Nobel ---anyone?
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007
> 17:50:03 +0530> Subject: [WaterWatch] Nobel Peace Prize for re-inventing
> toilet!> > Nobel Peace Prize for re-inventing toilet!> > Common flush toilet
> with its numerous opulent versions has outlived its relevance! Undoubtedly
> cynical, it is time that this sixteenth century invention is taken back to
> the drawing board before it turns out to be a seat of inconvenience. It is
> neither a outrageous suggestion to shun the existing toilet nor a weird
> provocation to go back-to-the-cave, but a considered reflection on the flip
> side of a toilet.> > Without doubt, flush toilet has evolved into essential
> convenience of modern living. No wonder, governments and aid agencies are
> flushing additional resources to meet the millennium development goal of
> bringing sanitation to all by 2015. Indian's rural development ministry is
> working overtime to meet its target of making the entire countryside free of
> open defecation by 2012.> > Without disrespect to those who have yet to
> possess it, the fact that toilet eludes over a couple of billion potential
> users worldwide is good news for the planet! How could the world justify the
> intended conversion of precious freshwater into brown water at each flushing
> of human excreta? The original toilet design may have gone through several
> iterations ever since Sir John Harrington had drawn a patent in 1595, the
> fact that a pre-determined quantity of water makes it functional may turn out
> to be its nemesis.> > It better be so, else the task of providing sanitation
> to over 66 per cent rural and some 24 per cent city dwellers will be at the
> cost of cutting down on water supplies from yet-to-be-covered population of
> over 400 million, scattered across villages and cities in India. However,
> with each use of the toilet, be it modern push button or the low-cost pour
> flush version, flushing anywhere between 6 to 15 litres of water providing
> sanitation is more than just building toilets.> > In no way should it be
> construed that the idea of toilet be ignored. However, the pathologisation of
> sanitation has seriously overlooked the plain fact that toilet is a function
> of water that is getting scarcer by the day. Be it the UN Millennium
> Development Goals (MDG) or India's Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC), the focus
> on number crunching aims at achieving targets only. Whether or not there is
> water to keep the system in operation remains at the periphery!> > Until this
> water guzzling technology is reinvented, its recurring cost will exceed the
> cost of building a toilet in the first place. And the cost will invariably
> get externalized, either on the ecosystem or on those who await their share
> of water. Unless sanitation is backed by treatment of wastewater, young
> children will continue to bear the brunt. Improper disposal of human excreta
> pollutes water which, coupled with lack of personal hygiene, takes daily tool
> on some 1,000 children in India.> > Need it be said that water management is
> not only about managing fresh water but about protecting it from getting
> polluted too. A recent World Bank report laments that only 30 per cent of the
> wastewater generated in the country is put to any form of treatment. The
> incremental cost of wastewater polluting additional freshwater sources, be it
> surface or ground water, may prove costly in the long run.> > Designing water
> frugal toilets with suitable wastewater treatment can no longer be ignored.
> Attempts at designing waterless and low-water consuming toilets have already
> been made. Incinolet is one such toilet design that utilises electric heat to
> turn the fruit of your labours into a tablespoon of germ-free ash. By using
> microwaves this American invention replaces flushing with incineration.
> However, its prohibitive cost is deterrent to its mass scale adoption.> >
> Inventor's Peter Soulsby more benign aerobic toilet promises drastic cut down
> in water use in the loo. Using saw dust and an electric fan to create aerobic
> conditions, this design consumes 2,500 litres of water per 40,000 sittings,
> as against 600,000 litres in a conventional flush. However, none of these
> inventions have been able to replace the conventional toilets that are not
> only cheap but less complicated too.> > Research on creating alternate toilet
> designs need to be taken on priority such that the 21st century becomes the
> `century of alternate toilets', much like the 19th century that was called
> the `century of toilet' when new patents were drawn to help improve the
> quality of WC that launched several attractive designs in the market.
> However, this time around a Nobel Peace Prize may be in the waiting for
> anyone developing an alternate toilet design for widespread adoption. Any
> takers!> > Sudhirendar Sharma > October 22, 2007>
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