Month: October 2008

RUAF magazine with special focus on productive sanitation

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The new issue of the RUAF Urban Agriculture Magazine “Water in Agriculture” features a special section on reuse-oriented or productive sanitation systems.

Productive sanitation stands for closing the nutrient loop between sanitation and agriculture to achieve higher agricultural production and improved food security.

The RUAF Magazines can be downloaded here: http://www.ruaf.org/node/101

Issue 20 features among other interesting articles:

  • Page 38: Productive Sanitation: Increasing food security by reusing treated excreta and greywater in agriculture by Robert Gensch
  • Page 41: Ecosan Fertilizers with Potential to Increase Yields in West Africa by Linus Dagerskog, Simeon Kenfack and Hakan Jönsson
  • Page 44: Reuse of Ecological Sanitation Products in Urban Agriculture: Experiences from the Philippines by Robert Holmer and Gina Itchon

Global Handwashing Day

Today is Global Handwashing Day!

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“The guiding vision of Global Handwashing Day is a local and global culture of handwashing with soap. Although people around the world wash their hands with water, very few wash their hands with soap at the critical occasions.”

There even is a dedicated website for this cause with further information on why we actually need a Global Handwashing Day:

“Handwashing with soap is the most effective and inexpensive way to prevent diarrheal and acute respiratory infections, which take the lives of millions of children in developing countries every year. Together, they are responsible for the majority of all child deaths. Yet, despite its lifesaving potential, handwashing with soap is seldom practiced and difficult to promote. (…) A vast change in handwashing behavior is critical to meeting the Millennium Development Goal of reducing deaths among children under the age of five by two-thirds by 2015.”

Have you already washed your hands with soap today?

free publication on sanitation systems

compendium-2There’s an upcoming “Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies” aimed at planners, engineers, development experts and indivuals who are dealing with sanitation.

The Compendium is a joint production of Eawag/Sandec and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) and will be available free as downloadable PDF, or be ordered for US$ 30 from Sandec in due time.

“By presenting an extensive array of available options, we hope that this Compendium helps promote people-centred solutions to real sanitation problems by providing information to those who are looking for alternatives to the most common offerings.” (source)

I had a look at a preview edition of this compendium the other day and have to admit it really is a very smart & handy publication for those who would like to get an overview of existing technologies and approaches. It will certainly become very popular as it is devided into two sections:

  • Section 1 describes different system configurations at the macro scale.
  • Section 2 consists of 52 different Technology Information Sheets, which describe the main advantages, disadvantages, applications and the appropriateness of the technologies required to build a comprehensive
    sanitation system. Each Technology Information Sheet is complemented by a descriptive illustration.

Contrary to many other recent publications in the sanitation sector, it doesn’t focus on the political framework issues, but instead provides an ideal overview on existing technical solutions and those to come.

Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies
158 Pages, 52 Technical Drawings, 29,7 x 21 cm.
Eawag/Sandec and WSSCC, 2008
ISBN: 978-3-906484-44-0