The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Pilot project introduces eco-friendly toilets to village

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 27, 2007
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Pilot project introduces eco-friendly toilets to village

Kannal Achuthan

They conserve water, don't pollute

CHENNAI : The District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of Kancheepuram has completed a pilot project for environment-friendly toilets in Kunnathur, a village 15 kilometres south of Mahabalipuram.

About 20 families in Kunnathur now have the eco-sanitation (eco-san) toilets in their homes. Unlike conventional toilets, the eco-san toilets use urine and faecal matter as valuable resources.

Archana Patnaik, Additional Collector of Kancheepuram district, said the concept would be extended to other villages based on the success of the pilot project.

The eco-toilet is built above the ground with a twin-chamber beneath the toilet pan to collect faecal matter. Urine and wastewater are diverted and let out onto to a home garden. Ash is strewn over the faecal matter to help dehydrate and deodorise it.

Paul Calvert, a water and sanitation expert designed the toilets. "Eco-san toilets may cost more (about Rs. 3,500 for the base structure) than conventional ones. However, they do not pollute water resources and yield rich manure," Mr. Calvert said.

No stink

Kunnathur residents initially found it hard to believe that eco-toilets, which use little water, did not smell. However, they learnt that with proper use, no foul smell was produced. Residents are taught how to use the toilet and keep it clean. The faecal matter in the chamber is reduced to powdery manure that can be removed from the chamber once a year.

A. Thamizharasi, a 19-year-old resident, said the eco-san toilet would help keep their water resources free of sewage pollution. In conventional toilets, the sewage in a leach pit can pollute groundwater.

Some non-governmental organisations have also come forward to introduce eco-san in villages in Tuticorin district and near Chidambaram.

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