UNDERSTANDING ECOLOGICAL SANITATION
Are we winning the world’s water wars when it comes to conserving this precious resource?
What is Ecological Sanitation really?
Ecosan is derived from the words “Ecological Sanitation” and is characterised by a desire to safely “close the loop” between sanitation and agriculture.
Ecosan systems safely recycle excreta resources (plant nutrients and organic matter) to crop production in such a way that the use of non-renewable resources is minimised. Probably the most obvious non-renewable resource that needs to be conserved is water.
Ecosan toilets have been designed with this principle at the forefront and with the correct operation, it provides a hygienically safe, economical, closed loop system that converts human excreta into nutrients. These nutrients can be returned to the soil and water to be returned to the land.
Everyone deserves and desires a private, dignified personal use toilet. Ecosancape provides this through our simplistic, robust, mobile and environmentally friendly toilet design. It serves to manage and treat a universal need in a way that is respectable for us and the environment we inhabit.
Where are we heading to now?
Day Zero scared many Capetonians into drastic water saving measures; such as collecting rainwater, installing grey water systems, buying portable toilets and showers. We even adopted the phrase “if it’s yellow, it’s mellow”, so it became a norm not to flush after using someone else’s toilet.
The good news is the dams are now full. Yet, many people are still looking at sustainable sanitation solutions.
Households are finding ways to minimise their ecological footprint. If we can close the loop and adopt Ecological Sanitation practices as the new normal, we are on track to a much needed paradigm shift. This shift will see us working to conserve our water resources. All while providing dignity to many people who do not have access to dignified sanitation facilities.
There are many water saving toilets flooding the market but sadly many of them are NOT closing the sanitation loop, whereas Ecosan toilets do.
| How much water do we really flush away?
Consider an average 9ltr cistern used by a family of four on a daily basis, where each one flushes the toilet at least thrice a day… The math: 9 liters of drinking water x 4 people x 3 flushes = 108 liters per household per day. With an average of 14.5 million households in South Africa, we are using more than 1 566 000 000 liters of drinking water a day in SA to flush our toilets. |
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