Wednesday, June 10, 2009

WISDOM

Household Sanitary Facilities in Bolduresti Commune, Moldova

A hygienic toilet is essential for maintaining a family's health. Besides improving health conditions, a UDDT is very important to protect precious drinking water resources. In October 2008 in Bolduresti and Bacseni, 37 households finished the construction of new UDD toilets, constructed in the framework of Empowerment of Local Action Program in cooperation with WECF and SDC.

Bolduresti commune, as most other villages in Moldova, has no centralized sewerage system. Although, one part of Bolduresti village was connected to the aqueduct, the wells however remain the main source of drinking water. Unfortunately, many wells are polluted with nitrates, a phenomenon caused by incorrect management of human excreta and inadequate storage of livestock manure. Pit latrines are the main sanitary facilities. Many young families, who work abroad, plan to build flash toilets, without considering the health and environmental impact of discharging the wastewater. This happens because the Moldovan legislation does not impose strict liability on the method of construction, maintenance of pit latrines or wastewater management in rural areas.

A UDDT is an optimal solution to improve health conditions and prevent the drinking water pollution, and it offers a cheap fertilizer for agriculture. The baseline study indicated that 45 % of the local population relies on fertilizers, the cost of which varies between 35 and 150 euro per year. Most of the household have enough land area for fertilization and the land is located in the immediate vicinity of the house, thus the use of urine and faeces might be a good prospective.

Special emphasis in the project was placed on the active involvement of the community (creation of the EcoSan Committee which is involved in procurement, distribution of materials and monitorization of construction work). The selection of the beneficiaries was based on their motivation and desire to share their experience. Among the selected beneficiaries of UDDT were female-headed families with difficult living conditions, with their husbands working abroad; and there was also one case with a handicapped child. The households contributed UDDTs using 50% of the toilet costs and they agreed to apply urine and sanitized faeces on their own garden.

Initially, there was some fear of involvement in the project because people were not sure that they could properly maintain such a system. The opening of a UDDT by SDC in Bacseni gymnasium, as well as the local authorities of Bolduresti commune's active involvement in promoting the EcoSan principles, was a turning point in decisin-making. Due to great interest expressed by the mayor, as well as the desire of local authorities to contribute financially, an UDDT was built in the Village Hall. Previously, the local staff was using the public toilet of the Culture Club House, which was in a deplorable state. Thus, during the second meeting with the interested household, the list of those who signed up for the construction of household UDD toilets was much longer than during the first meeting - over 100 people.

However, since this was a pilot activity, only the most motivated people were selected from the list. The mayor of the commune, Mr. Vasile Miron, has built the first UDD toilet at his home and participated in all activities of the project.
The whole process of construction of toilets lasted along August-October 2008. The Ecosan Committee together with members of the Wisdom Association made procurement and distributed the construction materials as well as monitored the construction.

During monitoring (end of October 2008), most of the UDDT were ready for usage. Some households, which didn't manage to finish works until the end of September, had to postpone construction work because of the harvesting season till spring. The selected households invested in the toilet construction more than the project had foreseen, for example, on the ceramic plates mounting, lighting, sidewalks or urine container with higher volume (300 l). The implementation of demonstrational UDDTs showed that the potential for promoting ecological sanitation at the household level in Moldova is high since local people are very enthusiastic about the system, have a positive attitude to the use of human excreta in agriculture, and are ready to give a try to use the fertilized produce in their diets.

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