School toilet for girls with five stands and a wash room

Technology The toilets concern two blocs of ecosan toilets with five stands each. Five toilets and a wash room are for girls (see picture). Four toilets and a urinal are for boys. One stand is designed for handicapped. The toilet bloc for boys and handicapped has been rehabilitated; the one for girls is a new construction. Urine is collected from all stands except the urinal. The latter is discharging into a soak pit.

Capacity The toilets are expected to be used by approximately 200 boys and 200 girls. The toilet for handicapped is also used by the teachers.

Investment costs 14 mil. UGX for the new toilet block

Operation The toilets are taken care of by a part-time caretaker. The caretaker keeps the toilets clean and adds the ash to the active chambers once or twice in a day. A poster which is giving instructions about proper usage of the toilets and which is geared specifically to the school situation has been designed with the help of one of the pupils.

Benefits •Hygienization and safe disposal of human waste •Utilization of both liquids and solids as fertilizer products •The toilets do not affect the groundwater and are not affected by it •No danger of collapsing pits •Low costs for emptying the toilet •Pleasant environment for the users with little smell and few flies

Environmental threats The toilets are constructed above ground and do not release any liquids into the ground.

Problems encountered The addition of ash after defecation was originally required from the pupils. However, the pupils frequently misplaced the ash and caused the urine piping to clog. The problem was solved by having the caretaker perform the addition of ash once or twice in a day. Some of the pupils have not used the toilets correctly, like defecating into the urine side of the squatting pans. Such problems are being addressed by continuous sensitization of the pupils. Pupils have torn down the instructions that were posted in the toilets, presumably in order to use the paper as toilet paper. Some of them have also ‘cleaned their hands’ by smearing feces on the walls. The school is now requiring students to bring toilet paper to the school. At some time, the tap of the urine container was also clogged. The problem was solved by blowing air through the open tap into the container using a bicycle pump. Some minor repair work on the first ecosan toilet (leakage of some urine pipes, leakage of rain water through the roof) has been delayed and finally picked up by GIZ. The construction of the second ecosan toilet was heavily delayed by poor workmanship on the part of the contractor. Cracking in the staircase has still not been rectified.