Though, technically, the correct term would be vacuum trucks, I think, in the card game, "faecal sludge trucks" is a cool name - like we see trucks racing on TV in US!!

F H Mughal

Thank you Georges for that story, Mondays don't seem too bad in comparison!!

We may need a forum section for "Tales of shit" and other lighter touches...

gsmikhael wrote: I just got a deck at the last SanCoP meeting in Leeds, they're great! The next person to sit next to me on a long flight to somewhere will learn a lot - or decide to move.

Glad you liked it! We still are well stocked, so you all can get and distribute them. Let us know if you want to order some (we charge shipping costs only)!

Cheers, Florian

I just got a deck at the last SanCoP meeting in Leeds, they're great! The next person to sit next to me on a long flight to somewhere will learn a lot - or decide to move.

On a similarly light but less technical note (not sure where to put this Elisabeth, feel free to move), a generous sole from WSUP shared a poetic description of this potentially overlooked way of emptying pits:

In May 1974 a demolition expert, Derek Bates, described the following event on the BBC as one of his most memorable experiences.

I was approached by a large gentleman with moleskin trousers on with the crossed pockets leaning back on his pelvis. “Here, young fella,” he said, “I want a word with thee.” I said: “What’s your trouble, master?” (That’s how they are round our way). He said: “It’s our septic tank, I’ve had a very nasty letter from the council.”

It was about twice the size of this room and the top of it was like one of those horrible meringues gone wrong, with a six inch crust on it. It seemed to say: “Come any closer and I’ll have yer.” My God, it was my duty to destroy it. So we got the big 5 lb stick of explosive, tied them up at the ends of the cord and tossed one in. Plunk! It up ended, and a great green
bubble come up and winked at me. And we heard the most evil chuckle as the swine swallowed it. I’m sure it thought I was feeding it.

There were four and a half thousand tons of effluent: all of it got to go. We got all the ends of a bit of wire, lit the fuse and detonator. Then the man in moleskins said: “What about him down there? “ There’s a bloke down in the field in a bit of hedge, bruising with a blunt hook. I said, “He’ll have to shift, he’ll get the lot.” Twelve seconds later, four and a half thousand tons of effluent leapt into the air. It climbed into the sky and, at 300 feet it mushroomed out and a shaft of sunlight hit it. You could see all the colours of a starling’s wing, the greens and the golds and the brown and dark bottle green in it, a lot of pig muck, very sour smell, especially when it’s been in there for eighty years. Then it turned over like an avenging cumulus and he fled down the field, like Sodom and Gomorrah, very like, and his face went “ahhghh”! and he tried to run.

But you can’t run at 35 mph with clogs on, on wet porridge. He had only made four yards, and he was carrying 25 lb on his boots then. Visibly falling, and the second time he came up he got a face full of shite and a double hernia. The main flight went hissing on its way, then it went into a grey fog and the thing wriggled and writhed on the ground and then rose up like a phoenix arising from the ashes. The solids had mixed with the liquids and gone into a goo as he had a pair of multi-coloured gossamer wings...”

I would call it a vacuum truck, that is the terminology we used in the FSM book.

I think in the card game they are called "faecal sludge trucks" because it works with the title and the context, but for more "academic" usage I would stick with "vacuum truck".

Elisabeth asked me to answer her question by a bit more than just agreeing to Christoph, so I'll do that

muench wrote: You called it a "faecal sludge truck" in your card game. Did that come about after long deliberations? I would be inclined to call it a "vacuum tanker".

Vacuum truck is the correct technical term for this type of truck.

But actually these trucks can pump other stuff than just feacal sludge, e.g. sewage, agricultural slurry, or industrial liquids/sludges.

The idea of our card game is to have a fun gadget to raise awareness for feacal sludge management and the emptying business. So it makes more sense to emphasise the fecal sludge bit, rather than the fact that the trucks work with vacuum pumps.

Faecal sludge truck also sounds cooler or a bit more wierd(=interesting) to outsiders than vacuum truck I guess.

The truth is, we didn't discuss much about the term, we just called it like that...

Hi Elisabeth,
correct term is vacuum truck. And the point is, the pump creates a vacuum to be be able to suck the material. Fecal sludge truck is not a correct wording - but very adequate for the game.
Christoph

Hi Florian and all faecal sludge experts,

I was just wondering what should be the term we should be pushing for when talking about these vehicles? I am asking because I want to do a bit of a clean up operation on Wikipedia.

You called it a "faecal sludge truck" in your card game. Did that come about after long deliberations? I would be inclined to call it a "vacuum tanker".

On Wikipedia I also see pages on:
Vacuum truck: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vacuum_truck
Honeysucker: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeysucker_(truck)
Cesspool emptier: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cesspool_emptier

I would merge them all into one and then have re-directs from the other terms to the new page (and of course mention the other names on that page).

But I want to make sure that I use the right term that a majority of people from SuSanA would support.
I see that the Compendium calls it a "vacuum truck":
ecompendium.sswm.info/sanitation-technol...ansport?group_code=c

I guess it is not really a vacuum because something is simply pumped from A to B but it is the most commonly used term, right?

Greetings,
Elisabeth

Congratulations! Very useful tools for sensitization on FSM.

Hi Christoph,

thanks, I'll check with my colleagues for the international order. Meanwhile you could use the "Swiss clients" button or simply email me. Just give your address and how many of the games you want. You don't need to be modest, we have a good stock and will charge shipping cost only.

Hope you have fun with it.
Best wishes,
Florian

Hi Florian VERY NICE!
BUT I tried to order and did not come to the right place.
Please check the way. - I will check as well.

Very nice idea.


Christoph

Super Truck Trump: Faecal Sludge Trucks

A card game with sludge trucks from around the world

The management of faecal sludge from onsite sanitation systems in low and middle-income countries is a dirty and thankless business. Especially the emptying of latrines and septic tanks deserves respect and recognition.

In order to cast a positive light on the emptying business and to inform in a professional way but with a twinge of humour, Skat Foundation has produced a Top Trumps card game with 32 fascinating sludge trucks from around the world. The game comes with an information card on on-site sanitation.

The card game can be used as a give-away for conferences, meetings with decision makers and practitioners in the field, or simply to spend quality time with your kids.

You can order from Skat here .



The gard game has been designed with the help of Susana forum members: The author is Stefan Diener (Skat staff until recently, now again into research on Black Soldier Flies) and the bulk of the photos has been provided by Linda Strande from EAWAG and her colleagues.