TIM COHEN: The big push to get latrines out of the pits
Reinvented Toilet Expo showcases radically new sanitation technologies
Are you embarrassed by poop? I am. I think everybody is. It’s one of those things we try to ignore, but we all need to poop. We use these euphemisms for pooping. People say they are “going to wash their hands”, or they are going to have a “tinkle”. I think the worst is the phrase “I’m just going to powder my nose”. The one I like most is “I’m going to talk to a man about a horse”. Whatever. The truth is that comfortable, sanitary pooping is a real joy. But the mechanics and finances of toilets are extremely hard, especially in countries such as SA where people live far apart, because the cost of creating a sewage grid just explodes. The result is that SA still has an enormous number of pit latrines. About 14-million South Africans don’t have access to flush toilets and use pit latrines, which every now and then a politician promises to eradicate by some future date. In August it was President Cyril Ramaphosa’s turn, when he launched a plan to improve sanitation in rural schools and ...
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