engineers without borders-usa and composting toilets overview and nicaragua project by pat coyle,...
TRANSCRIPT
Agenda • Overview: Remember EWB and Rotary partner on many levels • Engineers Without Borders-‐USA (EWB-‐USA) • Engineers Without Borders — San Francisco Professional Chapter (EWB-‐SFP) • Service Corps and Appropriate Technology Design Team (ATDT)
• Compos8ng toilets, background – the need • Benefits/Advantages/Safety considera8ons • Some organiza8ons involved, overview – types, examples: • Household or school: with in-‐vault or on-‐site compos8ng • Urban: sanita8on-‐as-‐service, with off-‐site compos8ng
• SFP-‐ATDT project: Compos8ng Latrines in Nicaragua
• EWB-‐USA's Engineering Service Corps offers the exper8se of our most seasoned volunteers to organiza8ons in the interna8onal development sector
• Collaborates with NGOs and governments who use a community-‐driven approach and who lack access to the resources needed to design sustainable and appropriate solu8ons to engineering challenges
• Performs a variety of services, including engineering studies, owner's representa8on, planning, design, monitoring and evalua8on
Appropriate Technology Design Team (ATDT) • EWB-‐SFP’s ATDT is a group of MEs, EEs and other
product development professionals who provide engineering design and research assistance for projects in developing communi8es throughout the world • The team works with in-‐country partners to design
for local condi8ons so that solu8ons are appropriate and sustainable
• The implemented solu8ons empower communi8es by providing tools that facilitate local economic development and provide basic needs, local educa8on, and entrepreneurial opportuni8es
EWB-‐USA is rolling out Appropriate Technology Design na8onally • EWB-‐HQ’s new Service Corps mode, includes ATDT • Sam Burd, EWB-‐SFP, leads the EWB-‐HQ ATDT ini8a8ve,
and put out a call to bring forward AT projects for inclusion in the na8onal program • The EWB-‐SFP ATDT Nicaragua Compos8ng Toilet
Project has just (Jan 2015) been approved as the first Na8onal ATDT project
• We don't know yet exactly what that will mean for our project -‐ perhaps more visibility, opportuni8es for collabora8on, or fundraising support
ATDT completed or closed projects
Compos8ng toilets – the need Over 2.6 billion people don’t have access to toilets with huge health consequences: • Open defeca8on and improperly maintained, overflowing latrines contaminate drinking water and food supplies • The resultant cholera, hepa88s, parasites and other contaminants claim lives, sicken people and cripple economies by keeping people home from school and work. 1.8 million people die every year from diarrheal diseases, and 90% of these are children under the age of 5
• Safety -‐ Lack of toilets puts women at risk. In India in May 2014, two young girls were acacked, raped, murdered and len hanging from a tree. The deaths could have been prevented if the girls had access to a safe toilet. Instead, they were murdered when they went to an open field to relieve themselves
Managing Poop Safely When is the compost containing poop safe to use? (from A Sewer Catastrophe Companion with references) • Op8on 1: Reten8on -‐ Retaining compost can kill many pathogens by keepingthem away from their host (our gut), however, Ascaris eggs (roundworm) can last up to 130 days and s8ll be viable. Retaining compost for two years (730 days) is considered extremely safe • Op8on 2: High Temperature -‐ Most pathogens are adapted for a narrow temperature range around their host’s body temperature, and very few survive outside of that range. Two consecu8ve days at 57°C (135°F) kills roundworm eggs. U.S. Federal guidelines for sewage sludge treatment require three days at 55°C (131°F) for pathogen reduc8on
Managing Pee Safely In healthy people urine is sterile, although it may pick up bacteria or feces while leaving the urethra • Addressing Urine Disease Risks: When retained outside the body, the urea and water in urine quickly change to ammonia and then ammonium during reten8on, raising the pH from around 7 to around 9. The pH change and presence of ammonia (which is toxic to all living cells at high concentra8ons) is enough to inac8vate most bacteria within 2 hours • In Sweden, urine is used as a fer8lizer for any crop aner a one month reten8on at 20° C (although it must be applied one month before plan8ng for crops that are to be eaten raw)
Killing the Tough Bugs
Some major organiza8ons involved
Some major organiza8ons involved
Some major organiza8ons involved
Concept: ultra-‐low-‐cost toilet using removable containers
• Easy to collect and transport wastes safely from the community • A good toilet is a symbol of cleanliness and modernity • Beyond being odorless, hygienic, and vector-‐free, toilet needs to be elegant, modern, and pleasant to use • It needs to be cheap. Toilet combines a 20-‐L bucket, a liquid container, and a western-‐style toilet seat into a sealed, portable, urine-‐diver8ng toilet
Resource: full cycle • Collect and deliver the wastes to SOIL’s exis8ng compost sites • Remove full containers, replace with clean ones • Transport containers, carts to trucks • Compost waste, clean containers at the compost site • Sell the compost to help finance the service, restore Hai8’s devastated soil
Compos8ng Latrine Status • The first compos8ng toilets are working great • User acceptance has been high • Genera8on and use of compost for agricultural applica8ons has been successful • The community wants more units
Phase 2 Planning (cont.) • Goal: build fourteen compos8ng toilets in El Llanito community using the new design ($340/toilet) • Alcance Nicaragua responsibili8es: materials procurement and transporta8on, iden8fying new beneficiaries, managing the construc8on, and collec8ng beneficiaries’ contribu8on (40% of cost)
Phase 2 Planning (cont.) • July 2014: AN selects par8cipants • August 2014: Material Procurement prior to construc8on start • August 19-‐August 31: Construc8on • Post Construc8on: Documenta8on – in progress
Next steps • The EWB team is con8nuing to raise funds to do more compos8ng toilets for the families that need them • We raised almost $3k through an IndieGoGo campaign • We’ve received a $7.5k grant from EWB-‐SFP chapter • IBM has matching program up to $5k – we’ll pursue it
• My Rotary club and NGO partner have agreement with the Masaya Nicaragua Rotary club to partner on a Global Grant (GG) • Our NGO presented to Masaya Rotary • I draned the applica8on and it is in review with our District 5170 Grants Team, the NGO and Masaya Rotary • Fayeceville Arkansas Rotary also wants to support the NGO's work in Nicaragua and we are exploring opportuni8es for collabora8on – the may serve as the US club for the GG • We may be back to seek your help on the Global Grant
Hands-‐on workshop: EWB WCR Symposium: UC Davis 10/25/14 Based on A Sewer Catastrophe Companion: Dry Toilets for Wet Disasters, the field-‐proven 5-‐gallon pail based composAng approach for seismic or other emergency response situaAons
Hands-‐on workshop (cont.)
Hands-‐on workshop (cont.)
Hands-‐on workshop (cont.)
Wrap-‐up, Q&A • Remember EWB can partner with Rotary in a variety of ways • Compos8ng toilets/Dry Sanita8on: The simple way to think about
this is “Don't poop in the water.” Ques8ons? Email me, [email protected], with follow up ques8ons and for a copy of the Sewer Catastrophe Companion: Dry Toilets for Wet Disasters, the field-‐proven 5-‐gallon pail based composAng approach for seismic or other emergency response situaAons … or you can find it online at: hcp://www.portlandoregon.gov/pbem/ar8cle/447707