Sulabh Sanitation Movement

Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak, a self described “action sociologist”,  has catalyzed the construction of over 1.2 million latrines in India – yes 1,200,000!!!  Since 1970 Dr. Pathak and his Sulbah Sanitation Movement has helped change Indians’ perception of sanitation, and developed new and innovative technologies for both rural and urban populations.  For his work on the Sulabh Sanitation Movement and its contribution to making sanitation a priority in India, Dr. Pahtak was awarded the Stockholm Water Prize this week.  In case you wanted to know a little bit about his accomplishment/innovations, here is a short overview:

• Sulabh public toilet and bath facilities based on that system at 7500 locations, together serving more than 10 million people daily. These pay-per-use public facilities provide an economically sustainable, ecological, and culturally acceptable solution to hygiene problems in crowded slum communities and public places.• Optimized water conservation in the Sulabh Shauchalaya systems, requiring only 1.5 litres of water per use to flush, in contrast to conventional toilets that require a minimum of 10 litres. This has significant additional benefits for health and quality of life in water-poor regions.
• Environmentally balanced wastewater treatment based on a duckweed and fish raising (pisciculture) ecosystem that provides economic opportunities for rural poor communities.
• Several technologies that convert waste from Sulabh Shauchalaya toilets into biogas for heating, cooking, and generating electricity.
• The Sulabh Shauchalaya twin pit, pour-flush toilet system now in use in more than 1.2 million residences and buildings built by Sulabh. This technology has been declared a Global Best Practice by United Nations HABITAT and Centre for Human Settlements, and is now recommended by the UNDP for use by more than 2.6 billion people around the world.
(taken from here)

The Twin Pit Flush Latrine

This is only a short list….Check out their website for more info.

Honestly, this guy is an bonified sanitation guru.  From the development of a sanitation museum (that is right) to a sanitation encyclopedia, this guy knows his shit (literally).  Hopefully this prize will help highlight the Sulabh Sanitation Movement’s accomplishments and teach the world/WASH sector a thing or two about going to scale.

The Toilet Museum

World Water Week

As many of you probably know, the World Water Week conference is currently taking place in Stockholm.  This conference has a geographically diverse group of people from the water, sanitation, hygiene, and health fields.  If you are interested in following the conference from afar here are a few ways to do it:

(1) The World Water Week Website has the programme of talks/workshops and many of the presentations and abstracts available for download

(2) Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and Akvo.org are broadcasting a series of interviews with people at the conference called WaterCube.tv.  Watercube.tv seems to be uploading new clips VERY frequently and has had interviews with some really interesting people from all over the world.

(3) Try following some tweets here or here