Redesigning Basics - Lessons From Nature

"One size Slipper does not fit all". That was the message in a recent article by Professor Jeffrey Hammer from Princeton University. He wrote in a village self-government (Gram Swaraj) Scheme funded by the World Bank in Karnataka, India.

According to the article, a village in Gulag district of north Karnataka decided to use discretionary funds from the World Bank to build a better toilet facilities. Given the dry conditions, the only latrines possible in this region are variations of covered mines.

But the District Representatives, after Statewide rules went ahead and built toilets with septic tanks - even if the village does not have enough water for a septic tank system to work. A significant portion of money was wasted - excuse the pun - on a septic tank which lies unused because someone thought that the rules should be followed uniformly, whatever.

Although this incident is an example of a greater need for village autonomy, it was my research on another topic - medical technology. Some of the statistics were surprising - more than 2 billion people worldwide lack access to proper toilets (600 million in India alone). Of one billion toilets plugged sewer systems throughout the world, can only undergo 300,000,000 proper end-of-pipe treatment before discharge and released into rivers, streams, ponds, lakes and seas.

The pollution of such waters is just as damaging if not more, than waste from open-air 'toilets', used by 2 billion people without proper sanitation facilities. Globally, more people die from poor sanitation and water-related diseases other than HIV / AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

The Western toilet with her flushing system was designed in the mid-18th century and has remained relatively unchanged over the past two and a half centuries. While the level of water consumption per flush has declined during this period, the current system still wastes too much precious water. Further, it requires expensive plumbing and public sewer systems to ensure proper disposal of waste. Perhaps most importantly, it ignores nature's elegant design principle of zero waste means waste from every citizen is scientifically proven to be sufficient, as fertilizer to grow enough food for one person.

Buckminster Fuller, convinced that people do not even scratched the surface in the use of modern technology for sanitation, design Dilation bathroom in 1937. This could be installed as a stand-alone unit and required no additional plumbing or connection to a public sewer system. In his system was human waste deftly shrink in bio-degradable plastic sheets for removal and composting. Along with other technologies for conservation of water resources, he managed to reduce water needs of a household for a few bottles a week. The typical household saving 2,000 gallons of water a year in flushes.

In the past few years. Eosin (ecological sanitation) toilets were introduced in various parts of world, these "dry" toilets reduce the need for water and support the composting of human waste for use as fertilizer. But the world has been slow to adopt the dry toilet. User feedback suggests that people would prefer to have a single pot instead of two - one for urine and another for defecation - and sprinkling ashes on the faces after each use to eliminate odor and flies are not very effective.

I am convinced that a Buckminster-style design approach to Eosin will go far in making this technology more user-friendly and affordable. Focused messaging and marketing benefits could then lead to wider use.

Sanitation is just one of the areas where fresh design is needed tangible everyday use. We need to redesign the houses we live in, cars we use, the places we work and our consumption patterns - various important facets of our lives - creating a more sustainable planet.