Health and Wholeness

Topic 6: Sanitation, Safe Water and

Land Use
 The problem
• 1 in 3 people globally do not have access to
safe drinking water – UNICEF, WHO
• 2.0 billion people still do not have basic
sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines
• Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432 000 diarrhoeal deaths annually
and is a major factor in several neglected tropical diseases, including intestinal
worms, schistosomiasis, and trachoma. Poor sanitation also contributes to
malnutrition.
Water and Sanitation- Uganda
Water and Sanitation and Covid-19
• Like in all other infectious diseases, water and
sanitation is essential in the prevention and
fight against Covid-9
Check out this site:
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/
water-sanitation-hygiene-and-waste-
management-for-the-covid-19-virus-interim-
guidance
 Reducing childhood diarrhea
• Improved water quality reduces
childhood diarrhea by 15-20%.
• BUT better hygiene through hand
washing and safe food handling
reduces it by 35%
• AND safe disposal of children’s feces
leads to a reduction of nearly 40%.
 Population Density contributes to
problems
Indicator Uganda KA
Population Density 229 per 94 per
(per sq km) Km2 Km2
Population Growth % 3.61 2.27
Urban pop (% of 25% 26.5%
total)
Rural pop (% of total) 75 73.5
Improved sanitation 19% 30%
(% with access)
Improved water 79 >63
(% with access)
 Improved sanitation means
• ----flush/pour flush (to piped sewer system,
septic tank, pit latrine), ventilated improved
pit (VIP) latrine, pit latrine with slab, and
composting toilet.
• Improved sanitation includes sanitation
facilities that hygienically separate human
excreta from human contact
Check:
https://www.who.int/water_sanitation_healt
h/monitoring/jmp2012/key_terms/en/
 Waste Management
• Organic
– Food
– (Even paper!)
• Inorganic
– Glass, metal, plastics
• Hazardous – dangerous such as waste from hospitals,
industries etc
• Bulk (big versions of the above!)
Hazardous waste is bad for soil, water,
health

• Metals and some plastics (dissolve)

• Batteries and battery acid (dissolve)
• Lead from paint, equipment
• Paint
• Cleaining, household, industrial chemicals
• Computers and Toner
• Pesticides
 Learn safe alternatives to manage wastes
eg, burning and burying
• Use approved waste facilities
• Compost – don’t just bury.
• Recycle and reuse

• This requires that we plan and separate

 Recycle as much as possible
• Recycling is the process of collecting and
processing materials that would otherwise be
thrown away as trash and turning them into new
products.
 Benefits of recycling…
• Reduces the amount of waste sent to landfills and
incinerators
• Conserves natural resources such as timber, water ,
minerals etc
• Increases economic security by tapping a domestic
source of materials
• Prevents pollution by reducing the need to collect new
raw materials
• Saves energy
• Avoids burning of waste which increases air pollution
 Three ways to handle fecal waste

• Drop and store in pits (VIPs)

• Flush and discharge: dilute human waste with
water, removing through pipes to
septic/sewage tanks
• Sanitize and reuse by dehydrating or
decomposing germs, using either composting
or dry toilets
 Drop and Store
• Common in Uganda
• No water
• New toilet when full
• Low cost in short run
• Risks: collapse,
contamination
• Bad smells, flies
• Sometimes very dangerous
Flush and
discharge
• Connected through pipes and sewer lines
• Good bacteria break down bad
• “Sludge” settles; clear water rises to top
• Must be properly stored or treated
• Sewage treatment: forces air in to speed
 The human waste paradox

Each Day:
• We produce 100-250g feces – bad stuff (up to just less
than a kg)

• Mix with 500-800g urine (up to 2 lts)

• “Modern” systems mix with 5l flush water!

So: Why do we like this?
We do NOT recycle it – but we could!

Treat Treat
waste water

Consume
 Sanitize and Reuse: “Eco-San”

• Aco-san- stands for ecological sanitation…

• Principle is- Views human excreta as a resource which is reusable
….
• Renders human excreta safe ….
• Prevents pollution rather than attempting to control it
• Uses sanitized human excreta for agricultural purposes
– Human urine and feces improve soil structure, supply nutrients
• Must sanitize excreta before recovery and reuse.
– Usually urine is sterile; most of the fertilizer value of human excreta is in
urine.
– Feces need safe place to be dried, stored
• Can be attached to a house, structures are permanent, and no
flies or smells…
Household and public
ECO-SAN toilets
Eco-san enables recycling of
nutrients…
 EcoSan and Recycling….
• The collected urine and feces (after
treatment) can be used to fertilize crops
which are then used for food!
 Water management

• Easy to pollute natural

sources with chemicals,
human and anima waste
• Need to protect sources
(springs, wells) from
animals and human
contamination
 Is Spring Water safe?
• Spring water is generally believed to
be pure BUT can get contaminated if for
example deep pit latrines are dug up to
water table near a spring!
• Surface run off water can also
contaminate unprotected water sources.
Is this water
SAFE?
 Is this water safe?

• Water from bore holes may be safe BUT- the

containers MUST be clean otherwise clean water
from the bore holes may get contaminated.
 3 strategies to clean water:
Treat

Boil / HEAT

Filter
 1. Treatment
• Chlorine kills germs.
• Personal solution:
Water Guard
• Larger systems (like
UCU) filter solid
matter and then treat
with chlorine.
 2. Boiling/Heat

• Keep water at 85+ degrees Celsius for at least

15 min.

(If using kettle, uncover, or boil 2x)

• Rooftops – clear, glass coke bottles!

3. Ceramic filter
 The safe water chain

If the water is clean but

…source surrounding is dirty
…fetched in dirty containers
…stored in dirty vessels
…passed through dirty pipes, …drank
from contaminated cups – NO
GOOD!
 Land use: urban problems
• Declining green
space,
• Traffic
congestion that
choke streets
• Land
degradation
from
overbuilding
and poor
planning.
 Land use: rural problems

• Deforestation
– Lower water tables, less rain, starves soil
– EA loses 1.3 million Hectares annually
– Uganda: 21st (2% loss/year); Burundi 1st, Rwanda 6th
• Declining soil fertility
– From erosion, over use, poor tillage, grazing
– Uganda loses UgShs 225 billion annually
 The Whole Truth

Genesis 1:28 God blessed them and said to

them, "Be fruitful and increase in number;
fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the
fish of the sea and the birds of the air and
over every living creature that moves on the
ground."
 References- Check these out please.
• https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-
sheets/detail/sanitation
• https://www.who.int/news/item/18-06-
2019-1-in-3-people-globally-do-not-have-
access-to-safe-drinking-water-unicef-who
• https://www.unicef.org/uganda/what-we-
do/wash