Descriptions for each technology include a selection of interesting case studies, and an explanation as to whether the technology meets technical, financial, social and institutional success criteria.
Only two technologies met all four success criteria: hand dug wells and the India Mark II pump, and the latter only with the caveat that there was a functional maintenance system.

The least successful technology was the Playpump. Pending further research, jerry cans and the gulper were only found to meet one success criteria (technical success). Except for bio-additives to pit latrines and Playpumps, all other technologies were technically successful. The other success criteria were met by roughly half of the technologies.

Core issues that WASHTech plans to take up further include the appeal of inappropriate technologies like Playpumps and Lifestraws to naive donors, and ways to get government approval for low-cost, locally managed technologies like rope pumps, biosand filters, constructed rainwater harvesting jars, water jetting and tippy taps.

[1] Parker, A. et al., 2011. Africa wide water, sanitation and hygiene technology review. (WASHTech Deliverable 2.1). The Hague: WASHTech c/o IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre and Cranfield: Cranfield University. 93 p. : 1 box, 9 fig., 1 tab. Includes references.
Available at: http://wp.me/a1szDW-1o
The aim of the WASHTech project (2011-2013) is to introduce a robust Technology Assessment Framework (TAF), with local partners in Burkina Faso, Ghana and Uganda, that will assess the potential of new innovative WASH technologies. WASHTech is co-funded under the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission’s Africa research programme. To learn more go to washtechafrica.wordpress.com

The challenge was issued by Dr. Kiran C. Patel during the congress’ opening ceremony to over 600 delegates from around the globe. (To access more details, conference photos, and press coverage go here)

The challenge welcomes pre-proposal submissions through March 2012. Five applicants will be shortlisted and awarded up to US$ 8,000. The five finalists will be invited to prepare full proposals that will be reviewed by an international panel of experts at a major event. The winning proposal will receive up to US$ 100,000.

More on the Patel Grand Challenge and the Patel School of Global Sustainability can be found at www.psgs.usf.edu

Full details of the 2011 Patel Grand Challenge will be made available on 15 December 2011 at:
www.psgs.usf.edu/patel-center/section/patel-grand-challenge1

The BYU students created the drill for a project in Tanzania run by WHOLives.org, a nonprofit based in South Jordan, Utah. The project is also co-sponsored by the Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering and Technology.

The drill can be operated by four people. Three spin the wheel that turns the drill bit (cutting tool), and the fourth lifts the bit up and down when necessary to punch through tough spots. A water pump system removes the dirt from the 15 cm-wide hole.

In May 2011, a drilling team was able to construct a 45 m well  with the patented “Village Drill” in 3 days in Magugu, Tanzania.

Related news: WASH technology information packages : for UNICEF WASH programme and supply personnel, E-Source, 24 Aug 2010

Related web sites:

• WHOLives.org
• Akvopedia – water portal
• RWSN – Hand or Manual Drilled Wells
• IRC WASH Library – manual drilling

Source: BYU, 14 Jul 2011

The Pacific Institute has launched the 3-year WASH SMS Project (September 2010 – September 2013) through a three-year pilot funded by USAID Development Grants Program (DGP). The Institute is working with Indonesian partner PATTIRO (experience in Indonesia focused on improving public services, and strengthening government capacity), and technology partner Nexleaf (a leader in mobile phone use to collect environmental data).

Read more about the project at:

• Pacific Institute – WASH SMS Project Overview
• USAID Indonesia – “Water SMS”: Improving Water Services in Indonesia through Crowd –Sourced Map Data

Related news: India, New Delhi: using Facebook and SMS to keep the city clean, E-Source, 23 May 2011

They found problems in places as disparate as North Africa, northern India, northeastern China and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Valley in California.

University of California’s Center for Hydrologic Modeling has developed Grace, the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, that uses twin satellites to produce precise data on gravitational variations. The results are “redefining the field of hydrology”. Grace detects changes in ice, snow and water storage, surface water, soil moisture and groundwater.

Making such data available may increase sensitivities

in arid regions where groundwater basins are often shared by unfriendly neighbors — India and Pakistan, Tunisia and Libya or Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the Palestinian territories — that are prone to suspecting one another of excessive use of this shared resource.

Grace can only supply reliable data for very large aquifers.

In northern India, the use of data from Grace in a study on aquifer depletion has led to some resistance.

“When in a place like India you say, ‘We’re doing something that is unsustainable and needs to change,’ well, people resist change. Change is expensive.”

Source: Felicity Barringer, New York Times, 30 May 2011

On 28 April 2011, the Gates Foundation announced that 88 new global health projects received grants, each worth US$ 100,000, in the 6th round of the Grand Challenges Explorations initiative. Out of these 88 projects, there were 26 winners in the category “Create the Next Generation of Sanitation Technologies”. See the full list of 26 sanitation awards. Projects with demonstrated success in their initial phase of research have the opportunity to receive Phase II funding of up to US$ 1 million.

There is another opportunity to submit proposals for sanitation technology grants in round 7 of the Grand Challenges Explorations (deadline 19 May 2011).

Winners of the ”Create the Next Generation of Sanitation Technologies” by Topic

Handwashing

Using Senecio lyratipartitus Extract After Anal Ablution

Asafu Maradufu of the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton in Kenya proposes to produce a gel-based disinfectant from plant extracts of Senecio lyratipartitus which can be applied to hands. This disinfectant will reduce contamination associated with the practice of anal ablution among certain communities.

Sanitary pads

Novel Materials for Low-Cost Sanitary Pad Production

Lawino Kagumba and Megan White of American Friends of ZanaAfrica in the U.S. will work with collaborators in Kenya to develop and test sanitary pads that utilize an agricultural by-product as an alternative absorbent material. If successful, low-income women and girls will have access to locally produced affordable feminine hygiene products.

Reusable Self-Decontaminating Sanitary Napkin

Joe Schneider of LAAMScience in the U.S. will develop a reusable and self-decontaminating menstrual napkin that uses photodynamic dyes to inactivate microbial growth on the fabric. The napkin would prevent the need for expensive disposable pads and tampons while offering a hygienic alternative that self-disinfects in the absence of soap or clean water.

Household Latrines/toilets

“Lego” like Sanitation System: Pit Latrines Made of Biocomposites

Antonio Avila of Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais in Brazil proposes to develop building blocks made from biocomposites that will replace conventional brick/cement constructions for pit latrines. The team will test their strength and their rate of biodegradation to determine their suitability for building latrines that will decompose once the pits are filled, allowing for the eventual reintroduction of the land for farming and other community uses.

Integrated Mobile Sanitation Solutions in Peri-Urban Setting

Kory Russel and Sebastien Tilmans of Stanford University in the U.S. are designing a consumer-driven line of latrines that double as containment and transport systems for fecal wastes.  The latrines will be low-cost, mass-producible, and easy to ship, enabling various sanitation services and collection businesses to develop in areas just outside dense urban populations.

Using Waste To Move Waste

Mark Illian of Nature Healing Nature in the U.S. will work with villagers in rural Africa to design a pour-flush latrine utilizing readily available urine instead of scarce water for flushing, and drops of used cooking oil for odor control. Achieving a successful design of these latrines could stimulate more latrine building to reduce open defecation and resulting diarrheal diseases.

The Latrine Training Mat

Clair Null and Silantoi Kisoso with Innovations for Poverty Action in the U.S., along with Michael Kremer of Harvard University, are designing a children’s latrine training mat made from easy-to-clean plastic that fits over an existing latrine hole. The sturdy but easy-to-move platform has a child-sized hole that eliminates the fear and risk of falling into the latrine, promoting good sanitation practices and fostering a life-long habit of latrine use.

The Lotus Throne: A Self-Cleaning Solution to Sanitation

Kin-Ping Wong of Retina Pharma, Inc. in the U.S. proposes to test UV-resistant super-water-repellent silica as a coating for toilets, which could reduce the amount of water needed to clean the toilets after use and improve the surface sanitation of the toilets. The silica coating displays the same very high water repellency as the leaves of the lotus flower.

Turning Latrines Into Fly Traps

Steve Lindsay of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom seeks to demonstrate that flies are transmitters of diarrheal diseases due to their attraction to fecal matter and to food sources, and proposes to design traps that attract, capture and kill flies in latrines. If successful, the reductions in flies may reduce diarrheal diseases in local communities.

Toilet blocks

Urban Sanitation Solutions for High-Use, Flooded, and Difficult to Serve Areas

Andreas G. Koestler and Andrew Larsen of the Fontes Foundation in Norway will design and conduct a small field test in Haiti of a new toilet block system that can be erected as a kit in high-density, difficult to serve communities such as refugee camps. The system will feature urine diverting toilet pans as well as enlarged ventilation areas to help eliminate odors and desiccate feces, and will utilize used billboard fabric as waterproof walls, ceilings, and bladders to store excreta and contain pathogens that can foul water supplies.

Ecosan

A Low-Cost Decentralized Sanitary System

Bin Fan of the Research Center for Eco-environmental Sciences in China seeks to develop a decentralized sanitation system which uses a low-cost waterless, vacuum system to collect excrement and kitchen waste. The combined waste can then be processed into organic fertilizer.

An Energy-Producing Waterless Toilet System

Virginia Gardiner of Loowatt Ltd. in the United Kingdom will develop a waterless toilet that seals waste into a portable cartridge within biodegradable film, for local anaerobic digestion. The digester produces fuel and fertilizer, creating local waste treatment economies.

Ecological Sanitation for the Base of the Pyramid

Elmer Sayre of the WAND Foundation in the Philippines will explore how to close the loop between sanitation, health and food consumption by testing low-cost dry toilets appropriate for most conditions and using the human waste in small-scale agriculture efforts. Results and best practices will then be shared for future scale-up of the project.

The Earth Auger Toilet: Innovation in Waterless Sanitation

Marcos Fioravanti and Chris Canaday of Fundación In Terris in Ecuador will develop a pedal-operated, low-cost, easy-to-use, odorless urine-diverting dry toilet, in which feces and urine disappear after each use, dry material is mixed in mechanically instead of polluting water, and it all becomes plant fertilizer.

Integrated toilet and waste treatment systems

High Efficiency, Sanitary Toilet with Sewage Treatment

Peter Dreher of Livvon LLC in the U.S. will develop and test a simple toilet with integrated sewage treatment that employs a hand crank to dewater feces and turn it into dry, odorless pellets that can be used for fertilizer or fuel. The air-tight system will also control odor and keep out flies and vermin.

Prototype Microflush- Biofil Toilet Facilities

Stephen Mecca of Ghana Sustainable Aid Project in the U.S., along with partners in Ghana, will develop and field test in Ghana a prototype toilet facility that incorporates an innovative aerobic digester to decompose waste along with a microflush valve that uses minimal amounts of grey water. The field tests will help assess and refine cultural, sanitation and financial aspects of these community facilities.

Wastewater/sludge treatment and reuse

Algae for the Effective and Economical Treatment of Waste

Natalie Cookson and colleagues at Quantitative BioSciences in the U.S. are developing an algae-based waste treatment system targeted for third-world applications.  Cyanobacteria will treat a community’s waste and produce two forms of renewable energy: nutrient-rich fertilizer to enhance agriculture and biomethane to power the facility and neighboring community.

Decentralized Next Generation Sanitation for Diarrheal Pathogens

James Blackburn of Southern Illinois University in the U.S. will test a wind turbine-driven sanitation system for its ability to raise and maintain temperatures in an insulated container for the removal of pathogens in human waste. The technology could be used in developing countries in the temperate or equatorial zones to reduce the occurrence of diarrheal diseases.

Design of Microorganisms with Semiconducting Membranes

Guillermo Bazan of the University of California, Santa Barbara in the U.S. proposes to introduce artificial molecular wires (AMWs) into a waste treatment system as a way to not only break down organic contaminants in human waste, but also catalytically convert the energy present in those microbes into electrical energy for local needs.

Develop a Simple Auger-Die Assembly That Treats Fecal Wastes

Gary Foutch and AJ Johannes of Oklahoma State University in the U.S. propose to develop a small-scale device in which an auger forces feces and other solid wastes device through a die that results in high temperatures and pressure that dewaters the waste and destroys microorganisms. The device could reduce odor, insects, surface and ground water contamination and the associated spread of diseases.

Hybrid Anaerobic Digester-Microbial Fuel Cell for Energy & Nutrient Capture

Leonard Tender of the Naval Research Laboratory in the U.S. proposes to develop a low-cost wastewater treatment system comprised of an anaerobic digester that generates organically rich acids to power a microbial fuel cell. If successful, the technology could reduce the burden of waterborne diseases in the developing world while providing useful energy.

Safe Sludge

Kara Nelson of the University of California, Berkeley in the U.S. proposes to disinfect excreta in latrines by converting the ammonia naturally found in urine and feces into a powerful disinfectant by adding an alkalinizing agent to raise the pH level. By killing pathogens immediately and turning excreta into “safe sludge,” all subsequent activities required for excreta management become safer.

Using Cocopeat for Treating Septic Tank Effluent

David Robbins of RTI International in the U.S. will test a septic tank biofilter made from cocopeat, which is a readily available byproduct of coconut processing, for its ability to decompose human waste and produce effluent that can be used for crop fertilization and irrigation. If successful, the cocopeat biofilter could be produced locally and aid in solid waste treatment and water conservation efforts.

Excreta reuse

Developing Fortified Excreta Pellets for Use in Agriculture

Olufunke Cofie of the International Water Management Institute in Ghana will develop and test fortified fertilizer pellets from treated human excreta for market sale. If successful, the production at large scale would enhance agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa while also contributing to reduction in environmental health risk from untreated human waste.

Universal Slum Sanitation with 100% Safe Reuse of Nutrients

Karsten Gjefle of Sustainable Sanitation Design in Norway will design and test a low cost system to rapidly turn human excreta into pathogen-free compost for use as fertilizer for farmers.  Gjefle and his team hope to create a viable financial market that will remove untreated sewage from urban areas and also provide farmers with recycled, safe and natural soil improvements

Technology to Convert Excreta to Valuable Products

Ian Gates and Michael Kallos of the University of Calgary in Canada propose to combine two well-established technologies – anaerobic micro-digesters and micro combined heat/power thermoelectric generation units – into a single portable unit that can consume human excreta to generate electricity, heat, methane, fertilizer and water. Each device will be designed to serve a single extended family.

With this photo on Facebook local resident Akshay Arora asks the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) to "kindly send some one and get it clean this Toilet/Urinal". One day later on 7 April 2011, MCD replied: "Your complaint reference no. is 02/0704/SP"

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) launched its Facebook page in January 2011 and an integrated SMS service in March 2011 to enable public monitoring of garbage collection sites and public urinals/toilets in areas under its jurisdiction.The first experiences were positive as illustrated by the example of 22-year-old Piyush Goyal posted his complaint of garbage spilling over from the dump in his area.

On January 8, he clicked pictures of the seven dirty ones in South Delhi’s R K Puram area and posted them on Facebook. And the next day, he says, he saw the pictures of clean dhalaos uploaded by the MCD.

“There is lot of transparency through this way. The man who actually cleans it asked me why I uploaded the pictures. So the information is going from top to the bottom,” says Goyal.

MCD additional commissioner (engineering) Anshu Prakash added:

“This system is increasing transparency, fixing accountability and putting everything under public scrutiny. And none of us like to be ashamed in public. So people have started working at the bottom”.

If garbage isn’t collected or if urinals are not functioning, citizens can register complaints on the MCD Facebook page, along with photographs and location details. The MCD posts its responses directly on its Facebook page.

There are 2,078 garbage dumps, 1,033 public urinals, and 602 privatised urinals under MCD’s jurisdiction. These are listed on its Facebook page together with the names and contact details of the responsible Sanitation Superintendents.

Out of the MCD’s 12 zones, sanitation has been privatized in eight. And the new system, officials say, has increased the effectiveness. “Earlier we did not know whether a particular site has been cleaned or not. But through Facebook, till date 99 percent complaints have been addressed and the response time is also less than 24 hours,” says Anshu Prakash.

In March 2011, MCD expanded its service by launching a hotline that uses an interactive voice response system (IVRS) to register complaints. If citizens call from a mobile phone, they are sent an initial SMS with a reference number and an update SMS when their complaint has been addressed. The IVRS has now been integrated with MCD’s Facebook page.

Citizen’s movement ‘Let’s do it Delhi’ helped set up the MCD Facebook page and Gram Vaani Community Media  introduced the IVRS SMS service. Both organisations collaborated to develop the Facebook-IVRS interface.

As of 13 April 2011, MCD mentions on its Facebook page that it had received 397 complaints, of which only two had not yet been redressed.

If the social media experiment is successful, MCD may later used Facebook to monitor its other services like public health and roads.

Related web sites:

• MCD Facebook page – www.facebook.com/municipalcorporationofdelhi
• MCD web site -www.mcdonline.gov.in
• Let’s do it Delhi – www.letsdoitdelhi.org
• Gram Vaani – gramvaani.org

Source: Jasleen Kaur, Gov2.in, 17 Jan 2011 ; GN Bureau, Governance Now, 28 Mar 2011

DSI has been delivering water treatment systems (which essentially consist of a covered 19-liter bucket with a spigot at the bottom) and a locally manufactured chlorine solution it has labeled Gadyen Dlo (Creole for "water guardian") since 2007.. Photo: Michael Ritter, DSI

Water treatment kits are being provided to track chlorine levels in household drinking water using NFC-enabled cell phones. NRC provided the health workers with approximately 50 Nokia 6212 NFC-enabled phones while UPM RFID supplied UPM BullsEye™ NFC tags with NXP Mifare Ultralight chip. Joseph “Jofish” Kaye, Senior Research Scientist, NRC, initiated the project together with David Holstius, a student and Ph.D. candidate at the University of California, Berkeley’s School of Public Health, who developed the software application for mobile phones.

Families in the most rural areas in Haiti will have one water treatment kit consisting of a five-gallon (19 litre) plastic bucket with a lid and spigot. The RFID (radio-frequency identification) tags are attached to buckets for storing the treated drinking water and delivered to families together with a chlorine solution and written instructions for using the kit. When DSI’s water technicians visit their homes, they check whether they are using the kits properly and provide additional chlorine solutions. The technicians will read the tags using NFC cell phones loaded with software guiding them to ask relevant questions about the water being tested. They then send the data to DSI’s headquarters via SMS. The software application uses the Frontline SMS platform.

Due to Haiti’s mountainous terrain and poor transportation and communications networks, supplying clean drinking water to all inhabitants has always been challenging. Since the devastating earthquake in January 2010 and the cholera outbreak the following October, it has become more critical to rapidly organize and manage the fresh water supply system during natural catastrophes or serious outbreaks of infectious disease. DSI and NRC are now aiming to solve the problem on a short-term basis by treating household water with chlorine. Using RFID, the report information is current, more reliable and properly detailed. The system also verifies that control visits have actually been done. Taking time-consuming paperwork out of the process means the technicians can visit many more households.

A DSI technician tests a Haitian household’s water and then taps the phone against the NFC tag on the Gadyen Dlo water bucket, capturing its unique ID number

According to DSI, using this chlorine-based water treatment system, known as Gadyen Dlo – Haitian Creole for “water guardian” – has reduced the incidence of diarrhea among users by about 50 percent. However, if the aid workers don’t visit the households regularly, the locals easily revert to drinking unclean water, which promotes the spread of cholera and other diarrhea infections.

The organization is currently reaching 35,000 families throughout Haiti and aims to reach even more by directing its resources more efficiently.

“After a catastrophe, it’s critical to get quickly organized while saving time and resources to protect citizens’ health. NFC technology is a fast and cost-effective way of shoring up or totally taking over maintenance functions in post-catastrophe environments left with a fragile or non-existent infrastructure. From the system point of view, it doesn’t need significant investment or overly complicated processes. Simple control, track and trace functionalities can be created rather easily between an NFC phone and RFID tag, sometimes even without network support”, says Mikko Nikkanen, Business Development Director, UPM RFID.

See also:

• How mobile tech is helping in Haiti, Nokia Conversations, 02 Mar 2011
• Larry Greenemeier, Aqua Plan: could cell phones help aid workers ensure Haiti’s supply of clean drinking water, Scientific American, 18 Feb 2011
• Claire Swedberg, In Haiti, RFID tracks drinking water, RFID Journal, 10 Mar 2011

Related web sites:

• Mobile Phones + Safe Water | Haiti (project Wiki)
• Deep Springs International
• Nokia Research Center
• UPM RFID

Source: UPM RFID, 31 Mar 2011

Through the invaluable support of our intern Niharika Joshi, our Sanitation Platform is now also available in Spanish. After we included the French version last year, this is another step on the road to making Akvopedia a true multi-language platform. We hope it will be useful to Spanish-speaking people around the world.

The new Spanish portal contains 54 detailed articles on a wide range of sanitation technologies. The material was adapted from the extremely useful Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (2008, Spanish version here), written by Elisabeth Tilley and colleagues of Sandec, the Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries at eawag, the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland. The authors eventually have plans to make that publication available in Swahili. I’ll look forward to that.

The Spanish version of the Sandec Compendium of Sanitation Systems, produced by Sandec.

Mark Westra is editor of Akvopedia, and is based in The Hague.

The UK’s largest water and wastewater company urged customers to ‘tweet a leak’ to its Twitter profile @thameswater using using the #tweetaleak hash tag. In the first four weeks, the service generated over 250 reports about leakages, around 9 a day. Due to the exceptionally cold weather in December, Thames Water was reporting nearly 300 leaks a day, four times the normal number at that time of year.

When the water in reservoirs drops below 5 degrees Celsius and enters Thames Water’s mains, especially the old cast-iron ones, they contract and in some cases break. The colder it gets the worse the problems gets. [...]  More than 20 per cent of London’s water mains are over 150 years old – the oldest in the UK – and more than 40 per cent are over 100 years old.

Thames Water supplies drinking water to 8.7 million customers in London and the Thames Valley.

Example of Twitter feed on twitter.com/thameswater 08-09 January 2011

• @morecheerful Hi, just to let you know this was repaired last night. Amy11:28 AM Jan 9th via HootSuitein reply to morecheerful
• @allondon71 Hi Alex, can you give me the postcode for this please? Amy11:24 AM Jan 9th via web in reply to allondon71
• @ifuller1 @darryl1974 Hi both, the leak on Trafalgar Road was repaired last night. Amy11:23 AM Jan 9th via web in reply to ifuller1
• @allondon71 Thanks for the #tweetaleak will get that reported. Amy9:29 PM Jan 8th via txt
• @morecheerful Hi, we’re due to repair this tonight. Amy6:37 PM Jan 8th via txt

Source: Thames Water, 06 Jan 2011 – 10 Dec 2010 – 06 Dec 2011