Bio Toilets

Mr.Veeresh Malik has blogged on Jairam Ramesh's  remark of our trains being a veritable toilets.


Given to me I would rather have called it 'resolving peristaltic motion of rural India'. From Billy Gates to Jairam Ramesh had been at it. Some how I am not an enthusiast of the bio dry method. I am a bit skeptic on that project and am for septic toilets. You have seen the dry bio and found it good though a bit complicated at first to operate. I have not seen it and know it only from net. In US on the highways in some of the rest areas they were there and the look of it made my urge calm down and I waited for the next one where regular ones I am accustomed were there. Probably they may be alright for use in ones own home where we can maintain it well. For public use I cannot think of the mess it will be. In India I cannot dream of going to a public toilet except the 'pay and use' ones. Not that they are much better. Compared to free for all they are better. In variably the previous user would have left some remains in the bowl water and left plenty of water everywhere else. In such places I prefer the Indian style as my bottom need not come in contact with the seat. Using a paper cut on the seat is never heard of. In the dry ones I am perplexed how the bowl can be kept clean. In them I read that once you sit on the seat automatically the bottom, not yours but that of the toilet, opens and the feces directly falls on to the chamber where its digestion process starts and automatically an exhaust fan works sucking the air through the seat to upper regions through an exhaust pipe. So no foul smell comes up to the room as in the case of pit latrines. It is all good on paper while in practice some feces will be sticking on the side walls which cannot be removed and in time it will be dirty like anything. We Indians are accustomed to wash our bottoms rather than wipe it. So much water will go into the chamber and it will get filled before the excreta is digested and become manure. If such a public toilet is established in every village no one will need to ask where it is. His or her nose will take you there.
We are basically dirty. It is no use blaming China if it said something true. Even when we can keep some public place neat we do not bother. We do not have any compunction to litter. Any one munching 'mungphally' got in a paper cone from the 'bhayya' in Chowpathy will throw away the paper just like that. So public toilets cannot be expected to be clean. And it is dry it will be worse. It is better to have septic toilets. Of course it will require water. Any way for living we need water. For cooking or drinking or bath we need it. We cannot avoid it. So let a little more for our toilet also. Then the commode will be a little neater if everyone take care to keep it so. Further the methane from the septic can be used as fuel. The methane from common toilets can be used to light the village streets and reduce the consumption of electricity. And the effluent can be used for fields. In the trains I would say it is not much the problem of rail getting corroded due to the feces falling on them. first of all the wheels when it passes over them it is dispersed. But it is the people who are responsible. On the doors it is written that try to avoid using toilets at stations. I do not know how many have read it or of those read how many follow it. So every rails by the platforms are real shit holes. That should be stopped. It will be good that toilet doors can be made that it will not open at stations. Make it that it will open only when the train is running. Of course there should be an emergency key to open with railway staff.


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