Dear Lilian,

Here is the link to my new design of Waterless Urinal, in which the air that leaves the jug filters through a layer of soil to remove odors. The cost is US$2 for the plastic funnel and about the same for a used jug (if none are already available).

inodoroseco.blogspot.com/2015/12/un-nuev...inario-sin-agua.html

(Other sorts of spongy rubber sandals will also work for making the plug for the jug.)

How are you and your project doing?

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday

Hi,

There really is no problem with smell coming from these simple, portable urinals made from bottles. The mouth of the bottle is narrow and wind across it is blocked by the upper bottle that forms the funnel. It is important to empty them as soon as feasible and rinse them with water to avoid smell developing over time. Any odor is truly minimal and certainly within the range of any other acceptable models.

Advantages include that the necessary bottles may likely already exist in these camps and the inhabitants could help to put them together.

The key thing is that it can be used wherever there is sufficient privacy and then be emptied on the soil wherever there are plants that need fertilizer. It seems that the other models do not lend themselves so well to spreading the urine.

I suggest you try it yourself.

I hope this is helpful. Let us know how things go and if we can be of any further help.

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday

Hello, and thank you all for responding.

@Canaday. I think your bottle urinal is interesting. Do you have any experience with it and how to best avoid the odor?

@Elizabeth. Susan Design has the best technology for this pilot project, however I wanted to explore others and possibly test Susan Design Urinal and another technology at the same time. The pilot is a test to see if we can reduce water consumption in emergency response in Iraq (and eventually across the Middle East), as well as reduce environmental pollution by reusing the waste instead of dumping it. We want to reuse the urine as fertilizer in either agricultural production, or tree planting. Funding is still undetermined. We are gathering partners that can fund various parts of the pilot -urinal production, collection and transport, reuse scheme. We are still in the feasibility stage of the project so a lot is yet to be determined.

@JKMakowka. We are primarily serving people living in transitory situations, where we need to have highly transportable and simple technologies that do not require installation of any kind. Your suggestions would work very well in camps however.

@Carol. The Iraqis in Kurdistan are actually from provinces where the fighting with ISIL is happening, and these are mostly rural areas. Therefore they are generally more open to makeshift sanitation facilities than the other emergency populations in Kurdistan, such as the Syrian refugees who come from the cities. A question. How do you combat the odor in your pee buckets?

Thanks again to you all! I will update this forum once the project is underway.

Hi, Lillian,

Several jurisdictions in the Pacific Northwest USA have adopted a simple twin bucket system for household emergency preparedness. Research has demonstrated that coastal region of from northern California to the Alaskan panhandle is at risk of a Cascadia Subduction Zone quake that will destroy pipes. Official hazard assessments show that an 8.5 M quake will disable urban water systems for six months but sewer systems for nearly three years.

The impact of the quake that struck in Christchurch, New Zealand bears out this recovery timeline. And it is the citizens of that city that took matters into their own hands and adopted UD with a simple to bucket toilet system: A PEE bucket is coupled with a POO bucket. www.composttoilets.co.nz Having lived in Iraq, I think likely that your IDPs are from sophisticated urban milieu and will appreciate seeing photos of these lovely bathrooms in New Zealand.

The Portland, Oregon group PHLUSH (Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human) adapted the Twin Bucket Toilet for emergency preparedness.



You can find links to our leaflet, video, exhibit kits, displays and the Sewer Castastrophe Companion, with instructions for composting and reuse here. www.phlush.org/emergency-toilets/

By the way,we also really like the free minimalist urinal that Chris Canaday refers to as well as the ones by SuSan Design that are mounted on 20 litre containers.

Best wishes to you as you address the needs of your IDP community. Please let us know how things go.

Carol
PHLUSH (Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human)
www.phlush.org
Facebook: PHLUSH Twitter @PortlandPHLUSH

Given the unisex requirement and the likely availability & common use of regular squatting pans, why not just use these, add a visible mesh in the outlet so that it is clear that it is not for solids use (and also allow easier cleaning) and add a ping-pong valve like this:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/34-uri...mit=12&start=24#9614
to the outlet pipe?
Would be made completely from off the shelf components and user acceptability will probably be higher than other solutions.

Dear Lillian,

I was going to suggest to you the plastic urinal from Addicom (South Africa). I thought that Wolfgang Berger's company is marketing them in Germany, and I found this information on this website:
www.berger-biotechnik.com/dry-urinals/-u...nus---dry-urinal.php



Mind you, I am a bit surprised at the high cost (187 Eur), as the model in South Africa sold for much less (20 Eur I thought?). Perhaps Wolfgang can tell us how this price difference came about (higher quality?) and if it selling well in Germany. Also, Wolfgang, please tell us more about the "membrane trap" that you are selling, is it the Addicom Eco Smellstop?

Here the information from Addicom's website in South Africa:



www.addicom.co.za/waterless-urinals.html

But I have no idea how fast they could deliever and in which quantity.
All I know is that I have one of them at home since several years and it simply works and works and works:

This is what I call a modern bathroom by Sustainable sanitation , on Flickr

Mind you, you asked for a uni-sex urinal. I guess it is not quite the right shape for females to use comfortably.

This one from Separett (their camping model) could be used to collect the urine from females easily and cheaply:

Foldable camping UDD toilet by Separett (Sweden) by Sustainable sanitation , on Flickr

Could you tell us more what you meant with: "we are working with SuSan-Design.org portable urinals, so already aware of that option."

We have a report about them here in the library (from 2011):
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/1048

Please tell us more about your project? Why do you want to collect the urine in the first place? Who is funding this?

Kind regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Ivolat,

Here is an extremely inexpensive and accessible option that can be made with plastic bottles that likely already exist in these camps:

inodoroseco.blogspot.com/2013/05/urinarios-ecologicos.html

What kind of toilet are you setting up in these camps? It may be convenient to apply the following minimalist but fully functional UDDT, which includes the above urinal:

inodoroseco.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-free-...ist-uddt-part-1.html

Please let me know what you and the inhabitants of the camps think of these.

Best wishes,
Chris Canaday

Hello,
I am currently developing a project with the emergency sanitation systems in Kurdistan Iraq for the internally displaced Iraqis. The idea is to give 30 families a unisex odorless urinal, which, once filled would be collected and reused in agriculture.

I was wondering if anyone can suggest a few, easily deployable technologies for such a project? We are working with SuSan-Design.org portable urinals, so already aware of that option.