Dear Elisabeth,

You ask me what I mean by ecological sanitation. You also say: “Anyway, in case you mean with ecosan the urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDTs), then yes, there are plenty of UDDTs being used by Muslims.”

I would like to go back in time to reflect on sanitation systems. Back in 1969 (when Armstrong landed on moon! ), we had Water Supply and Sewerage course for our B. E. (Civil) degree. The prescribed book was that classic book: Water Supply and Sewerage by Steel. That book never had terms like ecosan or UDDT.

Fast forward, in 1973, for my master’s degree course at AIT, Bangkok, back then, we used to have course books like Water and Wastewater Engineering by Fair, Geyer and Okun (Vols I and II); Wastewater Engineering by Metcalf and Eddy; Principles of Water quality Management by Eckenfelder; Chemistry for Sanitary Engineers by Sawyer; and Microbiology for Sanitary Engineers by McKinney. All those grand books never carried the term ecosan and UDDT - at least, I think so.

So, where does these terms come from? I haven’t yet done the google search on that, but as for as ecological sanitation is concerned, I was exposed to it by a 1998 publication of Esrey (Ecological Sanitation by Steven A Esrey, Jean Gough, Dave Rapaport, Ron Sawyer, Mayling Simpson-Hébert, Jorge Vargas, Uno Winblad (ed), SIDA). In this publication, ecological sanitation (ecosan, for short) is defined as (pp. 4):

“The approach to sanitation that we are exploring in this book is based on three fundamental aspects: rendering human excreta safe, preventing pollution rather than attempting to control it after we pollute, and using the safe products of sanitized human excreta for agricultural purposes. This approach can be characterized as ‘sanitize-and-recycle.

This approach, we call it ‘ecological sanitation’ or ‘eco-san’ for short, is a cycle – a sustainable, closed-loop system (see Figure 1.3). It treats human excreta as a resource. Human excreta are processed on site and then, if necessary, further processed off site until they are completely free of disease organisms (see Section 2.1.3). The nutrients contained in the excreta are then recycled by using them in agriculture.”

In the 2004 edition (Ecological Sanitation, revised and enlarged edition, Editors and co-authors Uno Winblad, Mayling Simpson-Hébert, Co-authors 2004 revised edition Paul Calvert, Peter Morgan, Arno Rosemarin, Ron Sawyer, Jun Xiao, Consultant for Chapter 6 Peter Ridderstolpe, Co-authors 1998 edition Steven A Esrey, Jean Gough, Dave Rapaport, Ron Sawyer, Mayling Simpson-Hébert, Jorge Vargas, Uno Winblad, SIDA), the definition is, on pp. 4 and 5:

“Ecological sanitation is based on three fundamental principles: preventing pollution rather than attempting to control it after we pollute; sanitizing the urine and the faeces; and using the safe products for agricultural purposes. This approach can be characterized as ‘sanitize-and-recycle’.

This approach is a cycle – a sustainable, closed-loop system. It treats human excreta as a resource. Urine and faeces are stored and processed on site and then, if necessary, further processed off site until they are free of disease organisms. The nutrients contained in the excreta are then recycled by using them in agriculture. An essential part of eco-san is to contain and sanitize human excreta before they are recovered and reused. Human faeces, rather than urine, are responsible for most diseases spread by human excreta.

In summary, key features of eco-san are prevention of pollution and disease caused by human excreta, management of human urine and faeces as resources rather than as waste, and recovery and recycling of the nutrients. In the natural world, excreta from humans and other animals play an essential role in building healthy soils and providing valuable nutrients for plants. Conventional approaches to sanitation misplace these nutrients, dispose of them and turn the cycle into a linear flow.”

As regards the UDDT, the second edition of the Compendium gives the definition of UDDT as (pp.46):

“A urine-diverting dry toilet (UDDT) is a toilet that operates without water and has a divider so that the user, with little effort, can divert the urine away from the faeces.

The UDDT is built such that urine is collected and drained from the front area of the toilet, while faeces fall through a large chute (hole) in the back. Depending on the Collection and Storage/Treatment technology that follows, drying material such as lime, ash or earth should be added into the same hole after defecating.”

Regards,

F H Mughal

HI there
Here is some info about a very successful introduction of Ecological sanitation in Aguie in Niger .

www.siani.se/sv/node/3533#.VBIlC2MlR8M
www.ecosanres.org/aguie/films-fr.htm
Enjoy
madeleine

Dear All,

The article on 'Socio-cultural acceptance of appropriate technology: Identifying and prioritizing barriers for widespread use of the urine diversion toilets in rural Muslim communities of Bangladesh' is now available online for free. You can download it untill October 31, 2014 by clicking the following link or copy and past the link on your browser:

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X14000165

Thank you

Nazim


Abstract

The Urine Diversion Dehydration Toilet (UDDT) is an important technology which could raise the standard of living for the poorest areas in low-income countries. It is a resource reuse oriented sanitation technology and onsite treatment system for human wastes. It can be one option to solve global sanitation problems by breaking socio-cultural taboos in water, sanitation and hygiene in low income countries. In this study, both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to assess the socio-cultural acceptance and replication of UDDTs in rural Muslim communities in Bangladesh. The study results showed that UDDTs have been generally accepted by almost all users and to some extent by non-users. There were some social and cultural barriers to accepting UDDTs in the study area. Major drivers, which need to be further explored and researched, were found to heavily influence the acceptance and replication of UDDTs.

Importantly it was found that the biggest challenge to the acceptance of this technology was not the replication of UDDTs or socio-cultural barriers. Instead, the biggest challenges were high construction cost, dependence on subsidies from donors and a lack of financial contribution from the government. It was found that even though socio-cultural barriers are important, identifying the proper drivers, alternative financial mechanisms (such as involvement of micro-finance organizations), the involvement of community based organizations, and the active participation of local governments were the top priorities.

Identifying these factors and prioritizing them is essential for deploying UDDTs and similar technologies throughout other parts of the world. This study provides insight into technologies that are critical for development in low income countries as well as the characterization of socio-cultural factors that are involved at this intersection of technology in society.

Muchie

The reference about Bangladesh on the SuSanA website as follows will be of interest.
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/1209

Thank you for the attachment on Water Management in Islam.I also happen to look for literature/studies of sanitation and religion, if there are any available.

Take a look at the highly successful projects in Niger in Aguié province.
www.ecosanres.org/aguie/

CREPA's work across West Africa showed that the odor-free UDDTs were warmly welcomed as a complement to the spaces for washing and prayers. The urine storage containers had to be locked into place due to theft once villagers understood the fertilizer value for growing crops. www.susana.org/_resources/documents/defa...o-no17-mars-2009.pdf

Also see the attached article on anal-washing and ecosan toilets.

Dear Mughal,

I have learned to be cautious so that I don't misunderstand what someone means when they talk of ecosan (based on the discussion in the other thread on "what is ecosan": forum.susana.org/forum/categories/39-any...uch-ecosan-in-susana).

As it seems that there is still no wide agreement on what the term "ecosan" means (apart from the fact that is short for "ecological sanitation"), let me ask you:

What do you mean by ecological sanitation in your question:

Are there some studies that indicate acceptance of ecological sanitation systems in Muslim countries?

Florian says ecosan can be just about anything... Joe argues it equates to composting toilets, then he said it equates to "dispersed systems". I put the official definition of ecosan forward as reuse-oriented systems (I reckon the wikipedia entry for ecosan is hitting it quite spot on: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_sanitation - I wish I knew who wrote it and I wish someone had the energy to update it).

Anyway, in case you mean with ecosan the urine-diverting dry toilets (UDDTs), then yes, there are plenty of UDDTs being used by Muslims. I think when you search the literature, instead of putting the search terms "Muslim" or "Islam" rather put the country that you are interested in.

You could e.g. search in the SuSanA library this way:

www.susana.org/en/resources/library?search=ecosan+bangladesh

This will give you all ecosan document in the SuSanA library that deals with Bangladesh.

The same for any other country.

Other countries where I know there are UDDTs used by Muslims (at a small scale, like in most countries) include Burkina Faso, India, Nepal, Niger (plenty of documents from an ecosan project in Niger in the SuSanA library; that one focussed on urine reuse), Morocco (small pilot project by GIZ and partners), Afghanistan.

There is also this worlwide list of ecosan projects in many countries of the world:
www.susana.org/en/resources/library/details/1423

This list is from 2012 and I was involved in overseeing its compilation:
GIZ (2012). Worldwide list of 324 documented ecosan projects by various organisations - . Gesellschaft für internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, Eschborn, Germany

You could look in there for Muslim countries.

From what I gather, the reservations against dry toilets and reuse are initially perhaps a bit greater for Muslims than for non-Muslims but there are plenty of examples how this has been overcome through good communication and demonstrations (especially for water scarce areas, areas prone to flooding or areas where there is real demand for fertiliser).

Otherwise there also wouldn't be so many UDDT designs for washers. Remember our conversation about that here on the forum:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/141-ot...nique-situation#6668

I hope this helps a little bit.

I am curious to hear from others who have experiences with Muslim users of UDDTs?

Unless you didn't mean UDDTs but any reuse-orientated systems in general? Would be good to know what you meant with your question. UDDTs may or may not include reuse activities.

Oh and there is also this thread from two years ago which might be of interest to you:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/17-fer...-sanitation-at-scale

It was started by Jonathan Parkinson with the question:

I am interested to know if there other examples of ecosan at scale - particularly in urban areas.

Regards,
Elisabeth

This might not be directly relevant, but seems interesting:

Socio-cultural acceptance of appropriate technology: Identifying and prioritizing barriers for widespread use of the urine diversion toilets in rural Muslim communities of Bangladesh

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160791X14000165

UDDTs were not initially accepted when they were first introduced and community people were not interested in installing UDDTs. It was originally assumed this was mostly due to socio-cultural factors. Some religious beliefs which hindered acceptance of UDDTs included prohibition to touch human feces, and social obstacles such as being victims of gossip in the community. Specific drivers which enhanced the acceptance of UDDTs in the study villages were identified. With awareness raising, positive attitude of religious leaders towards UDDTs, training and education by CVDP, BARD and JADE, the socio-cultural and religious barriers were largely overcome.

Are there some studies that indicate acceptance of ecological sanitation systems in Muslim countries? I only found 2 (attached) that seems to say otherwise.

F H Mughal