Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa water, Sanitation Mar- Apr 2015 Vol.10 No.2 | Page 27

Sanitation

“By separating liquids and solids, we keep the smell
down,” said Rodríguez while showing IPS the first
composting latrine built in Babiney, in the home of the
Figueredo-Cruz family.

Halving the
proportion of those
globally without
access to safe drinking
water and adequate
sanitation by 2015 is
estimated to result
in 272 million more
school attendance
days a year. The value
of deaths averted,
based on discounted
future earnings, would
amount to US$ 3.6
billion a year
_________________

“Another dry toilet has almost been completed, and four
more local families are getting the materials together to
make their own,” said Leonardo R. Espinoza, a builder
from Babiney who has been installing dry composting
latrines and biogas plants for the beneficiaries of CCSCLavastida’s projects.
“In terms of materials, building the dry latrines is
expensive because you need at least one cubic metre of
sand, 160 concrete blocks or 800 bricks, six sacks of
cement and 14 metres of steel,” he said.
Based on the lowest prices for construction materials in
Cuba, it costs at least 80 dollars to build a dry toilet – and
more than that, if the toilet is tiled, to improve hygiene
and appearance.
Using cement blocks and reinforced concrete, Espinoza
built a 60-cm high feces collection compartment, which
does not drain into the ground. “The total size is estimated
based on the number of users of the toilet,” he said.
Dry composting latrines have a special toilet bowl with an
internal division that separates urine from feces.
Cuba does not produce the toilet bowls. CCSC-Lavastida
has imported them from Mexico. But now it has obtained
a mould to make cheaper, sturdier bowls using concrete.
If the user can afford it, the toilets can be covered with
ceramic tiles.
“In houses with foundations elevated above ground, the
dry toilet can be installed inside, to facilitate access by the
elderly or the disabled,” said Espinoza. “But in general
they are built outside the house, and you climb up four
steps to use the toilet.”
Other designs include a shower next to the toilet.
Marislennys Hernández, a 32-year-old farmer, had never
heard of dry toilets until she joined the permaculture
movement. She and her husband Leonel Sánchez work a
32-hectare ecological farm, La Cristina, in the rural area of
El Castillito in the province of Santiago de Cuba.
“For us it’s been a really good thing because it doesn’t
pollute, it saves a lot of water, and it provides us with
natural fertilizers,” she told IPS.
“Three years ago we managed to build [the ecological
toilet] in our house,” she said. “They should be promoted
more among the rural population.”
Edited by Estrella Gutiérrez/Translated by Stephanie Wildes

Source: Inter Press Service

Diarrhea is the second
leading cause of death
among children under
five in the world. Around
1.5 million deaths each
year - nearly one in five –
are caused by diarrhea. It
kills more children than
malaria, AIDS, and measles
combined
______________________
Sanitation and proper
hygiene are crucial to
diarrhea prevention. It is
estimated that improved
san