Dear all,

Thanks to Paramita for initiating this topic.

Swachh Bharat Mission is fixated on the twin-leach-pit pour flush latrine. While this has its advantages, it cannot be used in many parts of India where the soil is water-logged or the water table is high. It is also inappropriate for densely populated areas where handpumps are used for drinking water.

Some months ago, a person got in touch with information about a variant that does not contaminate groundwater. Called the evapotranspiration toilet (EVT), this uses similar principles as the leach pit, to dry faeces. But its design eliminates water seepage into the ground. I am attaching a document that describes the toilet in detail.

I would like to thank her, Marta Vanduzer-Snow for sharing her information.

Regards
Nitya

Dear friends,

I work with the National Institute of Urban Affairs in New Delhi. NIUA is a leading research organization for the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India.

Typically, innovation involves five stages: identification of need, initiation of new ideas, creation of credible inventions and solutions, development and implementation of prospective innovations and dissemination of innovations. This, when operated within a broad framework, is referred by many as the "Rs" framework. This includes resources, roles, relationships, rules and results. Innovations can be disruptive or incremental depending on their potential for change.

'Resources' refer to finance, time, knowledge, technologies, etc. While discussing innovations, it is important to understand how these are harnessed. 'Roles' refers to the part that different stakeholders play. 'Relationship' refers to the networks that exist and operate within the innovation ecosystem and can be competitive or collaborative. 'Rules' refers to how formal and informal mandates shape up roles, relationships, etc. 'Results' refers to who determines the impact (success or failures) of innovations.

The WASH sector comprises three distinct and yet highly overlapping areas: Water, Sanitation and Hygiene. In each, innovation means very different things. In the area of water, innovations focus on providing clean and safe drinking water at affordable prices. They can be around new treatment or distribution systems, tariffs, social behaviour change, or water quality testing.

However, sanitation has remained a major challenge. The lack of sanitation facilities and appropriate solutions has reached such a level that it can no longer be overlooked. The sanitation sector is faced with first-generation challenges around providing toilets such as lack of space and uncertain land tenure to construct toilets and laying of pipelines, as well as second-generation problems such as emptying pits and septic tanks, inadequate desludging and treatment facilities, poor sewage networks, etc. This is complicated by the challenge of maintaining assets created coupled with security in using sanitation facilities at night.

Clearly, from the innovation standpoint, sanitation lags far behind water. Both water and sanitation have an engineering focus. Hygiene is perceived as being more of social science. Although it has not received the same attention as water and sanitation, it is deeply interconnected with the prior two. Innovative ideas are now unraveling on the use of both engineering and social science in the area of hygiene as well. Most of the innovations in WASH, however, have been in behaviour change. For example, districts and states have creatively used community-led approaches, local leaders, religious heads, school children, etc., to improve WASH behaviour.

The WASH innovation ecosystem comprises the following main actors - Government organizations, donors, private sector, academia, NGOs, social enterprises, innovators and entrepreneurs. To a certain extent, the WASH innovation ecosystem performs in a logical manner. That is, the needs are well identified, and some amount of resources are allocated in a targeted manner through policies and programmes (e.g. Swachh Bharat Mission, AMRUT, Atal Innovation Mission etc.). However, the system seems to move slowly as there is a tendency to move towards incremental improvements rather than disruptive or radical innovations.

It has been agreed by most experts that, if the WASH sector has to expand and scale, conventional WASH infrastructure and services would need support from innovative technology and business solutions. Such technologies should be able to unlock the constraints of space, water resources and energy requirements. Business solutions should be able to overcome the issue of inadequate cost recovery from user charges and can bring improved quality and efficiency. Many believe that more resources are provided in the front-end of the innovation process (that is identification of need, initiation of new ideas, creation of credible inventions and solutions). However, there is less resource for development and testing and very little for development and implementation of prospective innovations and dissemination of innovations. I am seeking ideas on the what and how of innovations from the SuSanA community.
• What according to you are the main barriers for innovations in WASH? Is it technology? Local ownership? the lack of regulatory mechanisms for procurement of innovative technology, resources, or the lack of collaborative approaches to solving problems?

Please comment on this question by 15 April. I look forward to an exciting discussion.

Dear friends,

We are initiating our next thematic discussion Innovations in WASH on the India Chapter of SuSanA from today. We invite you to comment on the three topics of the discussion. The first topic seeks clarity on the barriers to innovation. Paramita Dey from the National Institute of Urban Affairs is facilitating this topic. Please login and post your comments. This topic will be open from 9-16 April. From 16-23, we will invite you to comment on topics 2 & 3 that are being facilitated by Vipul Kumar from Ennovent India.

I look forward to an interesting discussion.

Regards
Nitya