Soon it will be possible to have flush toilets with minimal wastage of water. Led by Prof. Vinod Tare, researchers from the environmental engineering department of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur have developed a toilet that will reuse the water that goes into flushing rather than discharging it along with the excreta. This will be possible by not allowing water and solid waste to mix.

The toilet design enables solid waste to be pushed downwards into a tank at the centre, while urine and flush water is guided through a separator and pumped into an overhead tank. The wastewater is cleaned in pipes fitted with microfilters. In community toilets where electricity may not be available, hand pumps could be used to pump the water into the overhead tank. The wastewater can be evaporated to recover fertiliser (nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus) from the urine. In several cycles the solid waste is converted into compost and further processed by worms to make vermicompost.

Indian Railways has approved the design and UNICEF will be involved in pilot project involving community toilets.

A basic toilet should not cost more than Rs 5,000 (EUR 84 = US$ 125)

Contact: .Prof. Vinod Tare, IIT Kanpur, India, tel.: +91-512- 2597792, vinod@iitk.ac.in

Source: Down to Earth, 22 Jan 2008 ; Express India, 1 Feb 2008

Tags: on-site sanitation