Frequently Asked Questions...
Why does WTN focus on providing clean water?
Why does WTN focus on providing safe sanitation?
What is Eco-Sanitation, what are it’s advantages, and why do we use it?
What are Compressed Earth Blocks, what are their advantages, and why do we use them?
Why WTN?
Wherever the Need endeavours to alleviate poverty and ill-health, primarily through the implementation of water, sanitation and livelihoods, in a manner that will empower individuals and communities without undermining their tradition and culture. Wherever possible, it works on projects that are naturally sustainable, and implements them in an environmentally friendly way using materials that will not damage the planet.
Why does WTN focus on providing clean water?
Water is Life!
Over a billion people in the world do not have access to safe, drinkable water. Many women and children in rural areas in Asia and Africa spend hours each day walking great distances to collect water from unprotected sources such as muddy pools or polluted streams. Diarrhoeal diseases caused by polluted water and poor sanitation, such as cholera, typhoid and dysentery, are common across the developing world - killing 5,000 children every day.
People suffering from these diseases, or caring for children who are ill from them, are often unable to work to earn money, yet face large medical bills. This creates a spiral of debt and increased susceptibility to disease for the family, and further reduces the resources available for good nutrition. Once communities have access to safe drinking water and effective sanitation, they can escape the water and sanitation poverty trap. Freed up from hours of water collection and the problems of water-related disease, communities are better able to channel their time and energy into more productive activities and livelihood. The pressure on family finances is reduced, by a reduction in the need for medical care for water-related diseases.
Why does WTN focus on providing safe sanitation?
5000 children a day die from diarrhoea and easily preventable intestinal diseases. These children are dying because they do not have access to adequate sanitation or safe, drinkable water. Without adequate sanitation, people are vulnerable to disease, lack of privacy and indignity. Women and girls are particularly vulnerable, often having to wait until it is dark to go to the toilet, or walking long distances to find an isolated, safer spot. Where there are no toilets, girls are prevented from going to school. Crucial to the provision of effective sanitation and clean water, is education in safe hygiene practices, and the links between water, sanitation and disease.
The vital importance of safe sanitation and clean drinking water has been recently highlighted by a British Medical Journal (BMJ) reader’s survey, who chose the “sanitary revolution” as the greatest medical advance since 1840:
“More than 11,300 readers of the BMJ chose the introduction of clean water and sewage disposal—"the sanitary revolution"—as the most important medical milestone since 1840, when the BMJ was first published. Readers (a third of whom were Doctors) were given 10 days to vote on a shortlist of 15 milestones, and sanitation topped the poll”.
Johan Mackenbach, professor of public health at Erasmus MC Medical Center, Rotterdam, who championed the cause of sanitation, said:
"I'm delighted that sanitation is recognised by so many people as such an important milestone. The general lesson, which still holds, is that passive protection against health hazards is often the best way to improve population health. Inadequate sanitation is still a major problem in the developing world. In 2001, unsafe water, sanitation and hygiene accounted for over 1.5 million deaths from diarrhoeal disease in low and middle-income countries. Clearly, sanitation still plays a vital role in improving public health now and in the future."
For the full article, please follow this link to the BMJ
What is Eco-Sanitation, what are it’s advantages, and why do we use it?
Most countries in the North make use of water-based 'flush and discharge' toilet systems. On average, 15,000 litres of treated, safe, drinking water is used to flush 35 kilograms of faeces and 500 litres of urine per person every year. This conversion of drinking water into 'blackwater' is a massive waste of water, particularly in arid regions. These are designed on the premise that human excreta are a waste, suitable only for disposal. This approach also assumes that the environment has an infinite capacity to absorb and assimilate these wastes.
In line with WTN’s environmental policy, Eco-Sanitation is based on recycling principles, enabling the complete recovery of all nutrients from faeces, urine and greywater (e.g.: from bathing) to the benefit of agriculture. Eco-san also minimises water pollution, particularly important in areas where the water table is close to the surface, while at the same time ensuring that water is used economically and is reused to the greatest possible extent, particularly for crop/vegetable irrigation purposes. Contamination of water with human faeces causes the transmission of diseases such as typhoid. Poor health resulting from poor sanitation has a huge effect on economies, with money that could be used to purchase food or education, being spent on medicines.
Eco- sanitation is a safe method of recovering nutrients from human excreta, then recycling them back into the environment and food production. If separated, urine can easily serve as a fertiliser after it has been diluted with water. After faeces have been desiccated (dried-out), they are free from pathogens, diseases and odour. They can then serve as a soil conditioner for agriculture, returning a significant part of the nutrients and trace elements to the soil. As all the pathogens contained in faeces are destroyed in this process, human health is improved due to the removal of disease sources from the domestic environment.
Summary of Eco-san advantages:
-Removal of disease pathogens from the domestic environment.
-Elimination of foul odours - if properly constructed.
-Diseases are destroyed, not just contained.
-No potential to contaminate other water sources.
-Use very little, or no water.
-Nutrients and organic matter is recovered.
-Very cheap and simple to build and operate, with very few components which can malfunction.
What are Compressed Earth Blocks, what are their advantages, and why do we use them?
Compressed Earth Blocks (CEBs) is the name given to earthen bricks compressed with hand-operated or motorised hydraulic machines. WTN favours using hand operated machines, as these are more environmentally sustainable, simple to use and also more appropriate to local village situations.
Advantages of CEBs include: uniform building blocks, use of locally-available materials, reduction in transportation.
-Uniformly sized building blocks can result in less waste, faster construction and the possibility of using other modular elements, such as sheet metal roofing, being easily integrated into a CEB structure. The possibility of using such components can often improve the overall quality of the structure as well.
-WTN has a policy in all the projects we undertake that the environmental impact be as low as possible. The use of natural, locally-available materials makes good housing available to more people, and keeps money, skills and employment in the local community, rather than spending it to import materials, fuel and replacement parts. The earth used is generally subsoil, leaving topsoil for agriculture. Building with local materials can employ local people, and is more sustainable in times of civil unrest or economic difficulties.
-The reduction of transportation time, cost and attendant pollution can also make CEBs more environmentally friendly than other materials. Most of the time, soil for CEBs can be found on site or within a short distance.
Other advantages of CEBs:
-Non-toxic: materials are completely natural. -Fire resistant: earthen walls do not burn. -Insect resistant: the walls are solid and very dense, discouraging insects. -Mold resistant: there is no cellulose material, such as in wood, that can be a host for mold. This can be an important benefit, particularly when building in areas of high rainfall/humidity.