the hole for removal of compost is on top; the user of those models says this is little difficult compare to other model for removal of content.

Picture 3: Urine Diversion Pour Flush Toilets

6.3 Implementing Agencies ENPHO and Development Network in collaboration with WaterAid Nepal, DWSS/WHO respectively were the pioneering organization to introduce the Ecosan toilet concept in Nepal. However after the successful demonstration of the pilot programmes, there have been several other organizations that have followed the promotion initiatives and are now implementing it through their programmes. A brief profile of the institutions promoting this technology is provided below:

6.3.1 Lumanti

An NGO dedicated for urban poor. This is one of the established and popular non governmental organization popular among urban poor communities. Some novel works of this NGO made it popular among International arena too. Well trained, dedicated, welf motivated and hard working staffs of the organization and large network in urban poor community are the strength of the organization. Shankhamul, Thecho, and Tokha are some of the place where Lumanti is promoting ecosan toilets. They are planning to introduce the technology in the urban poor area of Bharatpur municipality too.

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6.3.2 Environment and Public Health Organization

A research based non-governmental organization is well known organization in Nepal working in water, wastewater, and Sanitation and Air quality field. This is one of the pioneer institutions to introduce the ecosan technology in Nepal. Since 2002, this organization is continuously working for ecosan technology as well. High technical skills, dedicated staffs with wide range of practical experiences are some of the strength of this organiztion. This organiation is working in ecosan field in Siddhipur, Lubhu, Imadol, Khokana, Duwakot, Gorkha and other parts of the country.

6.3.3 Center for Integrated Urban Development (CIUD)

An organization dedicated for the urban development is also one of the key actor of ecosan technology in Nepal. Development of sustainable and eco-friendly towns is the main objectives of this organization. The rain water harvesting, sustainable, cheap and eco friendly sanitation solutions are some of the area this organization is dealing with. Tigani of Bhaktapur, Gamcha of Kirtipur are the place where CIUD is working in ecosan toilets.

6.3.4 Community Development Forum (CODEF)

This is the organization pioneer to launch the wet ecosan or urine diversion pour flush toilets tin southern plain of Nepal. This organization had successfully launched the pilot ecosan project in Parsa district. With the encouraging result of the project they are extending the program in this year too with a target of converting a complete village as eco friendly village by 2008.

6.3.5 Development Networks (DNet) Pvt Ltd

This is one of the pioneer institutes to launch the ecosan toilets in Nepal. Ten units of ecosan toilets with close monitoring for 1 year were constructed in Siddhipur of Lalitpur district. The well-trained experts of this institution are still working in this field in one or another ways.

6.3.6 Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH)

An BGO working in the field of rural water supply and sanitation also took some initiatives to promote the ecosan technology. This organization installed few ecosan toilets in Tigani of Bhaktapur.

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6.3.7 Nepal Red Cross Society

A humanitarian international organization is also working in the field of water supply and sanitation since long time. This organization has also launched few ecosan toilets in eastern part of Nepal.

6.3.8 Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project

ADB funded government project, designed to provide water supply facilities in emerging and small towns of Nepal also initiated some activities regarding ecosan toilets. Two units of such toilets are built in Surkhet as demonstration units.

6.3.9 Plan Nepal

An INGO working for the community development of poor families also initiated a step for ecosan technology. They have installed few units of ecosan toilets in Makawanpur as demonstration units.

6.3.10 Donors Agencies

There are 517 ecosan toilets known to survey team in Nepal. Among 517 except three units (one in khokana, one in dallu and one in ENPHO office) all are constructed with some kind of financial subsidies. The financial subsidies are provided various donors. Some of the important donors are as follow.

6.3.11 DWSS/ WHO

World Health Organization through Department of Water Supply and Sewerage is providing funds for the promotion of ecosan technology in Nepal. The first pilot project in Nepal was implemented with the financial support of WHO/DWSS. Like

wise the new innovation of urine diversion pour flush toilets was also implemented with support of WHO/DWSS.

6.3.12 Water Aid Nepal

An institution working for the development of water supply and sanitation sector is one of the largest donor for the ecosan projects in Nepal. This organization is providing the fund for the last 5 years through its partner organizations.

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6.3.13 UN-HABITAT

UN –HABITAT is another major financial supporter for the ecosan projects in Nepal. This institution is providing funds for many completed and on going ecosan projects in Nepal.

6.3.14 Practical Action

An INGO, working in rural community of Nepal with diverse field is another fund provider for ecosan technology. All the ecosan toilets in Chepang community of Gorkha are funded by the Practical Action.

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5 5.0 Study locations

The 517-ecosan toilets are distributed in 7 districts of Nepal. Large portions of toilets are concentrated in peri-urban area of Kathmandu valley. Gorkha and Parsa district area two major districts where ecosan toilets are constructed.

5.1 5.1 Peri-urban area of Kathmandu valley

Large number o ecosan toilets are built within the peri-urban area of Kathmandu valley. Among 517 ecosan toilets, 481 toilets are built in this area. Except two ecosan toilets, one in Dr. Roshan Shrestha’ house and one in ENPHO office, all the toilets have been installed in the community of poor people. Almost all the toilets built are visited by the study team and evaluated. Short descriptions of communities are given here for the understanding of the background.

5.1.1 5.1.1 Siddhipur

Siddhipur is one of old Newar settlements in Katmandu valley. It is in Lalitpur district and located some 5 Km east of Patan town. The main ethnic groups of the area are Newar and more than 90% of them are engaged in agriculture occupation.

The water supply situation is moderate and people collects water from public stand posts. The water quality is questionable, because there are no any treatment system and water drawn from Godavari river is directly supplied to tap stands. Sanitary condition is moderate and about 75% of total houses have access to latrines. (Including ecosan toilets).

The farmer families of this community are familiar with the use of urine in farmland for centuries. They have a tradition of storing the ash inside the home, which is called nauga: in local language. The small children of household and the adults at nighttime urinate in this ash heap. After some time they just carry it to farm and apply as fertilizer. They are practicing this for centuries but at present this practices are reducing due to invention of toilets.

5.1.2 5.1.2 Khokana

An old and traditional Newar community, famous for its traditional oil production technologies. This community is also a part of Lalitpur districts. Farmers with rich and prestigious tradition and culture are residing in this community. The sanitary condition of this community is also moderate, about 70% of the households are using the toilets and rest use open defecation practices. The water supply scenario of this community is moderate. About one third of the households are connected with piped water supply and rest are relying on the

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service from public standpipes. The quality of water is not very bad. This is also a pioneer ecosan toilet community.

5.1.3 5.1.3 Tokha

Tokha, this name is very famous for the production of Chaku, a product of sugarcane. Tokha is collective name for two VDC namely Chandeshori and Sarswoti VDCs of Kathmandu district. This community is about 6 km north from the Gongabu bus park of Kathmandu. Majority of the community is from Newar ethnic group. The culture, tradition and life style of the people are very similar to that of Siddhipur and Khokana.

The sanitary condition as well as water supply situation is also moderate. About half of the population are using some kind of toilets and people are enjoying the water supply services from dozen of public tap stands installed at the prime locations of community.

The occupation of majority is also agriculture and the cultivation pattern is totally traditional. Most of the agriculture is labor intensive.

5.1.4 5.1.4 Thecho

Thecho is also a traditional Newar community situated at the distance of 5 Km from the Lalitpur municipality. Majority of population in this community is based on the agriculture. Agriculture is the traditional occupation of people, but now the people are slowly shifting to other occupation as well.

The water supply situation and the sanitation coverage are moderate. About 60% of households in this area have individual toilet. The ecosan toilets were introduced on 2005 in this area. In 2005, 50 ecosan toilets were build and now there are 90 ecosan toilets. Some of them are just completed.

The ecosan toilets are not only concentrated on Thecho VDC, but also 14 toilets are built in Dhapakhel and 30 toilets are built in Sunakothi VDC, both neighboring VDC of Thecho.

5.1.5 5.1.5 Imadol

Imadol is just 3 Km from the Ring road. The settlement is mixed type. Many ethnic groups are residing there, but the dominating ethnic group is Newar. The water supply situation is comparatively good in this area and toilet coverage is high compare to other communities.

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5.1.6 5.1.6 Thimi

The site of ecosan toilet in Thimi is called sunga, a cluster within Thimi municipality. This is one of the backward clusters of municipality. The toilets are built in houses of very poor families. The house owners do not have any agriculture land.

5.1.7 5.1.7 Lubhu

The ecosan toilets are built in out skirt of Lubhu, one of the traditional and Cultured Newar settlements of Nepal. The water supply situation in Lubhu is comparatively poor. All the people of Lubhu are dependent on the public standpipes for water supply. There are no private tap connections. But the sanitation coverage is quite good. About 75% of the households have access to toilet facilities.

5.1.8 5.1.8 Tigani

One of the oldest Newar clusters situated at the northern part of Thimi municipality. This place is famous for traditional skill of making beaten rice. There are about 100 households in this community. Most of the families are very poor. Only about half of the families own some agriculture land and rest are relying on daily wage works. The water supply situation is good. The people are getting drinking water from public stand posts of NWSC and some are still using the traditional waterspout.

The sanitation situation at present is quite good. About 80 households have access to toilets.

5.1.9 5.1.9 Duwakot

A village situated near famous temple of Changu Narayan is one of the fast developing villages within Kathmandu valley. The communities are of mixed settlement type. All kind of ethnic groups are residing in that village. The water supply situation is moderate. The toilet coverage is also moderate. About 75% of the people have access to toilets.

5.1.10 5.1.10 Gamcha

A cluster renown for the Sya baji. a kind of beaten rice. This sya baji is one of the important ingredients of feast in the Newar community of Kathamdnu valley. This community is just south of Kirtipur municipality and is a part of municipality itself. Majority of the people in this cluster is poor and illiterate. The water supply and sanitation situation of this community is moderate.

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5.1.11 5.1.11 Shankhamul

A squatter settlements along the Bagamati river. All the houses of this settlement are situated along the northern bank of Bagmati river. The water supply and sanitation situation of this cluster is not very satisfactory.

5.2 5.2 Ecosan toilets in southern plain

Among 517 total ecosan toilets built, twenty unit of ecosan toilets are of urine diversion pour flush toilets and all these are located at parsa district. Short description of site are given below.

5.2.1 5.2.1 Sabaithawa

The site for the urine diversion pour flush toilets outside the Kathmandu valley is situated in Parsauni Birta VDC of Parsa district. Parsauni Birta is VDC adjacent to Birganj municipality and lies at about 3 Km south of Powerhouse chowk. The site is in about 25 minute walking distance.

The parsauni birta has major three villages namely, Sabaithawa, Parsauni and Itiyahi. The project site Sabaithawa is distributed in ward number 1,2, and 3 of VDC. The Sabaithawa village has about 200 households dominated by Koire and Adhir ethnic group. Occupation wise about 80% of the population are relying on agriculture. Rests of the population are doing other occupation like daily wage labor, services etc.

The major source of drinking water is tube well and dug wells. The water from dug wells is seldom used for the drinking purposes. Rather it is used for the other domestic purposes.

The toilet coverage is very low. Only 23% of total households have toilets at their homes. Open defecation is common.

5.3 5.3 Ecosan toilets in hill area

Some units of dry ecosan toilets are constructed in hill area of Nepal outside the Kathmandu valley. Though the number of toilets constructed are small, they have great significance in promotion of technology.

5.3.1 5.3.1 Gorkha

The project area is located at the Southeast part of Gorkha district. All the toilets are constructed in Bhuin Chaur VDC ward number 8. There are 4 different clusters of Chepang

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namely Hiklung village, Thumka, Cantung and Nuprang. The community is typical hill community.

The project sites are easily accessible. After traveling 90 KM along the Prithavi highway towards Pokhara one have to cross the Trisuli River. There is no bridge over river, but a cable bridge manually operated. After crossing the river, one has to walk for about 45-minutes to reach first cluster of project site. The way is steep sloped. All the clusters are located at the top of the hill.

This village is being developed as model village for renewable energy. There are 14 small-scale biogas plants, one micro hydro electricity plant, one pico hydro power plant (electricity generated by peltric set) one wind powered electric generation plant. All the biogas plants will be combined with pour flush latrines.

There are 68 households of Chepang ethnic in project area. All the households of the project area are Chepang only. Chepang is one of the least developed tribal ethnic of Nepal. They are exposed to other society only since last 40 years. The education level of the Chepang in Nepal is very low. Very few of them have completed the school level.

Average family size of the project area is 7, which is comparatively high.

Most of the households are dependent on the agriculture profession. The land holding of families are not very high. The agriculture product is not sufficient for the whole year. Almost all the families are keeping some animals to supplement their agriculture. Cow, buffalos, pigs, and goats are major domestic animals. Like wise, chickens are very common in all the houses. Labor works in construction field and work in stone mines are their major income source beside agriculture. Many young people of the families are engaged in the stone quarry along the bank of rivers.

The village is very much homogeneous. The economic status, culture, education and living standard of the families are almost same. There is very little exception.

5.4 5.4 Other locations

Two toilets are built within the Birendra Nagar municipality. These toilets are built by Small Town Water Supply and Sanitation Project for demonstration purposes. Similarly, four units of dry ecosan toilets are built in Tumlingtar of Sankhuwasabha district and two units are built in Aam Bhanjyang of Makawanpur district. The toilets in both the places are built for demonstration purposes but there are no regular follow up by implementing agencies.

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6 6.0 Technical evaluation of dry toilets used in Nepal

Some major components of dry ecosan toilets along with the evaluation based on observation are given below. The aim of this description is to compare the various types and its advantages and disadvantages.

6.1 6.1 Pans

6.1.1 6.1.1 Squatting pan with two faeces holes

Nepalese prefers squatting pan in toilets. In ecosan project various models of squatting pan have been tested. All the models of pans are studied during survey. The first model was combined type, in which there are two holes for faeces and one holes for urine. Each faeces hole opens in separate chambers. One hole is kept closed when other is in use. The urine hole is common for both the hole. In this model, the user may have psychological problem. When one vault is full and closed, the user in other hole have to sit just front of full one. This is aesthetically uneasy, and some time the urine and water may enter in to the full vault. Likewise in this model, the faeces hole is not in center of vault, as a result, pushing the pile of shit is difficult.

This type of pans are made of cement as well as PVC. The PVC pans are widely used by Lumanti. The main problem of this type of pan is that the groove for the connection of pipe is small. With a light pressure, the urine pipe is removed as a result the urine leaks in to the faeces tank. For better results, the projection of pipes should be longer or there must be some threads to tighten the pipe.

6.1.2 6.1.2 Two pan system

Other option of pan is two separate pans in each of chambers. The pan has two holes, one for faeces and one for urine. The faeces are dropped directly to the chamber and the urine is collected to collection vessel via a small pipes. In this system of pan, the pan hole not in use is covered and the ash pot may be placed on it. It will eliminate the confusion for new users. The pans are made of cement and polished with white cement. This type of pan is well accepted by the users. There is a lid in each of the hole made of cement.

The connection between pan and urine pipe is the major problem area of this pan. We found the leakage at that point in many places.

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6.1.3 6.1.3 Pan cover

Pan cover is another very important component of ecosan toilets. If the lid is placed after each use of toilet, there is less chance of fly breeding inside the vault. In the toilets observed, the lids are made of cement, metal, PVC and plastic. The lid made of PVC, plastic and metal are light in weight as a result those may be misplaced or they may not cover the hole completely. The cemented lid is comparatively heavy and once placed remains there. There fore as per the perception of users the cemented lid is better. During observation about 11% of the toilets are found without cover.

The lid made of cement with small hook rod will be the better option. In this system the user do not have to touch the lid when use and they do not have to bend.

6.2 6.2 Excreta collection tanks

6.2.1 6.2.1 Faeces collection tank

The internal size of faeces collection tank is more or less same in almost all the ecosan toilets we observed. But some of the toilets we see are buried in ground; in those condition the seepage of water may raise some problems. The plasters inside the chambers are not intact in some of the toilets observed during study.

6.2.2 6.2.2 Urine pipes and urine collection tank

The size of urine pipes should not be less than 50 mm in diameter. But in some of the toilets we observed 15 mm HDP pipes are also used. Due to the precipitation of salts, the small-bore urine pipe may be clogged frequently.

The joints between pipe and pan is another crucial points to be considered. There are number of toilets leaking at that point. This leads to the high moisture content in faeces chamber and foul smell of toilets. Especially the joint between pipe and PVC pan is very critical. The length of PVC pipe in urine bowl is very short. The joint is weak and with small knock this may break.

In most of the cases the urine pipe is placed in such a way there is a free fall of urine in to the tank. The end of the pipe must be submerged in to the urine inside the tank. That is, the pipe should be extended up to half the depth of tank. This will help to prevent the loss of nitrogen by ammonia formation

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6.3 6.3 Ventilations

6.3.1 6.3.1 Ventilation pipes

Ventilation pipe is one of the crucial components of ecosan toilets. Proper ventilation is necessary for the dehydration of faeces, at the same time ventilation reduces the chance of odors inside the toilet.

As per our observation we found some of the toilets without ventilation, low height of ventilation pipes, clogged vent pipe, Uncovered pipe end etc. These simple things may create large problem and as a result all the technology at all may be blamed. The promoters of the toilets should be very careful in this regard. The vent pipe placed in very low height may not push the foul smell to go out. Similarly from un-covered pipe, the rainwater may pass to the faeces chamber. As a result the toilets may have bad smell.

The size of the tank is another point. It should be at least 100 liter in capacity. The airtight cover in urine tank is must, but in many projects, for example in thecho and tokha, most of the tanks are kept open. This will lost almost all the nitrogen of urine. Urine management system in almost all the project site is not very much satisfactory and the promoting organizations have to rethink about it.

6.3.2 6.3.2 Lighting and ventilation inside the cubical

In Nepalese society, the toilets are one of the hated parts of the building. People prefer to put the toilets in useless part of the building. People do not bother about the ventilation, comfort and accessibility of toilet. During observation we found the situation is not much different in ecosan toilets too. Most of the toilets are found with less ventilation and light. Only small holes are made in most of the toilets. The holes are not covered with fly nets. Majorities of toilets do not have lighting system attached for night use.

Poor ventilation leads to dirty. When there is a dark, person do not bother about the dirt. At the same time in well-ventilated toilets the bad odor will go out soon leading to pleasant environment. For better results, well-ventilated and lighted toilet is necessary.

6.4 6.4 Access

6.4.1 6.4.1 Access door in vaults

The access doors of the vaults are another critical part of the ecosan toilet. These holes are kept to remove the content of vault when emptying. In this way the door have to be open once in six months. In the toilets studied, the lids in those opening are made of metal,

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concrete, wooden planks, transparent PVC sheet etc. The sizes of holes are also not uniform. Some holes are quite small and some are large.

The metal sheet lids are found corroded in few toilets. The moisture of faeces and outside leads to the corrosion of metal sheet. Once the metal is corroded there is nuisance of odors and flies in toilets.

The concrete slab is better over the metal sheet. But this is also not the problem free. Leakages from the joints of slab were seen in many units. The transparent PVC sheets looks well. But the problem is that the sheet is very thin and for the purpose of drying the vault, the openings are placed in sunny side. Once the sheet is heated, it starts buckling which makes way for flies and other rodents. This PVC sheet is good for lid, but the thickness should be enough to resist the buckling.

Probably the better solution will be the concrete slab but the side of the slab should be jointed with cement mortar. Once the hole is open for removal, the slab is again jointed with cement mortar.

6.4.2 6.4.2 Door shutter

A toilet is completely private place when some one is using it. For comfort and privacy the door shutter is a must. During observation we found 22 toilets without any door shutter. They are using the curtain of sack or plastic. For the better result and acceptability of technology, this kind of tendency should be avoided.

6.5 6.5 Walls and roof

6.5.1 6.5.1 Height of toilet

The internal height of toilets should be high enough for the comfortable use of toilets. Majorities of toilets are found with appropriate height, but some toilets have very low height. The height, insufficient to stand up inside the toilets. This kind of tendency should be avoided.

6.5.2 6.5.2 Roof

The ecosan toilet is dry toilet and to maintain it careful management of water is necessary. The vault, urine tank and toilets should be completely watertight. But during our observation we found about 10 toilets without complete roof and 21 toilets with leaky roof. The leakage in roof may lead to dampness of the vaults. Finally it will create nuisance.

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7 7.0 Nutrients value of urine and faeces Use of animal excreta in agriculture is not a new thing for Nepali farmers, they are doing it since time inmemorable. The practice is still continuing and animal excreta are only the available fertilizers for most of the field in rural hill area. People do not separate the urine and faeces of animal. Like wise the use of human excreta in field as manure is also a tradition of Nepali farmer community. To reflect the fact, there is a provoke in Nepali “Pet ko Khet ma, Khet ko Pet ma”. (Abdomen to field and field to abdomen” . But we do not have practice to use the excreta separately. Amidst this practice, the farmers have strong believe that the faeces are more valuable manure than the urine. But the research in many country and laboratory test of both urine and faeces showed that about 85% of the total nutrients available in human excreta are present in urine and only 15% is present in faeces. The urine is rich in NPK and it contains very less amount of pathogen compare to faeces. Due to the facts, at present the promoters of ecosan toilets are advising the people to use the urine directly and use the faeces after sanitization. A healthy adults urinates approximately 1 to 1.5 liters per day. Of course, the amount depends upon the water intake. Like wise the nutrient in urine depends on the diet intake. But in general the urine contains N,P,K, as below. (based on the laboratory test done in Nepal) Table 2: NPK in human urine

Samples Parameters Unit

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Average value

Total Nitrogen

Mg/L 11200 8400 6048 6776 3696 3244 3080 6063

Potassium Mg/L 2654 688 1325 1603 470 506 216 1066

Phosphorus Mg/L 150 452 425 1171 257 259 713 490

8 Note:

• Sample no 1 and 2 from Final report of Dnet, 2003 • Sample no 3 to 7 from report of WHO/DWSS/CODEF, 2005

The study team also tested the urine of Cow and Buffalo to compare the nutrient value of animal urine with human urine. The test results as obtained are presented here.

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9

Table 3: NPK in animal urine

Parameters Unit Cow Urine Buffalo Urine Average value Total Nitrogen Mg/L 7340 11540 9440

Potassium Mg/L 180 170 175

Phosphorus Mg/L 11120 14330 12725

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As per the test results, the urine of cow and buffalo are very rich in NPK value. The concentration of Nitrogen and Phosphorous are high compare to human urine. But as per the current practice of most of the farmers in Nepal, they do not use the urine in field directly. They collect the urine along with dung. This practice will cause the lost of the Nitrogen and phosphorus to large extent. For the better results, it is advisable to use the animal urine directly to the filed instead of mixing with dung.

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11 8.0 SWOT analysis of ecosan toilets Based on the perception of ecosan user households the Strength, Weakness, Opportunity and Threats (SWOT) of ecosan toilets should be assessed before launching in large scale. Following SWOT analysis is based on the questionnaire survey, FGD, Observations and Interviews with concerned peoples.

11.1 8.1 Strength of ecosan toilets

The technology is comparatively new and attractive.

Less amount of fresh water is used and very good for water scarcity area.

Good quality fertilizer is produced which can save a lot of money for farmer community.

Less land area is required. And suitable for low land area where water table is high.

Maintains the natural cycle of nutrients.

Less chance of polluting water body including ground water.

It is permanent and sustainable sanitation option.

Good acceptance of people.

11.2 8.2 Weakness of ecosan toilets Defecation practices have to be changed. One cannot clean the bottom at single

sitting.

Additive materials have to be maintained inside the toilet.

The users have to be trained before using the toilet.

Initial cost is high compare to pit latrines.

Non-farming community may not need the fertilizers.

Strict rules and regulation have to be maintained for the sanitation of excreta.

Design for multistory building is difficult.

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Technical and legal standard is not available.

11.3 8.3 Opportunity

Sanitation coverage is very low in rural area.

Nepal is agro-based country and more than 90% of the population are based on the agriculture.

Chemical fertilizer is costly and organic manure has high demand.

Organic products are demanding and popular in market.

The dry faeces and sterilized urine can be traded as economic goods.

Most of the urban and semi urban areas have no under ground sewerage system.

Drinking water is very scared in most of the urban and peri-urban area.

The cost of drinking water is increasing and will increase in days to come.

Environment is global concern.

Decreased fertility of soil due to excess use of chemical fertilizer.

The transportation cost for the fertilizer in remote is very high.

Ecosan toilets is only the type of toilets in which the owner may receive cash returns as well.

11.4 8.4 Threats

The flush toilets have strong market chain and established one.

No strong environmental standard, the sewage is being discharged in to water body without any treatments.

No collection system of urine and faeces.

People still feel uneasy or feel disgust to use others urine and faeces as fertilizer.

Blind imitation of western people where the water carriage sanitation system is being used.

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12 9.0 Knowledge Attitude and Practices (KAP)

The study intended to find out the knowledge, attitude and practices of people regarding ecosan toilets. Various parameters were tested for the assessment of knowledge, attitude and practices. Some of the points are being mentioned here. For the ease of analysis the parameters are grouped in some broad groups. The need of toilets and use, maintenance of toilet and management of excreta are three major groups. The subjective results obtained from the FGD and interview with individuals are the basis of analysis.

12.1 9.1 Knowledge Knowledge or know-how is main for the success of any program. A large portion of ecosan users is found very much aware about the need, importance and use of toilets. Almost 100% of the users showed their knowledge about the negative impact of open defecation in health and society. They are very much aware about the negative impact of open defecation in society.

The ecosan users are also found well educated about the use of dry toilets. They know very well the need and importance of additives. We found almost all the people we met know why water should not be used in faeces tank. As far as the knowledge level is concerned, there is no gender discrimination in maintenance of toilets. Most of the participants of FGD expressed that the duty of cleaning and maintaining the toilets is of all the family members. No questions whether male or female. Every one who has time should do the job. Like wise the fertilizer value of excreta is famous among the ecosan user community. Most of the users are motivated to installed ecosan toilet just due to the availability of fertilizer. They have strong believes that the human excreta are very good fertilizer. This is a kind of traditional believes.

With this explanation, we can conclude that the knowledge level of the ecosan users regarding, need, and use and excreta management is high.

12.2 9.2 Attitude

To assess the attitude of the people using the ecosan toilets two major parameters are chosen, one is the regular operation and maintenance of toilets and next is their attitude for the expansion of ecosan toilets in other communities.

The attitude of the ecosan users are found promising in relation to knowledge level. When asked about the use of ecosan toilets more than 93% of total households responded to use by all the family members. During the FGD also almost all the participants stressed the use of

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toilets by all the members of the families including children. This is also a good example of positive attitudes. Likewise, in responses of cleaning of toilets almost all the households say they themselves clean the toilets regularly. No families are found relying on other persons for toilet cleaning. More than 98% of total users are using the toilets for both defecation and urination. This is also good sign of positive attitude.

The ecosan users are also found positive for the expansion of toilets. About 98% of the total ecosan users are in favor of expanding the toilets in other communities. Among them about 69% have no suggestion, but rest thinks there must be some improvement in present type before expansion. Some of them believe some awareness about the use and importance of toilets should be made before the actual expansion of toilets. This will ensure the optimum use of toilets.

Regarding the use of urine and faeces as fertilizer, the attitude of people is not that satisfactory as their knowledge level. Some of the users found reluctant to handle the urine like wise some of the people express their hesitancy to eat the vegetables grown with urine and faeces.

12.3 9.3 Practices The practices of people having ecosan toilets are also found satisfactory. The use of toilets by family members, cleanliness status and maintenance of toilets are satisfactory.

Use of additives and rate of application is quite good.

The management of excreta is also quite satisfactory. But the sanitization of faeces is in question. About 20% of the ecosan users with faeces tank full are taking out the content from vault as and when needed. In such practice there is a risk of contamination. One can not ensure the sanitization of content.

Optimum use of urine is also not found very satisfactory. About 50% of the ecosan users are not using the urine appropriately.

12.4 9.4 Gap between knowledge and Practices

The gap is defined as the difference between what the respondent said and what was observed in household during the time of survey. There is no gap between knowledge and practices regarding the use of toilets. The people are found using the toilets in manner they know it.

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But there are some gap about the use of faeces and urine. The ecosan users are not practicing according to their knowledge. Most of the people are aware about the sanitization of fecal matter, but they are not practicing it. Like wise there is gap regarding the use of urine in agriculture.

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Dry ECOSAN Toilets in Chepang Community, Gorkha

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10.0 Results and analysis

The analysis and result presented here are based on the responses of 440 ecosan user respondents, 142 neighbors of ecosan and observation of all the ecosan toilets. Some of the facts in the analysis are backed by the conclusion drawn from the focus group discussion and household visits.

13.1 10.1 Urine diversion dry toilets

13.1.1 10.1.1 Ecosan toilet number and population

Altogether there are 517 ecosan toilets build in Nepal. Among them 12 units were under construction during survey and 7 units were dismantled. Like wise 7 numbers of ecosan toilets were not in use due to various reasons. Almost all the toilets were visited by the study team, but the questionnaire survey was done in the households where they are using the toilets for more than 1 months. In some of the households the team could not find any persons to interview.

The toilets constructed in Surkhet, Makawanpur, and Tumlingtar are not included in main analysis. Due to different nature of toilets and environment the toilets constructed at Parsa district are analyzed separately. Likewise the toilets of RR Shrestha and ENPHO office is also not included in analysis.

13.1.2 10.1.2 Household size and population

In 440 household surveyed within Katmandu valley and Gorkha, 2637 people including 371 children of age below 10 are using the toilets. The average family size is thus 5.99. The lowest family size is found in Bode and highest found in Thimi, where the family size is 4 and 8 respectively.

13.1.3 10.1.3 Occupation

Among 440 ecosan user households 81.59% have agriculture as main occupation. Labor works comprises the second highest percentage of household’s main occupation, which are about 6.59%. Services in different institution (6.36%) and business (5.45%) are other main occupation of the people using ecosan toilets.

13.1.4 10.1.4 Landholding

Though most of the respondents have agriculture as main occupation, they own only small amount of cultivable land. About 8% households do not have any agriculture land and some

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19% households own less than 1 ropany of agriculture land. Rest about 73% of households owns agriculture land more than 1 ropany, but very few of them have land more than 5 ropany. In this way almost all the ecosan holder households can be categorized as small farmers.

13.1.5 10.1.5 Alternative toilets

About 91% of the respondents do not have any kind of toilets except ecosan toilet. But some 4% of household have pit latrine as alternative latrines. Similarly, about 4% have pour flush and about 1% of the households have modern flush toilets. The detail is given in the table.

Table 4: Alternate toilet details

Type of toilets

Tig

ni

Thi

mi

Bod

e

Duw

ako

t sidd

hipu

r Lub

hu

Kho

kan

a Imad

ol

The

cho

Gam

cha

Tok

ha

Bhu

in

chau

r T

otal

No other toilets 19 4 8 10 73 4 42 10 84 7 129 10 400

Pit latrines 4 6 4 4 18

Sulav 1 3 1 8 3 1 17

Flush 2 3 5

Total 20 4 8 10 80 5 56 12 91 8 136 10 440

13.1.6 10.1.5 Motivation factor for the ecosan toilet

Almost 74% of the ecosan users said the availability of fertilizer is the main motivation factors to use the ecosan toilets. But at the same time almost 72% of the respondents add the need of toilet as another motivation factors. Despite above factors some 17% of the ecosan users believe the ecosan toilets will also help to protect the environment. Some 3.4% of the total ecosan users were attracted to these technologies by the subsidies available from the project. Likewise about 9% of the users build these toilets due to influences of neighbors. This question was open and each respondent was free to answer more than one specific answer. There may be more than one motivation factor for the construction of ecosan toilets.

13.1.7 10.1.6 Use of ecosan toilet

Installation of toilets in house premises is not sufficient; it should be used properly for better results. To assess the use of toilets we asked couple of questions to each respondent.

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As per the responds of 440 total respondents, about 93% of the respondents say all the member of the family including children use the ecosan toilets. But about 3% of the total respondents answer only the adult members of the family uses this toilets, that means the children use other mode of toilets, probably, the open places. Similarly, some 3% of the respondents say only the female member of family use this toilet. This may be due to reason that the male members of family remain outside the home for most of the time and only female member remains in the home. In this situation only female member may use the toilets.

During focus group discussion, this issue was raised, but most of the participants of FGD said all the members of the family including children are using the toilet. Only some old aged people do not use the toilets, because they are not habitual with toilet system. They prefer to go out instead of using toilets.

About 98% of the ecosan holders are using this toilet for both defecation and urination. But a small fraction of population (about 1.8 %) does not use these toilets for urination. They use it for defecation only. Probably the reason behind it may be due to some difficulties in urinating in standing positions for males. When this issue was raised during FGD, almost all the participants denied the results. They said there are no difficulties in using ecosan toilet for both excretions.

13.1.8 10.1.7 Cleaning of ecosan toilet

In Nepalese society, the household level job like, cooking, washing and cleaning are considered to be the responsibility of female of the families. We asked the ecosan holder families, "Who clean the toilet?" The responses from the respondents are some how encouraging. About 63% of the respondents say this responsibility is of both male and female members of the family. Any one who has time cleans their toilets. But some 29% of the respondents say this is the responsibility of female members of the family. But some 8% of respondents say only the male members of the family are doing this job.

During observation we found that about 43% of the toilets are clean and about 50% are some how clean in relation to their house condition. Only about 7% of toilets are found unclean. The result of observation shows the users are more conscious about the cleanliness of toilets.

13.1.9 10.1.8 Perception towards ecosan toilet

As per the survey, we found the people using the ecosan toilet are happy and they are very much positive towards it. In a responds of questions “How is ecosan ?” 313 respondents or 71% says it is good. At the same time some 9% of the respondents says it is good but un-easy compare to other toilets. About 19% of the total are in dilemma, they say neither good nor

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bad. But some 1.2% of the respondents answered that they feel the ecosan toilets is not good, it is bad.

Based on the survey results, FGD, household visit and interview, it can be concluded that in general the people feel uncomfortable to use the ecosan toilet in beginning, but once they use it for some time they becomes habitual and do not feel any difficulties. This may be due to traditional practices of using toilets.

During the FGD, we raised the specific issue of gender. Are there any difficulties in using ecosan toilets for female? Almost all participants says no. There is no difference between ecosan toilets and other toilets regarding the use. Similarly, the male participants also did not mention any specific problem with ecosan. But some of male ecosan users say this toilet is uneasy for urination, because most of the male people prefer to stand up while urinating. There is chance of splashing of urine. They suggested to install male urinating bowl inside toilet as solutions.

13.1.1010.1.9 Additive materials

Ashes, rice husks and saw dust are major additive materials for the ecosan toilets. But ash is the major material. Depending upon the availability, people use more than one material as additives. Since almost all the ecosan users are from farmer community and most of them use firewood and other burning materials for their daily cooking, they have plenty of ashes to use in toilets. More than 96% of the ecosan users use ash as additives. Some 9% of the users are also using rice husks as additives in addition to ash. But as far as possible they use ash. They use rice husks or saw dust for burning in stoves and then ash is used in toilets. It is traditional practice to use ash in faeces and compost to make manure.

But with changing habit and life style, the situation is changing day be day. The use of LPG gas and electricity for domestic cooking is increasing. In other hands the use of ecosan is also increasing, creating an adverse situation. The demand of ashes is increasing and the supply is decreasing. This may bring problems in availability of additive materials in near future.

In project areas of Kathmandu valley, there are some chiura mills (beaten rice mills), where risk husks and saw dusts are used for burning and ash is produced in huge quantity. The needy people go to mill and collect ash. The ash was available free of cost at those mills, but once the demand increased they start charging for it. The ecosan users use their own ash as far as possible and they go to mills when needed.

As per the survey results, it is found that some 96% of the ecosan users use their own ash for most of the time. But they also go to mills and neighbors to buy or borrow when they do not

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have enough ash. There are no any families relying on the external source of ash only. External source is only supplementary for some days in the year.

The cost of ash in chiura mill is not very high; it was even free in near past. The cost varies between NRs.10 to 50 per sack depending upon the time and demand.

Till the date of survey, about 88% of the ecosan users are not facing any problem to get the additive materials, but about 12% of total users are facing some kind of problem in getting the additives for some months of the year. The problem is going to be increased in the days to come. It is outmost necessary to find reliable alternatives for the ash as additives in ecosan toilets.

13.1.1110.1.10 Faeces management

All the ecosan toilets surveyed for the analysis are two vault urine diversion dry toilet. There are 20 numbers of urine diversion wet ecosan toilets in parsa, but these toilets are not included in this analysis. The analyses of those toilets have been done in separate chapter.

The vault sizes of almost all the toilets surveyed are 0.3 cubic meters. The chambers are made of brick masonry and opening to remove dry materials is kept at rear side of toilets with cover. To help the drying process and to reduce odors there is a vent pipe in each vault. One chamber is used at a time. Once the chamber in use is filled up, it is closed and the next is used. It was advised by the promoter to keep the filled chamber closed for at least 6 months or until next chamber is full for the sanitization of content..

Among the 440 respondents of the survey, 29 people are not aware about the filling time of vault. Some 135 numbers of toilets are new and no any vaults are full yet. We found 30 number of vaults filled within 2 to 3 months of time span. Similarly, 48 vaults are filled within 4 to 5 months and majority or 129 numbers (30%) of vaults are filled within 6 to 7 months' period of use. Some 52 number of vaults or 11.8% of total lasted for more than 7 months before full.

The filling time of vault may depend on many factors, like population using toilets, quantity of additives use, frequencies of moving the piles, ventilation, temperature etc. In our study the average family size is 5.99. With this population size, it was estimated that one vault will be enough for more than 6 months.

13.1.1210.1.11 Emptying the vault

The promoters of the ecosan toilet have suggested the ecosan user to empty the vault only after six months of its closing. This is very important for the sanitization of the faeces. The

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studies have shown that storage for six month with relatively high pH kills almost all the pathogens of faeces.

In the survey we found that about 51% of total ecosan users used to remove the contained of vault when next vault is full. That means there is no certainty of time. They have to remove the content once other vault is nearly filled up. But in this practice the time is more or less 6 months. There are some families who empty the vault immediately after filling. It means they may handle the fresh faeces. We asked some of the respondents of these categories why they do so. Many of them answered they want to mix the fecal matter with other compost materials. Like wise there are some families who use to empty the vault as per their need. They may take it out at any time they need it. Some 10.4% of total are doing like that. About 13% of total emptied their content in around 4 months after closing the vault. Some 61 families have not emptied the vault, they have closed one vault and using next. The total respondents for the vault emptying time are 269. The detail is given in the table below.

Table 5: Emptying frequency of faeces vault

Emptying frequencies of faeces tank HH numbers Immediately after filling 18 When next tank full 138 As per the need 28 Within 4 month after full of tank 16 After 4 month of full of tank 18 Not emptied yet 61 Total 440

13.1.1310.1.12 Use of dry faeces

Among 440 surveyed households 218 households have emptied the vault for at least one time. We asked them what they do after removing the content from the vault. About 19% of the respondents said they take it straightly to the field. But about 54% of the users used to store the content in sun or shed for few days before applying in to the field. Rest of the households or 27% of total mix the content with other composting materials for co-composting. They put the content of the vault in to the compost pit.

Composting of the organic waste is one of the traditional practices of farmer families in Nepal, specially the Kathmanduits.

Most of the families are aware about the need of storing the content for few days before applying in to the field. But due to various constraints, they are not following the rules. The major constraints are space, need of manure etc.

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13.1.1410.1.13 Condition during vault emptying process

It is common believes and attitude of the general people that the faeces give strong odors when taken out from the chambers or tanks. A general people, who have not seen the ecosan toilet generally thinks the vault emptying job as tedious and disgust job. There is a probability of bad smell.

We asked the households who have emptied the vault at least one time, what was the condition during emptying? The responds we got were as follow.

13.1.1510.1.14 Odors during emptying

Among the 218 ecosan users, who have experiences of vault emptying, about 1% have experienced very bad smell during emptying. Similarly, some 61% of the households experienced a light smell during that job, where as about 38% respondents says there is no smell at all during emptying the vault.

Smell or odor is relative things; it depends upon the person to person and place to place. There are very thin margin between light smell and no smell. For the same material some may say there is light smell and some may say there is no smell at all. If the material in vault is kept completely dry, it should not have any bad smell. But in our survey some 8 respondents complaint about the bad smell, there must be some thing wrong. Either there is high moisture content or less ventilation. In our observation we found some 158 toilets do not have proper ventilation. In those units, some ventilation pipes are broken, some are misplaced, some are clogged and in some toilets no vent pipes at all. The house owners who complaint about bad odors belongs to those units where no proper vent pipes are installed. The complaint of light smell should also belong to the units where no proper ventilation pipes are installed.

13.1.1610.1.15 Moisture in the content of vault during emptying

Only three, among 218 respondents, complaint about the high moisture content in the fecal matter when vault is emptied. About 61% of respondents said there was quite normal moisture content in dry faeces during emptying and rest about 38% says the content was completely dry. There was minimum water content and there was no smell at all.

It shows that if properly used, there will be no moisture content and no bad smell in the content of vault. It will be easy to handle the content. After storage for about six months, the content is converted to almost inert material.

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13.1.1710.1.16 Vault emptying

We also asked the ecosan users, who is responsible for emptying vault. Of the total respondents who emptied the vault at least once, 39% says it is the responsibility of both male and female member of the family and they do it as per need. But some 31% believe it is the male's job, and they have to do it. In other hands some 30% said it is the responsibility of female members of the family and they have to do it.

This issue was also raised during FGD, the participants says they were very much worried about the emptying of the vault, because of the fear of odors and disgust at initial stage. But after emptying the vault for the first time, they do not have any fear on it. The job is not as hard as it was considered before. It is only a matter of one or two hour’s job. Any body of family can do that job and should do. There is no question of gender.

13.1.1810.1.17 Management of urine

Collection of urine and faeces separately is one of the major principle factors of ecosan toilets. The urine thus collected should be used in agriculture field for recycling of nutrients. The human urine is rich in nutrient that the plants needs. The human body receives those nutrients from various foods, which are made of plants. To close the nutrient loop, those nutrients must reach to plants again.

13.1.1910.1.18 Urine collection tank

During survey we found some 124 toilets without any type of urine collection tank. Majority of toilets in Thecho and Tokha do not have urine collection tank. They use small Jerry can or small mud pot for the collection of urine, but during the survey time we did not see them too. In other toilets the urine collection tanks are made of brick masonry, plastic tanks and Jerry cans.

The size of the urine tanks varies from 2 liters to 100 liters. Some people are using small plastic Jerry can, some are using mud pot and some are using 100 liter capacity plastic tanks. Among the total of 316 toilets with urine tank some 20% have capacity between 2 to 10 liters. Similarly, some 16% have urine tank with 11 to 50 liters capacity and rests 64% of the toilets have relatively bigger sized urine tank of capacity 51 to 100 liters.

The urine tanks made of masonry are leaking in most of the place. The cover in those tanks is not found placed properly. Similarly, the small Jerry cans used for urine collection are not working satisfactorily.

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We did not found the urine tanks in 60 toilets of Thecho and 56 toilets of Tokha during the time of survey. A 100-liter capacity plastic tanks are used in Tigani, Siddhipur, Gamcha, Khokana, Thimi and Gorkha as well. Similarly, in Siddhipur and Khokana, brick masonry urine tanks are found. In rest of the place urine tank of small size made of plastic, mud and bricks are found.

There are no uniformity in the pipes connecting the urinals and urine tanks. Some pipes are connected openly with tank and some are immersed in tank. It is desirable to have airtight connection between pipe and tank to reduce the loss of nitrogen of urine.

Since there is no uniformity in urine collection tank, there is no meaning of analysis of time to fill the urine tank. But for general understanding of the situation the filling time for the urine is given in the figure.

Table 6: Urine tank filling time

Time to fill the urine tanks

13.1.19.1.1.1.1.1 HH

numbers

0 to 15 days 124 15 to 30 days 43 > 30 days 43 Do not know 107 No urine tank 123 Total 440

13.1.2010.1.19 Use of urine

The toilet owners are very much aware about the importance of urine. They know about the nutrient value of urine. But unfortunately in practice, proper use of urine is not seen. About

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37% of the respondents say they use the urine directly to the field when needed. But about 48% toilet owner prefers to put the urine in compost instead of taking the urine directly to the field. Some of the families do both the jobs, they take urine to the field when needed and they put in to the compost when they do not need the urine for field. About 20% of the total respondents do not hesitate to say they pour the urine in to the drain when the tank is full and they do not need it for field. A small portion of respondents also has experiences of giving the urine to neighbors who need it.

Use of urine in to the compost has good effect on compost, but adding more urine than required is a kind of waste. Because the compost may not be able to absorb all the urine put on it. The urine will then be percolate in to the ground polluting the ground water.

The farmers are very much familiar and feel comfort to carry the solid materials like compost as manure, but they hesitate to carry the liquid urine. As a result they prefer to mix the urine with compost or other materials like ash, for the ease of transportation. Analysis of results obtained, the FGD and interview gives almost clear picture about the utilization of urine or nutrient recycling. The optimistic use of urine is lacking in almost all the project site. Though the people have enough knowledge about the importance of urine, in practice they are not doing as much as needed.

Efforts to improve the collection, store and use of urine are necessary in almost all the project. Very few families are found to collect, store and use the urine properly (without nutrient loss). There are some problems in urine collection and use also. There is some confusion about the methods of urine use. For the better results those factors must be discussed and seek better solutions.

The toilet owner who do not have urine collection tank, use the urine in nearby field or some time they take the urine to field by collecting in temporary urine collection vessels. The owner who have permanent and relatively larger urine tank, take the urine to any field they want. But most of the participants in FGD feel uncomfortable to carry the liquid urine in distant field. Any way the use of urine in various crops is increasing and the farmer are interested to use it.

As per the responses obtained from the respondents (having urine collection tank), majority of them use the urine for the vegetable farming. About 70% of the owners are using the urine for vegetable. The urine alone is not sufficient for most families; they use urine as supplementary only. Like wise about 22% of the farmers are using the urine in all kind of crops. The farmers using the urine in annual crop like paddy, maize, wheat etc comprises about 6%.

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Lack of collection vessel of adequate capacity, transportation of urine to distant field is some of the hindering factors for the optimistic use of urine.

Since there are no proper use of urine and people are not worried about the wastage of urine, a large portion of toilets users do not bother about the capacity of urine collection vessels. They are just happy to put the urine in compost, no mater how much urine is needed for composting. Majorities of people do not care the nutrient loss when they throw out the urine when their small pot gets filled.

13.1.2110.1.20 Effect of urine in agriculture

The ecosan toilets owners are aware about the nutrient value of urine. They have adequate knowledge about the fertilizer value of urine. They are very sure that the production of crops will be increased after application of urine. This kind of confidence we observed during the household visit and FGD.

About 60% of the farmers who used the urine in their field said their yield increased after use of urine and about 21% could not notice the change after the use of urine. Rest people do not know about the yields of crops.

Some 56% of the urine users have experiences of increased quality of vegetables as well after the use of urine. The taste of vegetables is as good as that of compost used for the production.

We also asked the toilet owner, who use the urine in their field about the difficulties in working when they use the urine. Only about 5% of the respondents feel it is little uneasy to work in field when they use urine as fertilizer. The odors of urine, disgust etc are the main reason for that. Rest of the respondents (331 nos) says there is no change in working with urine as fertilizer.

The statistics of urine use in field is shown in the tables below.

Table 7: Methods of using urine

Methods of using urine

13.1.21.1.1.1.1.1 HH number

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s Directly to field 161 Put in compost 210 Give to others 6 Throw out 86

13.1.2210.1.21 Financial benefits of ecosan toilet

We asked a straight questions to the entire ecosan user, is there any reduction in use of chemical fertilizer after constructing the ecosan toilets? About half of the respondents said yes there is a reduction. But they could not answer about the amount saved. No any quantitative answers were obtained. It may be due to the fact that, Nepalese farmers usually do not keep any records of income and expenditures. They do not keep any records of buying and selling of goods and products.

13.1.2310.1.22 Social acceptance of ecosan toilet

The ecosan toilets are relatively new technology and the people may have various attitudes towards it. It is outmost necessary to know how the people perceived it. What are the advantages of it and what are the disadvantages compare to other conventional type of toilets. We asked several questions to ecosan users in this regard. The results obtained are as below.

13.1.2410.1.23 The main problem with ecosan toilet

Among the 440 responding households 209 or around 47% says there are no any problems with ecosan compare to other toilets. They are using the toilets since built without any mentionable problems. But since this toilet is little different from other conventional toilets, the people using it for the first time may have some difficulties. The outsider or the guests for the first time feels uneasy to use it. Some 137 owner or 31% of total expressed this as one of the major problems. Each guest has to be instructed before the use of toilet. This job is uneasy and un-social. Some people misused the toilets creating problems.

Problem of smell, insect, cleaning and uneasiness are some of the points the ecosan users mentioned. But the persons complaining are comparatively small. Only about 11% of total complaint the problem of smell. Odor of the toilets is not the problem of ecosan technology. It depends on many factors.

In total 12% of the respondents mentioned about the cleaning problem of toilets. But during FGD, many participants mentioned about the cleaning problem of ecosan toilets. People are very much habitual with water flushing toilets, it is very easy to clean the toilet with water

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flush, but in ecosan toilets this is not possible. When there are some misuses in ecosan toilets, it is little uneasy to clean it. One cannot pour the water freely and there is risk of pouring the water in to the faeces hole. If this happen, there is chances of bad smell.

13.1.2510.1.24 Advantages of ecosan toilets

In questionnaire survey, FGD and interview we tried to explore the view of ecosan users about the advantages of ecosan toilets over other conventional toilets. Fertilizer value of excreta and nutrient recycle is one of the major advantages the users see. Actually most of the people were motivated to construct ecosan toilets due to this fact. So it is not strange to say availability of fertilizer is one of the major advantages of ecosan toilets. About 86% of the respondents supported this argument. Water saving is another advantage of this technology. About 35% of the respondents also agreed with this statement. Similarly, about 23% of the respondents said these ecosan toilets also help to protect environment. This question was open and one can answer more than one advantage.

During FGD, many participants supported the argument of fertilizer value of toilets. Most of the ecosan users are from farmer community and for them this pure organic fertilizer has great value. At the same time a large number of participant in FGD, especially women, said the water saving is one of the fantastic advantage of ecosan toilets. Water is not available easily in most of the project area. The women have to carry the water from distant public tap stand. It takes at least 15 minutes to bring a gagri (14 liter) of water. But in conventional toilets about 6 liters of water is needed per use of toilet. It was very hard to fulfill the water demand inside the household before ecosan toilets. But now the problem is over.

13.1.2610.1.25 Perception of neighbors

In every ecosan project location the entire household do not have ecosan toilets. Some are using pit latrines, some are using pour flush and some are even practicing the open defecation. With this context, we asked the ecosan user household, what is the perception of your neighbors towards your ecosan toilets.

About 57% of the ecosan users said their neighbors using other type of toilets appreciates the ecosan toilets very much. About 32% of the respondents say their neighbors are positive towards ecosan toilets. There is no problem. But about 8% of the respondents feel their neighbors are not very happy with their ecosan toilets. They thing this toilets is of inferior quality and disgusty.

In FGD and interview, the participants say their neighbors are very much interested in the technology and are demanding for them too. Their neighbors are very much interested in the fertilizer of toilets and its water saving nature.

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13.1.2710.1.26 Future of the ecosan toilets in Nepal

At the end of questionnaire survey we asked a question about the future of ecosan toilets in Nepal. What should we do about the ecosan toilets? Is it good to promote this technology? Or we should stop and go to other option of toilets? We also asked similar questions to the participants of the FGD. The results we obtained are very much encouraging. As per the questionnaire survey, we found only small portion of people (2%) who are against this technology. They are not happy with these toilets and they argued to stop the project. But more than 69% of the total says this is good technology and the number of toilets should be increased as possible. Agreeing with the same, some 14% of the total respondents suggested for the improvement in the technology and some 13% of the total pointed out the need of awareness for the promotion of technology. In this way, with some suggestions and comments about 96% of the total ecosan user see the good future of the technology in Nepal.

Similar issues were raised during FGD also. The participants of the meeting also expressed similar arguments. They are found very much encouraged with technology and put strong suggestion for the promotion of ecosan toilets in other parts of Nepal, especially in farmer communities. The female participants are more optimistic in technology. They argue that if this kind of toilets could be promoted in all over the country, the problem of water shortage will go down to minimum level. At the same time the poor Nepali farmer will get rid of problem of costly chemical fertilizer.

13.2 10.2 Urine diversion pour flush (wet ecosan) toilets

Generally in Nepal, Ecosan is considered as dry toilets. In dry toilets the urine is collected separately and the faeces is stored dry. But in Sabaithawa village of Parsauni Birta VDC of Parsa district, a new type of ecosan toilet have been installed. This is actually improved version of pour flush toilet. Only the difference of this toilets with pour flush toilet is the urine diversion mechanism. In this type of ecosan toilets, the urine is collected separately for instant use and the faeces are flushed with minimum water to store in pits. Except the pan, where two separate holes are provided for urine and faeces, all the components of the toilets are same as that of the pour flush toilets.

There are 20 units of urine diverting pour flush toilets in Sabaithawa village. The basic components of the toilets are two shallow pits made of concrete rings, one connection chambers, one urine collection tank, urine diverting pan made of concrete and a cubical.

These toilets are totally different than other dry ecosan toilets, the geographical location and socio economic condition of the project site is totally different than rest of the places. Due to above reason the evaluation of these toilets are made separately.

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13.2.1 10.2.1 Location and accessibility

Sabaithawa, a village of Parsauni Birta VDC of Parsa district is situated at the west of Birganj municipality. This village is politically divided in three wards of VDC. It is only about six kilometers in distance from Ghantaghar, main center of Birganj.

13.2.2 10.2.2 Ecosan toilet

All the ecosan toilets of the villages are Double Pit urine diversion pour flush toilet. The basic features of the toilet is same as that of pour flush toilets except urine collection facilities.

There are two separate pits made of concrete rings connected with distribution chamber. Polythene pipe of 110 mm dia has been used for the conveyance of black water. Only the difference in this type of toilets is the design of pan. A special pan with two separate holes for urine and faeces has been used in this toilets. The urine from the urine hole is diverted to urine collection tank and the faeces with water are stored in pit in operation. The major advantages of this type over the dry toilet are that in this type one can use water for bottom cleaning and flushing.

The pits are made shallow, they are only four and half feet deep, and the volume of urine tank varies between 20 to 30 liters. A small rubber pipe is use to convey the urine from pan to tank.

13.2.3 10.2.3 Sanitary condition

The sanitary condition of the project area is not very good. Among the 200 households only 47 households have toilets at their house premises. Open defecation is common in entire village. The personal, households and community sanitation is also not good. Majority of children are playing in very dirty places. The level of personal hygiene is also poor.

13.2.4 10.2.4 Water supply situation

The only source of water supply in village is shallow tube wells. There are 19 shallow tube wells in operation. The quality of water is not very good. Probability of contamination of water with fecal matter is very high due to open defecation practices.

13.2.5 10.2.5 Motivation for ecosan use

The ecosan toilets were introduced in that place after some kind of training to the social leaders of the community. All the ecosan users build their toilets with the financial support of WHO/DWSS. Two major reasons for building ecosan toilets are need of toilet and

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availability of fertilizer. The social leaders of the village (Official of Jyoti Youth Club) were exposed to ecosan toilets in Kathmandu valley before installing in village.

13.2.6 10.2.6 Use of ecosan toilets

All the ecosan toilets are in continuous use since its completion on May 2005. All the family members including the children are using the toilets. But as exception the small children some time do not use the toilet. As per the responses of user and observation the use of toilets is found satisfactory. The entire ecosan owners said they are using the toilets for both urination and defecation purpose.

13.2.7 10.2.7 Status of toilet

Almost all the toilets are found clean and satisfactory. In relation to sanitary condition of houses, the condition of toilets is good. The toilets do not smell bad.

The surrounding environment of toilets is not very clean. Most of the families are keeping the domestic animals adjacent to toilets. But to understand the situation, we should look on the surrounding of houses itself. The surrounding of houses itself is not clean enough. The animal shed, composting heaves are kept just in front of houses. Comparing this situation the toilets can be said clean enough.

They have no complaint about the ecosan toilets. Most of the toilet owner expressed their satisfaction. They had a lot of problems when there were no toilets. They got rid of many problems like difficulty of defecating during rainy seasons, risk of injury during defecation etc.

13.2.8 10.2.8 Management of faeces

Almost all the toilets were constructed around the May June of 2005. They are using it since built, but the pits are not filled completely. About 65 toilet owners are using the first pit and rest have shifted the pits. No one has experience of removing the content of pit so far.

13.2.9 10.2.9 Use of urine

All the ecosan toilets have urine collection tank made of plastics. All the houses have experience of using the urine in the field. We found mixed responses about it. Some of the toilet owner said the urine does not smell bad when applying in the field, but some of the owners mentioned about the bad smell of urine when they applied it. They said that the smell is so sharp they could hardly breathe. They apply the urine with one part of urine mixed with three part of water.

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They have applied it in potatoes, green vegetables, and beans too. Though the urine smelled very bad the yield of the vegetable is considerably increased. Some of the ecosan owner said the urine also works as pesticide in field. They clearly experienced it. One of the users said this urine works as pesticide in beans. The entire respondent assured us they will continue the urine application, because it is beneficial to them.

The vegetable produced with urine application is also very good in quality. The vegetables are soft and good in taste compared to that without urine.

The urine collected in a household toilet is not sufficient for the vegetable fields. In this situation, some of the farmers started to borrow the urine from others. We found an increasing demand of UD toilets due to the fertility value of urine in that area.

13.2.1010.2.10 General attitude toward ecosan

We asked all the ecosan users to put their attitude towards ecosan toilets. In general we found all the user are happy with their ecosan toilets. They are using it and they also advocate about it to other people of village. Some of the common point they mentioned about the advantages of ecosan toilets are as follow.

o The ecosan toilet gives good fertilizer. This is a kind of blessing for poor farmers.

o The toilet makes the defecation very easy. It was very hard to go out during night and rainy days.

o The urine not only works as fertilizer but also works as pesticide.

o Prolonged use of urine and faeces in field will increase the production too.

Similarly, we also requested the ecosan user to mention some of the disadvantages of ecosan toilets based on their experiences. The points they mentioned are summarized below.

o The toilet is costly and people are very poor, they cannot build it without financial subsidies.

o Carrying the liquid urine is difficult job and it smells bad when urine is applying.

o Eating the vegetables grown with urine is uneasy. But some of the participants disagree with this statement, they say there is no difference between animal urine and human urine. They are using the animal urine for the centuries.

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o Removing the content of vault will be difficult job. Working with human faeces is not respective one.

All above-mentioned points were drawn from the conversation with ecosan owners of the community.

In single sentence we can say, the ecosan users are happy and it is very appropriate for the village in concern.

With above good and bad point they suggested us to expand the type of toilets as fast as possible. So that all the families will be aware and benefited with.

14 11.0 Perception study of neighbors

Along with the survey of ecosan toilet users a survey was also done in parallel to assess the perception of neighbors who do not use the ecosan toilets regarding the ecosan toilets. About 33% of the households who lives near the houses with ecosan toilets are surveyed. The minimum percentage of HH in each project is 25%. The households are selected randomly. No any specific rules were applied to select the households. Only the criteria fixed is the HH must be near the HHs with ecosan toilets.

A separate questionnaire was developed for the questionnaire survey. The results of the survey as obtained are explained below.

14.1 11.1 General

14.1.1 11.1.1 Demography

Altogether 142 households from 8 project areas were surveyed. The total number of peoples living in 142 households are 833, including 427 female and 97 children of under 10 age group. The family size is thus comes to be 5.86.

14.1.2 11.1.2 Occupation

The main occupations of the families under study are Agriculture, services, business and labor works. About 76% of the total households surveyed have agriculture as main occupation, 8% have services in some institutions and nearly another 8% are doing business as main occupation. About 1.41% of the total households are mainly dependent on the income of the persons employed in foreign country, mostly in Arab countries.

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About 13% of the total HHs surveyed do not have any agriculture land and other 9% have land less than 1 ropany (508 sq. m.). Rest about 78% household holds the agriculture land more than 1 ropany.

The families doing agriculture do not rely on one form of fertilizer only. They have a tendency of using various fertilizers like chemical fertilizer, compost, and chicken manure depending upon the availability and necessity. But the trend of using chemical fertilizer is increasing day by day. More than 88% of the household use chemical fertilizer. They are not only dependent on it some of them also use compost and other manure. About 66% of the HHs said they use compost and about 15% of the respondent said they use chicken manure also.

In chemical fertilizer, urea is used extensively. The urea in market contains only Nitrogen, which is about 46% of total. The use of phosphorus and potassium is rare. We could not find out the amount of chemical fertilizer using annually. The answers given by the respondents are not very realistic one.

14.2 11.2 Toilets 14.2.1 11.2.1 Access to toilets

One hundred and thirteen out of 142 households have access to some kind of toilets. This comes out to be 79.58%. The rest are practicing open defecation, common toilets (traditional one, called Khikhamuga in local language, this is a specific place where the people of community defecates. There are separate khikhmuga for male and female of community. Most of the khikhmuga are not hygienically safe.)

Pour flush latrine is the major type of toilets. About 65% of the total household having toilet own this type of toilets. Similarly, 31% of total owns simple pit latrines. Rest 4% of the toilet owners is using the cistern flushed water carried toilets, so called modern toilets.

Nineteen toilets out of 113 toilets are connected to some kind of under ground sewerage pipe. The sewerage systems do not have treatment facilities and they discharge the black water in nearby water bodies. Sixty-two toilets are connected with septic tank. Here the point to be remember is that the reported septic tank is not actually the septic tank. The tanks are not watertight, they are merely a pit lined with masonry. The solid parts of the excreta are stored there and the liquid part is percolated in to the ground. Very few of the people have constructed the watertight septic tank where anaerobic biological process takes place. Once the pits are filled, the content is removed manually or by using suction device. The content is usually discharged again in near by water bodies without any kind of treatment.

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Rest houses, 32 in numbers collects the excreta in simple pit. This type of toilets is usually drop hole type. The excreta are directly dropped in to the pit.

14.2.2 11.2.2 Willingness to build toilets

We asked the respondents having no toilets if they want to build the toilets, which type of toilets they prefer. As a response 1 HH preferred pit and 2 mentioned the pour flush pit latrines (Sulabh). Seven number of HHs showed interest in septic tank system and 19 HHs showed interest in ecosan toilets. It means the ecosan toilets have a good image in community.

Among the 29 HHs without latrines, about 55% are ready to invest less than 2000 Nepalese Rupees for toilet construction. About 17% are ready to invest between 2000 and 5000. There are about 7% of households ready to invest more than 5000 also. But at the same time there are about 21% of households who are not willing to invest at all.

This result is encouraging in one hand, because more than 65% are willing to built ecosan toilets, but at the same time the result shows that the people are not willing to invest in toilets. This is one of the negative impacts of subsidies provided. The people are used to with subsidies and every one has a tendency to look for support when it is a question of toilets. This is one of the dangerous attitudes of people developed in many communities where subsidy program is being launched.

14.3 11.3 Ecosan toilets 14.3.1 11.3.1 Knowledge about ecosan toilets

We tried to assess the knowledge of people regarding ecosan toilets. We asked them have you heard or seen the ecosan toilets. As per the response only one household have not heard about the ecosan toilet. Nineteen HHs are aware about the ecosan toilets but they have not seen insight of toilets. Total of 100 respondents says they know the detail about the ecosan toilets. Like wise 22 respondents said they have even used the toilets. The statistics of the result is presented in the table.

14.3.2 11.3.2 Attitude towards ecosan

To know the attitude of the people towards ecosan toilets we asked couple of questions to respondents. About 98% of the people participated have positive attitude towards ecosan toilets. Only near to 2% of the respondents or 3 HHs expressed their negative attitude. But all the persons possessing positive attitude are not same. Some feel it is very good, some think this toilet is uneasy and some thinks it is some how okay.

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About 53% of total never experienced the bad odors from his neighbor’s ecosan toilets. But about 29% have experienced the occasional bad smell from neighbor's ecosan toilets. Fourteen percent of total said there was bad smell during the time of emptying the vault. But contrary to others about 4% of the respondents says the ecosan toilets smell bad all the time.

Above results clearly indicated the people who are not using the ecosan toilets are also positive towards the technology. Majority has positive attitude towards it.

14.3.3 11.3.3 Willingness to install ecosan toilets

In total 57 households including 29 households without toilets expressed their willingness to install ecosan toilets in their houses. Another 37 households expressed conditional willingness. They want to install the toilets if subsidies are available. They are not ready to invest full cost of toilets. Rest 48 households do not want to install ecosan toilets. In fact they do not want to install any new toilets. They have toilet and are enough for them.

This result also shows positive attitude of people towards ecosan toilet. Majorities of people are found positives toward ecosan toilets.

14.3.4 11.3.4 Attitude towards nutrient recycle

What is their attitude about the use of sanitized human excreta as fertilizer. More than 87% of the respondents appreciated the idea. They said it is good idea. But about 9% have doubt on it. They feel the users of the food may not accept the product or the process of applying will be difficult and job is disgusty. Topping them about 4% of the respondents thinks reuse of sanitized human excreta is not good practices. This does not suit for modern society.

Sixty two percent of total respondents have no experience of using the excreta in agriculture field. But some 32% have some kind of experiences of using excreta as manure in field.

Amidst this situation we asked the people do you want to use human urine as manure in field. As a response 102 household straightly said yes, but 12 houses are found in dilemma, they have to think over it. Twenty-two households or 15.49% do not want to use the urine as manure at all.

In total 27% of the respondents thinks use of sanitized human excreta will reduce the use chemical fertilizer to great extent. But about 70% of total thinks it can replace only a small portion of chemical fertilizer. About 3% of the total are totally against this statement. They do not believe on replacing the chemical fertilizer by human excreta.

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15 12.0 Conclusions and recommendations

Based on the questionnaire survey, Focus group discussion, observation, interview with key persons, conversation with ecosan users etc some of the conclusion drawn are mentioned here.

15.1 12.1 Conclusions

Based on the study and discussion with some experts following conclusions are drawn.

15.1.1 12.1.1 Total sanitation scenario

The sanitation situation of most of the place of Nepal is improving day by day. The knowledge level of people has been increased very well compare to situation some years back. Large majorities of people are very much aware about the need and importance of toilets and surrounding environments. But unfortunately, in urban and peri-urban area the major motivation factors for toilet construction is privacy and comfort. The health and hygiene concerns are lagging behind. Large numbers of toilets constructed un-hygienically are the evidence. There is no concern for the most of the people what kind of negative impact will be there by the in-sanitary practice. The legal arrangement and its monitoring is also very week. The practice of discharging untreated sewer and the dumping of slurry from septic tank to the rivers of Katmandu is burning examples.

15.1.2 12.1.2 Use of ecosan

Use rate of ecosan toilet is also promising. Large majorities of people who have ecosan toilets are using the toilets without any problems. Almost all the members of the families are using the toilets. The children of age above 5 are also found using the toilet. No any gender-related problems are found in ecosan toilets. Both the genders are happy with technology.

The cleaning of toilets, emptying the vault and transportation of fecal materials are also done by the users themselves. The maintenance of toilets is found satisfactory. The users are found more conscious about the cleanliness and maintenance of the toilets.

The ecosan toilets are being accepted as one of the viable options for the sanitation. This technology is found well accepted in farmer's communities. Availability of fertilizer is the main attraction of technology. Other advantages of ecosan toilets like water saving, environment protection, ground water protection are in least priority for majority of users.

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15.1.3 12.1.3 Nutrients recycle

The Knowledge level of users regarding use of human excreta are satisfactory. The use of dry faeces is quite high and the trend is also increasing. Mainly the farmers are using the dry faeces in their own farms to cultivate various kinds of crops. The ecosan users do not hesitate to remove, carry and use the dry faeces. The owner of ecosan toilet themselves do the entire job.

Despite the fact that the faeces contain less nitrogen than urine, there is a strong believes that the human faeces have good fertilizer value. This makes the people to change their attitude. Regarding the use of faeces the knowledge attitude and practices of ecosan user farmer community is satisfactory.

The use of urine as fertilizer is found not that satisfactory as the use of faeces. There is problem of storing, transportation and application of urine in agriculture. Regarding the use of urine, following conclusion may be drawn.

a. Collection of urine itself is not being done properly. The size of vessel in most of the cases is small. There are chances of nitrogen losses during storing. The vessels are not air tight in many cases, resulting the nitrogen loss of urine.

b. No collection vessels in about half of total units.

c. Transportation of urine from toilet to farm area is the problem.

d. Confusion on urine application methods. Use of neat urine or diluted urine is not found clear to the personals of promoters as well.

e. Co-composting with urine is common, but the users are not found aware about the appropriate dose of urine for the composting.

f. The users are not very much aware about the impact of urine in agriculture production. Lack of quantitative benefits of urine application hindering the motivation for the use of urine. But the ecosan users of Parsa are very much sure about the increased production after the use of urine. They had made a test field to see the impact of urine on production. With the comparative results they are convinced.

15.1.4 12.1.4 Social status of ecosan toilets

There is a mis-concept of about the type of toilets. In mindset of people, more water consuming and costly toilets are the best. This kind of concept forced the people to install water carriage toilets.

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At present, most of the ecosan toilets are constructed in poorer community with financial subsidies, which also created a mis concept among people that the ecosan toilets are for poor people and it is the inferior one.

But the situation in Parsa, where UD toilets are built, is different. The users of ecosan are proud enough to have installed the UD toilets. The neighbors of the ecosan toilets are in hurry to install ecosan toilets for them too. Owning the ecosan toilet is a kind of status symbol.

15.1.5 12.1.5 Investment in toilets

Still the toilets are in least priority of general people in Nepal. Majorities of people in Nepal do not want to invest much in toilets. They believe this as waste of money. Or in other words the importance of toilets are not fully understood.

Investment in ecosan toilets is also the same. People are interested to install the ecosan toilets, but they are not willing to invest their money. They seek for the subsidies. There is a mis concept among people that there is lot of funds for ecosan toilets in Nepal.

15.1.6 12.1.6 Cost of ecosan toilets

The cost of ecosan (dry toilet) is also in question of people. The people used to compare the cost of ecosan toilets with pit latrines and sewer connected toilets. In sewer connected toilet the cost of the treatment of the waste is not included, but in ecosan toilets both the cost of toilets and treatment are included. Like wise the quality of pit latrines are never comparable to ecosan toilets. The toilets with septic tank and well-designed two pit latrines are comparable to ecosan toilets. The costs of these toilets are more or less same as that of ecosan toilets.

15.1.7 11.1.7 Environmental factors

The environmental benefits of the ecosan toilets are not considered much by the users. The main reason for this is due to lack of proper rules and regulations for the prevention of pollution in natural water bodies. People are discharging the highly polluted black water directly to the natural water body. In this situation it is very obvious that the value of environmental protection will be insignificant.

15.1.8 11.1.8 Attitude of key persons

The responsible persons of Government office, the planners and the sanitation activists of Nepal are not fully convinced to ecosan technology. Most of them are happy to imitate the

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system of developed countries blindly. It seems the lack of adequate information to the central people about the ecosan concepts, its need and importance.

15.1.9 11.1.9 Acceptance ladder

Almost all the Nepalese people are washer, they need water for anal cleaning. Usually, they finish all the activities, defecation and anal cleaning, in one sitting. But, in dry toilets they have to shift from one place to other for anal cleaning. This facts makes the people less interested in installing dry ecosan toilets. But in UD pour flush topilet, one can use water for anal cleaning and finish all the activities at single sitting. This is very near to prevailing practice. As a result, the people easily accepted the technology. Only the difference between conventional and ecosan toilets is collection of urine and the urine give instant benefit to users. This is one the main reasons for easy acceptance of ecosan toilets in Parsa.

15.2 11.2 Recommendations

Here are some recommendations for the improvement of present ecosan toilets and improvements in future.

1. Awareness generation among users, activists and political level is strongly needed. The level of awareness at present is found insufficient.

2. Mass campaigning for the improvement in toilet coverage and expansion of ecosan toilets is necessary.

3. The IEC materials for the promotion and use of ecosan toilets reflecting the local situation is lacking. More audiovisual and printed materials on the topics are necessary.

4. The major principles of ecosan toilets should be disseminated in school and college level students.

5. A central collection system of urine and faeces should be developed, so that the household without agriculture field can also use the ecosan toilets.

6. Concept of trading in urine and faeces should be developed. Commercialization of nutrient of excreta is necessary.

7. Water saving parts of the ecosan technology should also be highlighted among the users.

8. Environment protection should be the focus of all sanitation programs.

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9. More research on sanitization of faeces should be done to find out the effective and easy way of sanitizing the excreta.

10. No single type of ecosan toilets will be the best. It depends upon many factors. For example in terai reason where hand pump can be installed, there may be no attraction on water saving characteristics of ecosan. Like wise, in place where water have to be carried from distant sources, water saving may be the major motivation factor for ecosan using. The type of toilets should be best suitable for that particular place, geography and culture.

11. Research on reducing the volume of urine is also seemed necessary. Reduction of volume of urine may be the best way ease the transportation of urine.

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