Sanitation is one very important aspect that every developing country should take care of, as improper sanitation is one such thing that thing that collapses the economic situation of the country.
Ask me how??
See If there is no proper sanitation then its obvious that the poor people who don't have proper facilities are more vulnerable and if they get diseases frequently then the labor (as many poor people are) would decrease, there will be a demand supply difference of labor and then the daily wages will increase and cost of contracts cant be met and they will be stopped and then banks will have problems as the contractors wont pay back and then governments will have to support banks and so they wont have money to build toilets and maintain proper sanitation. HUFFFFF!!!!
So to avoid this the government should start taking up proper sanitation measures and should ensure every one is healthy. a healthy country is a prospering country..
Big story i guess but its true that if we don't take proper care of sanitation the health of the vulnerable will be affected, so we need to take a lot of care and start building and maintain toilets with proper drainage. As this will cost a lot if the regular ways of toilets are taken we need to look into various designs that are available and build them at a low cost, which can be sustainable. The suggestions of the community members should always be taken when we are planning to take up building toilets as they are the people using them.
I will tell you one more story which really happen some where in a tea plantation hilly area. One day a sanitation engineer went to this village and was seeing the beautiful hill from his room and saw a strange thing that on the two sides of the hill there were people walking with lanterns and asked the hotel management what it was. And the manager told him that they were the labor of that area who come to perform their daily morning activity down near a pond and then go back to the top collecting the tea leaves. The engineer felt very bad that they have to walk all the way and immediately contacted few NGO's to arrange for funds to build toilets and started building them on the hill top. He felt he has done very good thing, probably the best thing in his life. And then they inaugurated it and left to his city. After few years he was so proud of his achievement that he bought all his friends to the place to show them. Then the next day morning again he saw the same thing he saw before that every one was going down with lanterns in hands. he was shocked, in fact depressed and then he was angry. He immediately went to the village people and asked them what there problem was in using the toilet on the hilltop. There answer was simple that previously they used to gossip a lot by walking down with their friends and because of this toilets they are loosing a lot of socializing. Apart from it they had some reason to come down so that they can collect the leaves while going up.. but now they have to go a round for waste and the productivity has decreased, laziness increased. The Engineer was shocked with their reasons.
I would like to highlight on few mistakes that the engineer did
Check out www.gramalaya.org for designs on various kinds of toilets and you can see www.ecosanservices.org to know about training programmes that are available. I am attaching few cartoons which i found funny.. and remember a true sanitation engineer is one who says PEE instead of CHEESE when someone is taking a photograph.
Ask me how??
See If there is no proper sanitation then its obvious that the poor people who don't have proper facilities are more vulnerable and if they get diseases frequently then the labor (as many poor people are) would decrease, there will be a demand supply difference of labor and then the daily wages will increase and cost of contracts cant be met and they will be stopped and then banks will have problems as the contractors wont pay back and then governments will have to support banks and so they wont have money to build toilets and maintain proper sanitation. HUFFFFF!!!!
So to avoid this the government should start taking up proper sanitation measures and should ensure every one is healthy. a healthy country is a prospering country..
Big story i guess but its true that if we don't take proper care of sanitation the health of the vulnerable will be affected, so we need to take a lot of care and start building and maintain toilets with proper drainage. As this will cost a lot if the regular ways of toilets are taken we need to look into various designs that are available and build them at a low cost, which can be sustainable. The suggestions of the community members should always be taken when we are planning to take up building toilets as they are the people using them.
I will tell you one more story which really happen some where in a tea plantation hilly area. One day a sanitation engineer went to this village and was seeing the beautiful hill from his room and saw a strange thing that on the two sides of the hill there were people walking with lanterns and asked the hotel management what it was. And the manager told him that they were the labor of that area who come to perform their daily morning activity down near a pond and then go back to the top collecting the tea leaves. The engineer felt very bad that they have to walk all the way and immediately contacted few NGO's to arrange for funds to build toilets and started building them on the hill top. He felt he has done very good thing, probably the best thing in his life. And then they inaugurated it and left to his city. After few years he was so proud of his achievement that he bought all his friends to the place to show them. Then the next day morning again he saw the same thing he saw before that every one was going down with lanterns in hands. he was shocked, in fact depressed and then he was angry. He immediately went to the village people and asked them what there problem was in using the toilet on the hilltop. There answer was simple that previously they used to gossip a lot by walking down with their friends and because of this toilets they are loosing a lot of socializing. Apart from it they had some reason to come down so that they can collect the leaves while going up.. but now they have to go a round for waste and the productivity has decreased, laziness increased. The Engineer was shocked with their reasons.
I would like to highlight on few mistakes that the engineer did
- The engineer should have spoken with the community first on where it will be convenient for them before the construction.
- He should have designed it in such a way that their routine is not disturbed but the process is healthier.
- And lastly he should have made an attempt to see that the villagers had a sense of ownership of project.
Check out www.gramalaya.org for designs on various kinds of toilets and you can see www.ecosanservices.org to know about training programmes that are available. I am attaching few cartoons which i found funny.. and remember a true sanitation engineer is one who says PEE instead of CHEESE when someone is taking a photograph.
Hey Rakesh that was a very gud article there..though u could have written more about the types of low cost toilets, and shared with us ur ideas etc. I like ur sanitation-economy theory..makes sense..looking for more original ideas from you. :)
ReplyDeletecheers engineer :D
love
Priya
hi rakesh.
ReplyDeletea very gud article, i must say.
But i blieve ki even before thinking abt 'low cost toilets' n stuff like tht,its imp tht the people realise the meaning n necessity of the word "SANITATION". An awareness needs to be created among the community such tht people realise the imp of being healthy,maintaining hygienic conditions etc etc and then cums the provision of sanitary facilities and as u said, the role of SANITARY ENGG becums imp..
Looking forward for many such articles from u..GOOD JOB YAAR..SERIOUSLY!!!!! Keep it up..
Aparna