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Pit latrine case histories

Tried and tested ways to improving pit latrine problems

The design concepts, basic construction and treatment protocols are common to types of pit latirnes, but like everything else, are only effective if the persons using the toilets observe common sense hygiene.

Case history 1 - fruit farm

We have a client who produces table fruit for the export market.
They run an extensive farming operation with vineyards and fruit trees,
both of which need pruning in winter and harvesting in summer. Many of
the staff are migrants who are bussed in from distant rural locations
and accommodated in a well-constructed and fully facilitated village –
complete with school, crèche, church, clinic, community hall and shops.
There are married quarters for the families and singles hostels, with a
canteen, for the single workers. All well run, clean and tidy.

The fruit farm

As exporters of fresh table fruit, buyers from the overseas
retailers – mostly from Europe – call to inspect the crop and the way
in which it is handled every year. This is important to the retailer
who must ensure, by law, that the goods their chain offer for sale are
produced under conditions of acceptable international standards (ISO
standards).

A few years back one inspector, more than satisfied
with the messing and living arrangements on the fruit farm, expressed
concern at the lack of daytime toilet facilities for the workers in the
field. There were no formal on-site toilets nor anywhere they could
wash their hands. BIO-SYSTEMS SA was asked to assist – we already
looked after the farms septic tanks and a small package plant with its reed bed.

We specified either:

Tractor drawn mobile twin cubicle field toilets, which would
move with the workers as they progressed from orchard to orchard; or

Pit latrines with hand-washing facilities fed from the irrigation network.

As farm management need many hands to harvest, and half that
number to prune and 'train' twice a year, the pit toilet option proved
to be the most economical for them.

We then went to work and
designed a simple structure, which their workshops could make up on
site. They used their back hoe to open up the pits at the pre-destined
places in the field – one for men, two for women (women make up 75% of
the workforce) – and the thirty something toilets were commissioned
within a month. They seeded each pit (approximately 1m3) with 50g of BIO-SYSTEMS PLR Bulk
and all went well for the first half of the year. However, after a few
months, the interior of the cubicles became untidy and began to smell.
The section manager of one of the 'blocks' asked our advice (we are
always available to discuss client problems) and we suggested a
solution that had worked well for other large clients (on the mines).

We
advocated that they found a strong willed member of staff with a loud
mouth and appoint him PLO (Permanent Latrine Orderly). His job: to keep
the cubicles clean and tidy and to 'dose' the pits as usage demanded.
It worked! In fact, it worked very well - and woe betide any worker who
left the toilet in a mess! Initially, the PLO dosed 100ml of BIO-SYSTEMS L2120 into each pit, increasing to 150ml in harvesting season, and scrubbed the floor and seat with BIO-SYSTEMS HSDG.
Odour became negligible. Every six to nine months, he added a further
25g of BIO-SYSTEMS PLR Bulk, which reactivated the biomass.

Needless
to say the workers made good use of the field toilets (policed ardently
by the PLO) and the inspector expressed his satisfaction when he called
a year later.

Case history 2 - municipal informal settlement

A large metropolis had problems with housing the influx of rural
work seekers. There being no formal housing available, they were
allowed to set up an 'informal settlement' on the periphery of the
city, paying nominal rent to a farmer for the occupation of
non-agricultural land. Unable to provide services to the suddenly
mushrooming village, we were requested by the city to assist with
inoculating the hastily erected pit toilets.

Settlement with 'typical' corrugated iron pit latrines

The pit toilets were in a really terrible condition. This was due
partly to the fact that there was no site discipline and partly as a
result of the slum conditions in which the people found themselves –
there was no running water or electricity.

The pits were nearly brim full of faecal solids and emitted a
terrible sewage odour. Flies were also a problem as the metal walls and
roofs of the iron shacks raised the air temperatures inside the
cubicles, making the problem even worse. We advocated treating each pit
with 100g of BIO-SYSTEMS PLR Bulk,
pre-soaked in buckets of dirty water then tipped into the pit and
stirred with a strong stick to distribute the added liquid through the
pasty mass of sewage sludge. A further 250ml of BIO-SYSTEMS L2120 was then added to each pit an hour later.

Pit latrine after biological innoculation

Over a period of four weeks, there was a noticeable improvement in
the appearance of the faecal solid build-up as well as the odour, which
had recessed almost completely within the first three days.