Dear SuSanA Members:

My name is Tony Guadagni and I am a recent graduate of the Technische Universität Berlin's master's program of Urban Management, now living in Washington, DC. I am trained as a hydrogeologist with several years of work experience in groundwater management.

In August - October 2011 I conducted my master's thesis research on urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDTs) in Bangladesh. Specifically, the research focused aspects of socialization to the toilet, with particular emphasis on the processes by which the toilets became embedded in the local context. I have been encouraged to make the results of this research available to users of this forum.

Please find the attached thesis, entitled Embedding Innovative Sanitation Technologies: An Assessment of UDDTs in Bangladesh. I have also uploaded the transcripts of 53 interviews conducted with UDDT users from seven case study areas across Bangladesh. Biographical details in these transcripts have been redacted.

I look forward to fielding any questions or comments regarding this research.

Best Regards,

Tony Guadagni

(The MSc thesis is now also available in the SuSanA library here:
www.susana.org/lang-en/library?view=ccbk...p;type=2&id=1604)

Hi, Toni, excellent work, congratulations. Especially the interviews are very interesting, maybe we can draw some additional lessons on communication.

For the SuSanA group members I have a question based on the thesis papers.

The report and interviews show that for the villagers, there is often little terminology distiction between excreta, compost, use of faeces on the land, etc. The point is that composted and processed human faeces is no longer excreta but another bio-product. Vermi compost is yet another product again. In promoting the use of composted dried human faeces, the fact that it is chemically or micro-biological different should be clear from the terminology, otherwise people still may think or associate that they use fresh human excreta on agricultural produce; the latter is not advisable.
What simple terminology or new word can be used for fully composted dried human faeces that can be safely used as general fertilizer???
UDDT-fertilizer, UDDT-soil, UDDT-compost, humanure (www.humanure-handbook.com), ????

Dear Sjoerd,

In Nepal we call the sanitized urine "Jhol mal" or liquid compost (or liquid fertilizer). I would suggest "dry-compost" for the dehydrated feces. In my mind this has the added benefit that it makes people aware that the vault contents should be dry. Also I think it avoids confusion with a term like "humanure", which already has a meaning. And also it should be possible to translate it into local languages, which if the name contains UDDT, may be difficult.

regards

Marijn

Dear Sjoerd,

Thanks for the kind words.

From my experience, there was not consistent terminology for the UDDT products at the user level in Bangladesh. The NGOs I worked with put substantial effort into eliminating the use of terms that had inherently negative connotations, such as 'goo' and 'moot' (the rough equivalent of 'piss' and 'shit'). UDDT users that I spoke with were often uncomfortable with the idea of using the excreta based fertilizers. This is likely due to the fact that many of them have owned their toilets for less than one year and that there is, as of yet, insufficient understanding of the treated materials.

I think there would be obvious benefits for uptake of the technology if a simple and translatable euphemism were employed. This terminology should accurately convey what the product is, and reinforce appropriate safety protocols. I think Marjins suggestions of 'dry' and 'wet fertilizer' work well.

Best,

Tony