Kunena Site Syndication http://forum.susana.org/ Wed, 19 Jun 2013 13:12:33 +0000 Kunena 1.6 http://forum.susana.org/components/com_kunena/template/default/images/icons/rss.png http://forum.susana.org/ en-gb http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4507-ecosan--sanitation-in-slums-business-innovation-facility-org#4507 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4507-ecosan--sanitation-in-slums-business-innovation-facility-org#4507
In my quest for material on ecosan in slums I came across this website, and it looks really interesting. Does any one of you know more about it, or is in touch with these people?

businessinnovationfacility.org/forum/top...urce-slum-sanitation

Thanks in advance, and enjoy the read!
And if you know of new stuff on ecosan in slums, feel free to send me a link any time, then I incorporate it in the classes.

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Dr. ir. Mariska Ronteltap
Lecturer Sanitary Engineering
UNESCO-IHE, Dept. of Environmental Engineering and Water Treatment
Westvest 7, 2611 AX Delft
Office: +31 15 215 1767
Cell: +31 61617 3363
www.unesco-ihe.org
m.ronteltap@unesco-ihe.org
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Mon, 27 May 2013 07:55:38 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4219 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4219
Thank you for your message. I'm glad to note that you found the document, I sent, interesting. Yes, I'll be able to get hold of that document, you mentioned.

I'm anxiously looking forward to your Ph.D research work.

Best of luck in your research!

Regards,

F H Mughal]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Tue, 23 Apr 2013 10:41:15 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4214 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4214
Thank you for sharing the document, it seems very interesting. I will definitely read it in the coming days. Actually I am surprised a bit when I see the document was from Arif Hasan. I have also came across some of his documents previously. Especially Orangi Pilot Project was (a very old) an interesting one, studying slum improvement strategies. The name of the document is "Two Approaches to the Improvement of Low-Income Urban Areas - Madras and Orangi". I would be very happy to share the document with you but unfortunately I do not think that I am allowed to (because of the copy right issues). If you would like to reach the document, you can find it from Science direct - as I did.

Best,

Gökce]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Mon, 22 Apr 2013 19:24:12 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4212 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4212
Thank you for your kind message. Yes, you are very right. The situation here is harder than in Onaville, Haiti. No, I'm not working on the case, but have a pretty good idea of urban slums here.

As a matter of fact, there is one IIED publication on Karachi, which I'm attaching herewith for your knowledge. Thanks again for your response.

Regards,

F H Mughal]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:46:46 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4208 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4208
thank you very much for your interest and nice comments. I have already noted your e-mail address and would be very happy to send you my Thesis when it is done.

Actually I am very impressed with the case in Karachi, Pakistan that you described. I believe, the situation there is even harder than in Onaville, Haiti. Are you working on the case? If yes, I would be very happy to hear some suggested solutions or read documents (if exists) for the area - especially from water provision aspect.

Regards,

Gökce]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Mon, 22 Apr 2013 14:17:35 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4167 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4167
Thank you for your nice and interesting comments. You seems to have collected a fairly good volume of information. That is great!

I'm attracted by the title of your Ph.D topic and, your research concept of mitigation flooding, sanitation and water supply problems in an integrated manner. I think, your Ph.D research is going to have a wide and beneficial implications in many countries, including Pakistan. I'll be anxiously looking forward to your dissertation and, please don't forget to email me a copy ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ), when it is done.

Please keep up the good work, work hard, and tons of good luck.

F H Mughal]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Wed, 17 Apr 2013 04:27:46 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4166 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4166
Thank you very much for your comment, it is very interesting to hear from similar conditions. The topic of my Doctoral Thesis is "Integrated Water Resources Management in Onaville, Haiti" and my aim is to reach a concept to mitigate flooding, sanitation and water supply problems in the area in an integrated manner.

According to your first question, yes there are ground water wells in the area and nearby. There is one water well which serves salty water and is already inside the Onaville area. The collection time depends on how far their house is (inside the comminity) but I expect it will not be more than 30-45 min for the furthest house. People collect water once a day and use the water from water well for cleaning -washing purposes as the well provides salty water. They do not use this water source to wash white clothes because it gives a yellowish color.

During my stay, the local people (of Onaville) that I have talked with, told me that they buy drinking water from kiosks (5 plastic bags for 5 Haitian Gourds) or from water tankers (5 Gallons for 5 Haitian Gourds). The water tanker visits the site every day to sell drinking water. However, I have also seen in some of the documents that some people does not have enough money so they drink untreated water (from a river nearby) or even from salty water well. Happily, during my stay in Port-au-Prince a new water well has been started to be digged by TECHO, UN-MINUSTAH and UNASUR. After I returned back to Munich, I heard from TECHO that this new water well serves sweet water to Onaville community.

Unfortunately we do not have aquifer maps or any information on aquifers which makes the situation more complicated. We currently do not know how long this ground water well can last.

According to your second question, yes I definitely believe small check dams will help us to slow down the water coming from mountains and help managing it. As Onaville is located on skirt of mountains, there is a need on protection measures against flood and erosion which could be Vetiver grass seeding to hill side (also can be combined with trees and shrubs to stabilize slopes and building), and check dams to water channels. Although the first aim is to protect the community from flooding, I am hoping to store a part of flood water for usage and infiltrate the remaining part to ground water instead of diverting this valuable water source to ocean.

As we do not know much about the aquifers in the area, and as one of the ground water well serves salty water and the other serves fresh water in the same area, placement of infiltration basins is still an issue.

Thank you very much for your nice wishes, I do need it as all the PhD’s
Gökce]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Tue, 16 Apr 2013 20:48:53 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4106 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4106
That was a nice update of your site visit and your Ph.D goals. The objectives of your Ph.D research seem very interesting and, when completed, will have long-term beneficial implications for urban slums and the rural areas. What is the topic of your doctoral dissertation, by the way?

The problems of urban slums in Karachi, Pakistan, are more or less, same as that of Port au Prince, you described. Land mafia is there. Water and sanitation status is not up to the mark. Drinking water quality is poor. Sanitation comprised of improvised toilets. They are unhygienic and breed insects. Hygiene aspect is nowhere to be found.

Water and sanitation in the rural areas of Sindh province (Pakistan) is poor. Here again, the drinking water quality is unwholesome. In one area, called Tharparkar (this is an arid, desert area), the fluoride levels in groundwaters is as high as 32 mg/l. WHO guidelines are 1.5 mg/l for fluoride. Due to this, the poor people are riddled with diseases of all sorts (from skin problems to paralysis).

No surface water sources are available in Tharparkar. A moving story appeared in a local newspaper, it reads:

“On July 18, 2010, a shepherd in Thar died while searching in the desert for his missing herd of cattle, due to thirst, as he had no access to drinking-water. His body was found at a place about 30 km from Chhor. In June 2010, a little girl named Kamli died in the Thar desert. Her mother had left the house to fetch water from a well at a considerable distance. Kamli followed her but found death, not mother, in the desert. Poor little girl had no access to drinking-water.”

This is despite the UN General Assembly resolution on 28 July 2010, on human right to water and sanitation. The relevant part of the resolution reads: “(UN General Assembly) declares the right to safe and clean drinking water and sanitation as a human right that is essential for the full enjoyment of life and all human rights.”

I have 2 questions for you. Are there any groundwater sources in Port au Prince?
Is it possible to recharge the groundwater by constructing small check dams (to hold water)?

Good luck in your Ph.D research work!

Regards,

F H Mughal (Mr.)]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Wed, 10 Apr 2013 11:37:05 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4067 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/4067-water-supply-and-sanitation-situation-in-an-urban-slum-in-haiti#4067
I am Gökce Iyicil, pursuing my PhD at Institute of Advanced Studies and Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering of Technical University of Munich. I work under the Focus Group “Metropolis Nonformal” which is engaged in the development of an earthquake refugee community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, (jointly with faculty from MIT).

My PhD goal is to develop a permanent, integrated and culturally adaptive concept for water resources management in Onaville and hence to increase the access on water supply and sanitation services and to decrease the flooding risk in the area. Onaville is one of the refugee communities in Port-au-Prince, Haiti which is founded after the earthquake in 2010. In my research, economically feasible, applicable and sustainable solutions will be suggested due to weak economy, low technological opportunities and lack of knowhow in the area by considering demographical structure and cultural adaptivity of the community.

In October 2012, I have visited Port au Prince for 2 weeks for my PhD Project and I want to share my experiences there with you. I cooperated with Un Techo Para Mi Pais (TECHO) which is working on promotion of community development in slums and have a good communication with Onaville Community. During my stay in Port-au-Prince, I applied a field survey and interviewed various professionals who are working at TECHO, Oxfam GB, UN-Habitat, Viva Rio, SOIL as well as locals in Onaville.

I would like to share the main points from the interviews as follows:

•80% of the population in Port au Prince does not officially exist and less than 5% of the population pays tax. In 17 years, the population is doubled in Port au Prince. This situation makes Haitian Government weaker and NGO’s are replacing the role of the state.

•There is a land mafia in Onaville. Even the area is expropriated; people cannot go and construct their houses. They buy the land and take a paper from the land mafia which is stamped by the government and they never tell that they have the paper. It is believed that powerful people such as Church leaders or some people from government are also working for the land mafia.

•Different type of sanitation applications can be observed in Port au Prince. The preferred sanitation technique shows the socioeconomic level of the user. Generally poor families practice open defecation or use latrines. On the other hand, wealthy families prefer flush toilet usage.

•Collected water in communal places after rain is usually stolen by locals as access to water is really low.

•After the earthquake in 2010, NGO’s distributed Aquatap’s which are the Chlorine solutions to disinfect water. Currently, Haitians are still using Aquatap’s but they are not for free anymore.

Last but not least, below you can also read the problems of Onaville from a local point of view.

Willbe is a Haitian and living in the area for 1 year. He thinks that the biggest problems in Onaville are low education level and water scarcity. He buys drinking water in plastic pockets from the nearby kiosk for 5 Gourds per 5 pockets as there is no other possibility to reach potable water in the area. He added that water sources are far from most of the people. They also use the water from the plastic pockets for cooking purposes.

Willbe mentioned that there is no rain water harvesting system in the area and he does not find it possible because of the structure and the material of the houses in Onaville. He thinks that it is not tasty and comfortable to drink rainwater but he would drink it as it is a clean water source.

Willbe believes that there is a strong connection between having not proper sanitation and health diseases and he believes that the community is also aware of this relationship. He added that he has his own toilet near his house but because of the opportunities, not all of the houses have a toilet. He believes that in case of toilet construction in the area, the toilets would be used by the community as people are familiar with latrines.

All the best,

Gökce

Link for the project:
www.tum-ias.de/focus-groups/current-focu...polis-nonformal.html]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Sun, 07 Apr 2013 21:47:48 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/2043-sustainable-sanitation-for-urban-slums#3446 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/2043-sustainable-sanitation-for-urban-slums#3446
I think it is important to also look into the Peepoo launch in Kibera that has been ongoing since end of 2010. The Peepoo is a mobile toilet, a home toilet but also part of a sanitation system with collection and resuse. For more information please see www.peepoople.com.

One of the biggest challenges in informal settlements is space. And shared toilets are great if clean and taken care of. Problem is most cant be reached due to the insecurity problems during night time (closed between about 8 pm - 6 am).

Warm regards

Camilla]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Mon, 11 Feb 2013 15:32:17 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/2043-sustainable-sanitation-for-urban-slums#3385 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/2043-sustainable-sanitation-for-urban-slums#3385 I would like to read your thesis and see what solutions did you manage to find for informal areas in Kenya. My current research involves finding a technical sanitation solution for informal areas, so believe that what you've done is good; but want to know/understand how did you find the solution? and what solution in your view is suitable?

Let talk

Chris This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Wed, 06 Feb 2013 12:21:27 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3020-technical-sanitation-solutions#3310 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3020-technical-sanitation-solutions#3310
My sincere apology for a very late reply. I do agree with you that my questions are broad. This was done intentionally to stimulate the debate and listen to what other would say. From my view, technical sanitation solution refers to a combination of various technologies for the safe collection, treatment and disposal or reuse of human excreta in an environmentally sound manner. These technologies may cover the key component of the sanitation system that include the toilet, containment/collection/conveyance, treatment (in or off-site) and disposal or reuse (where applicable).

In the context of informal settlement, we believe that each component of a technical sanitation solution may have various attributes for a toilet can be used for disposing human excreta, discharging greywater.

With regard to the BMGF sanitation innovations, an rapid assessment has shown that some of these proposed solutions hold potential despite not responding adequately to the informal settlement context. One of the innovation sugegsted using microflushing (to save water) another proposing a self cleansing toilet for example. In the context of informal settlement these innovations can be valid.

We believe that despite holding potential, these innovations should be combined if adequate solutions are to be developed. The combination should consider the different components of a technical sanitation solutions and its relevance to the local context.

Thanks
Chris]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Tue, 29 Jan 2013 21:47:41 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3224-international-sanitation-policies#3248 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3224-international-sanitation-policies#3248
Greetings to the distance

Felipe Figueroa T
Environmental engineering student
felipe.figueroa @ alumnos.usm.cl]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Fri, 25 Jan 2013 15:57:45 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3224-international-sanitation-policies#3226 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3224-international-sanitation-policies#3226 Sanitation systems for special conditions Wed, 23 Jan 2013 22:24:51 +0000 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3224-international-sanitation-policies#3224 http://forum.susana.org/forum/categories/67-sanitation-systems-for-special-conditions/3224-international-sanitation-policies#3224
I introduce myself, my name is Felipe Figueroa and I am a student at the Technical University Federico Santa Maria (UTFSM) Valparaiso city, Chile. Right now I am working to the chilean company "Innsania SpA", in their social product named "BIS" (www.bischile.org), a bathroom module that provides health, dignity and self-sufficiency through the reuse of water and waste.
I wonder if they know international standards (international sanitation policies) to carry out the certification of this product because, here in Chile there are no regulations to endorse this kind of sanitation systems

Without further ado and waiting for a prompt reply from you,
best regards ]]> Sanitation systems for special conditions Wed, 23 Jan 2013 20:43:17 +0000