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TitlePiloting and testing the pour flush latrine technology for its applicability in South Africa
Publication TypeBook
Year of Publication2012
AuthorsStill, DA, Louton, B
Secondary TitleWRC report
Volume1887/1/12
Paginationxii, 100 p.; ill.; tab.; fig.
Date Published2012-07-01
PublisherWater Research Commission, WRC
Place PublishedGezina
ISSN Number9781431202898
Keywordsservice delivery, sewerage, urban areas, ventilated improved pit latrines
Abstract

Ventilated Improved Pit latrines (VIPs) have been accepted as the sanitation system which represents the minimum level of service. The VIP is a robust technology which provides adequate sanitation in areas which are not serviced – and in some cases cannot be serviced - with waterborne sewerage, such as in sparsely populated rural areas or densely populated informal urban areas. There are, however, two arguments against the government’s choice of this technology. Firstly, in the South African context the perception of waterborne sewerage as having higher status results in many communities seeing it as a symbol of political equality to which they aspire, resulting in dissatisfaction with dry sanitation systems. Secondly, when VIP pits gets full, municipalities are faced with a serious problem. The sludge that accumulates in VIP is typically dry and full of rubbish and cannot be emptied with the vacuum tankers that municipalities rely on to service the septic tanks of standard waterborne on-site sanitation systems. Many pits ultimately have to be emptied manually, a job that is not only messy and unpleasant but also dangerous as sludge typically contains a range of infectious human pathogens. Over 85% of the approximately 2 million VIPs built in the last 15 years are now older than 5 years, and with municipalities reporting that 82% of VIPs require emptying after 5-8 years they may soon be faced with a situation where the gains achieved through basic sanitation delivery are reversed: if pits reach capacity and are not emptied, households will effectively revert to being without sanitation. [authors abstract]

NotesWith bibliography on p. 80 - 83
Custom 1323.1

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