Next >>>

Issues on Sanitation

Toilets, urine, faeces!

What an unpleasant thing to talk about! That's how most of us react to the very word. Further there are many taboos associated with defecation, most of which are actually principles of hygiene/cleanliness associated with traditional practices of sanitation, and living systems

Open defecation has been the most common sanitation practice for several hundred years and it still continues to be so. Back then however it was acceptable as all the shit would just dry under the sun and decompose in the mud without posing any health hazard. Today, open defecation in India would mean that every day, 2,00,000 metric tonnes of feaces would finds its way into water bodies, thus posing a potential threat to the very source of life. There is too much shit around to be taken care of by nature itself. It is our responsibility.

So what's the solution?
Toilets. Perhaps. However many studies in the developing countries show that latrines
alone do not eliminate sanitation related diseases. Some times it aggravates it. The trick
lies in what we do with all that waste that we generate.

So what do we do with so much waste that we generate?



Next >>>