Towards Development of A Standard For Public ToiletsFor Developing CountriesRowshan Mamtaz, Bangladesh
201
world toilet summit 2007, new delhi
Category Name Description
Bus/Railway Station Saidabad Bus Terminal One of the busiest bus terminals of the city where several hundred buses operate each day
Kamlapur Rail Station The only railway station of the city
Market Place Basundhara Garden City Upscale new shopping mall
New Market Most popular open shopping area of the city
Stadium Mirpur Cricket Stadium Newly built stadium for cricket with a capacity of35,000 viewers
Mosque Facility Baitul Mokarram National Mosque and the largest of the country
Recreational Facility Mirpur Zoo The largest zoological park of the country
Field survey was conducted at the selected sites and the
opinion and views of the users and the caretakers on different
aspects concerning the facilities were collected through
questionnaire survey. The existing facilities and other relevant
information of the studied locations are presented in Table 2.
Analysis and Findings
It is observed from the study that public toilets in Dhaka city are
in very poor condition. Among the studied locations, only two
toilets (Bashundhara Garden City Complex and Mirpur Cricket
Stadium) are found in good condition and one (Baitul
Mokarrom Mosque) is in moderately good condition. These
toilets are managed by the relevant authorities themselves.
The other toilets are all in an unusable state. These toilets are
leased out by DCC to contractors who are responsible for their
management including repair of any damage. However it has
been found that the contractors are often reluctant to carry out
this responsibility. The condition of the facilities deteriorates
further due to lack of monitoring from DCC. The users rated
privately managed public toilets as better than those of DCC
(Table 3).
There is no special provision for physically challenged
persons in the public toilets of Dhaka city. Public toilet facility
for women has also been found to be inadequate indicating
lack of attention to this important aspect of urban facility.
From the users' point of view the main reasons for the poor
condition of public toilets are poor management and
excessive load on each toilet. Only about half the users are
satisfied with the service (Fig. 1). However, the users
complained about vomiting tendency, loss of appetite and
Table 1: Selection of public toilets by category.
headache after using such unhygienic toilets. They further
complained that most of the time there is no water supply in
these toilets. The users suggested that toilets should be
provided with soap, tissue and good fittings to improve the
service even if they need to pay for such additional facilities
provided the cost is within affordable limits (Fig. 2).
Fig. 1 : User's comment on overall situation (n=38).
Fig. 2: Recommendation of additional service (n=38).
202
Na
me
Sa
ida
ba
d B
us
Ka
mla
pu
r Ra
il B
asu
nd
ha
ra
New
Ma
rket
Mirp
ur C
ricke
t B
aitu
l Mo
karr
am
Mirp
ur Z
oo
Term
ina
lS
tatio
nG
ard
en
City
Sta
diu
m
Exi
stin
g F
acili
tyB
lock:
3
Blo
ck:
1
Blo
ck:
3 m
ale
, 3
Blo
ck:
3 m
ale
,B
lock:
7 V
IP, 2
1B
lock:
10
ma
le, 3
Blo
ck:
3 m
ale
, 24
WC
, 2U
, 2W
B (m
ale
) 7
WC
, 3U
, 1W
B (m
ale
),fe
ma
le p
er f
loo
r 3
fem
ale
6W
C,
no
rma
l 2W
C, 3
U,
fem
ale
5W
C, 6
Ufe
ma
le4
WC
, 4U
,3
WC
, 1W
B (f
em
ale
) 2
WC
(fem
ale
)5
WC
, 5U
, 6W
B
4U
(ma
le b
lock)
2W
B (v
ip b
lock)
(m
ale
blo
ck)
, 6W
C
1W
B (m
ale
blo
ck)
,(m
ale
blo
ck)
5W
C,
6 W
C (f
em
ale
blo
ck)
3W
C, 2
U, 1
WB
(fem
ale
blo
ck)
4W
C, 1
WB
6W
B (
fem
ale
blo
ck)
(no
rma
l blo
ck)
(fe
ma
le b
lock)
Ag
e (y
ea
rs)
22
03
53
New
> 3
0>
30
Ch
arg
e R
ate
WC
-2, U
-1, B
-3W
C-2
, U-1
, B-3
No
Ch
arg
eN
o C
ha
rge
No
Ch
arg
eN
o C
ha
rge
WC
-2, U
-1, B
-3 (T
aka
)N
um
ber o
f 3
00
-35
0 p
er b
lock
50
0-6
00
per b
lock
10
, 00
01
, 00
0 p
er b
lock
40
, 00
0 in
tota
l8
, 00
0 in
tota
l5
00
per b
lock
use
rs/d
ay
Pea
k Tim
e8
am
-10
am
, 5
am
- 6a
mT
hu
rsd
ay
3p
m-9
pm
Frid
ay
4p
m-6
pm
Frid
ay
Du
rin
g b
rea
ks o
f 1
1a
m-2
pm
Sa
t-T
hu
12
pm
-4p
mF
rid
ay
5p
m-1
0p
m F
rid
ay
ma
jor i
nte
rna
tion
al
ga
mes
Cle
an
ing
5
tim
es/
da
y3
tim
es/
da
y2
tim
es/
da
y1
tim
e/d
ay
Befo
re a
nd
aft
er
2 ti
mes/
da
y1
time/d
ay
Fre
qu
en
cy
ga
mes
Ma
na
gem
en
tD
CC
lea
ses
ou
t to
D
CC
lea
ses
ou
t to
O
wn
ed
an
dO
wn
ed
by
DC
CO
wn
ed
an
d
Ow
ned
an
d
Ow
ned
by
DC
Cco
ntr
acto
rs.
co
ntr
acto
rs.
ma
na
ged
an
d m
an
ag
ed
by
ma
na
ged
by
ma
na
ged
by
an
d m
an
ag
ed
by
by
ma
rket a
uth
ority
.m
ark
et a
uth
ority
Ba
ng
lad
esh
m
osq
ue a
uth
ority
zoo
au
tho
rity
Cricke
t Bo
ard
Ob
serv
atio
nTo
ilets
are
mo
dera
tely
To
ilets
are
filth
y a
nd
F
acili
ties
are
nea
t H
ard
to fi
nd
the
Fitt
ing
s a
re n
ew
N
ea
t an
d c
lea
n.
Filt
hy,
sm
elly
an
d
cle
an
bu
t flo
or i
s w
et,
smelly
. Wa
ter i
s n
ot
an
d c
lea
n. F
ittin
gs
facili
ty a
s th
ere
isa
nd
go
od
. Slid
ing
M
od
era
te c
on
diti
on
.d
irty
. Wet f
loo
r an
d li
gh
ting
is in
ad
eq
ua
te
ava
ilab
le. I
nsu
ffic
ien
ta
re g
oo
d. F
loo
r is
no
directio
n to
d
oo
rs a
re u
sed
wh
ich
in
suff
icie
nt l
igh
t.a
nd
seve
re o
do
ur
lig
htin
g a
nd
ven
tila
tion
.d
ry. G
oo
d c
on
diti
on
.to
ilets
. Wet f
loo
r.sa
ves
spa
ce.F
acili
ties
F
loo
r is
belo
wp
rob
lem
. Ba
thin
g
Flo
or i
s w
et.
To
ilets
P
oo
r co
nd
itio
n.
are
in
ad
eq
ua
te.
no
rma
l leve
l. co
mp
art
men
ts h
ave
no
a
re u
nu
sab
le.
Go
od
co
nd
itio
n.
Un
usa
ble
co
nd
itio
n.
do
or.
Ove
rall
situ
atio
n is
po
or.
Ta
ble
2: E
xis
tin
g f
acilit
ies a
nd
oth
er
info
rma
tio
n o
f stu
die
d t
oilets
NO
TE
: W
C=
Wate
r C
lose
t, U
= U
rin
al,
B=
Bath
ing
facili
ty,
WB
=W
ash
Basi
n,
Taka 7
0 =
US
$ 1
DD
C O
wn
ed
(n=
26
)6
77
37
36
2
Priva
te (n
=1
2)
08
25
Un
usa
ble
(%)
Ina
deq
ua
te (%
)N
on
-ava
ilab
ility
of
wa
ter (
%)
Ta
ble
3: C
om
pa
riso
n o
f D
CC
ow
ned
an
d p
riva
tely
ma
na
ged
pu
blic t
oilets
fro
m u
sers
' p
ers
pecti
ve
203
world toilet summit 2007, new delhi
According to the caretakers most of the users are uneducated
and do not know the proper use of the toilets which adds to the
unhygienic and filthy environment and in some cases cause
damage to the facilities.
In order to determine the most effective measures to improve
the situation of public toilet facilities in Dhaka, a comparison is
made between the various aspects of public toilets of Dhaka
and those in the cities of the developed countries (Table 4).
From this comparison it is obvious that the issues that need
immediate attention for Dhaka is to formulate a public toilet
strategy including provision of standards and codes, proper
legislation, planning and maintenance guidelines and
adequate funding. Without these it would not be possible to
achieve the goal of Sanitation for All and protect the health of
the city dwellers.
Features Dhaka Developed cities
Number of public toilets Very few with respect to the demand City of Adequate and number increases with demand
Public toilet strategy unplanned development. Public toilets are Public toilet planning is an integral part of urban provided with respect to availability of land spatial planning: but not demand
Public toilet map No public toilet map Public toilet map is provided for the users and tourists
Provision and standards No exclusive provisions and standards for Exclusive provisions and standards for publicpublic toilets toilets
Design, construction and Carried out by private contractors on behalf Carried out by private contractors on behalf ofmaintenance work of facilities of Council Councilunder city council
Cleaning of facilities under city Not properly monitored by DCC. There is no Public toilets are cleaned at a frequencycouncil fixed time schedule for monitoring dependent on their locality and usage. The
maintenance contract allows for more frequent cleaning when required
Maintenance and repair of Time consuming, as complain is made to The contractor is obliged under the contract to facilities under city council DCC and engineering department takes ensure that remedial works relating to public
long time to act safety or hygiene are done within two hours
from notification or inspection
Funding for installing new Lack of funding A considerable amount of budget is allocated in facilities under city council installing, upgrading and maintaining public
toilet facilities
Legislation for privately No exclusive legislation act. Strong legislation act with enforcementmaintained public toilet facilities
Table 4: Comparison of public toilet facilities of Dhaka with those in developed countries
Recommendations
The recommendations that emanate from the study cover all
the major areas of public toilet planning, construction,
management, policy and legislative issues. Most users agree
that unless there is a proper legislative structure and DCC is
equipped with adequate resource (staff and funding), it would
not be possible for them to provide and maintain this service
properly. The specific recommendations are as follows:
- Incorporation of a standard code of practice similar to
BS6465, NEA or New Zealand Code (BSI, 1996;
Greed, 2004; NEA, 2005);
- Siting of public toilets should be based on demand and
not on availability of land;
- Fixing optimum charge that will maximize use and help
maintaining the facility;
- Reforming DCC so that it gets a management structure
suitable for efficient management of public toilets;
- Installing a grading system for public toilet facilities at
some predefined intervals. Toilets below the standards
should be upgraded immediately (Sim, 2003);
- Formulating suitable legislation for planning,
construction and management of public toilets;
- Formulating users' guideline for maintenance
according to WTO guideline (WTO, 2007); and
- Carrying out awareness raising campaigns for
maintenance of public toilets with participation from
owners, cleaners and users.
204
Conclusion
It is found that the condition of the public toilets in Dhaka city is
far below acceptable standards. The reasons for this include
absence of public toilet strategy, lack of relevant legal
framework, absence of public awareness in their use and
maintenance, inadequate funding, non-availability of land and
inadequate institutional capacity. With the fast increasing
metropolis like Dhaka City and other secondary towns of the
country, it is crucial that a standard code for design,
construction, maintenance, management and operation
should be developed for Bangladesh.
References
BSI (1996), “BS 6465: Sanitary installations: Part I: Code of
practice for the scale of provision, selection and installation of
sanitary appliances”, London: BSI (British Standards
Institute).
DCC (2007), “Official web site of Dhaka City Corporation”,
http://www.dhakacity.org/service_public_toilet.html
Greed, C. (2004), “A Code of Practice for Public Toilets in
Britain”, WTO Summit, Beijing, 17-19 Nov, 2004.
NEA (2005), “Code of Practice on Environmental Health”,
http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1223
WTO (2007), “Official web site for World Toilet Organization”,
http://www.worldtoilet.org/
Sim, J (2003), “The Happy Toilet Program A Star Grading
System for Singapore Public Toilets”, WTO Summit, Taipei,
Taiwan, 10-12 Oct, 2003.
205