When it comes to 3D printing, the sky is the limit. As 3D printing technology continues to advance, applications can be as far reaching as airplane and automobile parts to medical devices and even anatomically correct, biocompatible models. Although 3D printing technology is developing at a rapid pace, the technology itself is not new. It emerged in the 1980s as a means of creating rapid prototypes. In recent years the applications for 3D printed models have evolved with the available hardware, software, and printable materials. Evolving technology, paired with the creative and innovative minds of scientists, engineers, and physicians, has been the launching pad for developments within 3D printing technology specific to healthcare. One way 3D printing technology is poised to create better patient outcomes is in creating an anatomically and patient-specific models to aid in surgery and medical procedures. With the capability to 3D ...
Ever wonder about the efficiency of the modern toilet and water-based sewage systems? The conventional toilet design uses large amounts of water with each flush, something which just isn’t sustainable in the long run, and completely impossible in areas that suffer from water shortage, which defines a majority of India.
So obviously simply building toilets where there isn’t enough water is impractical. This is why initiatives like Ecosan are so interesting and necessary, and will in the future end up transforming the way we design, build and use toilets. In these toilets, there is no need to flush and the urine and faecal matter is utilised as valuable urea and manure. In one stroke, human refuse is turned into a useful resource, water is saved and there is no sewage!
A strikingly underwhelming figure, Marachi Subburaman certainly does not look like the kind of man who has helped build more than 20,000 toilets in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruchirapalli district and established a toilet design that is nothing short of the ideal, especially for rural India.
In 1976, 26-year-old Subburaman started working for an organisation in Andhra Pradesh that helped poor people build low-cost houses. As a part of his job, he used to go from village to village, dealing with several types of building material. Once when he was visiting a village, he wanted to relieve himself in the morning.
On asking the villagers, he was horrified to find out that the villagers relieved themselves by the water tank, which was also the village’s source of drinking water. He ended up building an improvised toilet in the village that day. It was also the day when he decided to do something about the lack of sanitation in the region.
In 1986, Subburaman formed an organisation called Society for Community Organisation and People’s Education (SCOPE) in Trichy. While its main focus was on creating avenues for women’s groups to improve their incomes, SCOPE also took up several projects to build toilets, along with its other efforts.
Subburaman soon realised that a major part of household savings were eaten up by medical expenditure on treating infectious diseases, many of which were rife because drinking water was contaminated with faeces. So, when the Central Rural Sanitation Programme (launched in 1986 to provide grants to construct toilets in villages) reached Trichy, Subburaman persuaded the district authorities to invest all the funds in one village. The idea was to make sanitation work in an entire village. Thus, Devapuram in Trichy became a model village for sanitation in 1990.
In 1997, when the central government was reviewing CRSP, SCOPE was invited to the committee that formulated the Total Sanitation Campaign (later renamed the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan). Subburaman’s organization was also among the initial winners of the Nirmal Gram Puraskar.At that time, as a part of TSC, SCOPE was working on intensive toilet construction in a region called Musiri. As Musiri had an irrigation canal from the river Cauvery running through it, percolation from the canal had raised the water table of the area. This had made it impossible to make and use toilet pits constructed under government’s sanitation programme. Water collected in the pit was unable to percolate down because the soil was already saturated with water. Also, very few could afford Rs 30,000-40,000 to build a concrete septic tank, where water flows out into a drain instead of percolating down. So, the excreta used to float up, especially six months after the rainy season.
That’s when Subburaman heard about a toilet innovation by a British marine engineer, Paul Calvert. Calvert worked each winter along the coast of Thiruvananthapuram in a fishing village where open defecation was widespread. The high water table in the area made toilet pits difficult to construct, and even more difficult to use, as the waste floated up.
So, based on Swedish planner Uno Winblad’s Ecosan toilet design (his book Ecological Sanitation is a bible for those looking for sustainable ways of sanitation) , Calvert had designed a toilet with separate receptacles for urine and faeces, with two different chambers underneath. When one filled up, it was sealed and the other one was opened. After faeces had dried up and decomposed thoroughly in the sealed chamber, the excreta turned into manure that could be used for crops. Urine, almost entirely free of germs, was diverted to a vessel from where it was applied to plants after being diluted with water; urine is a rich source of urea and phosphate for plants.
Click this link:https://youtu.be/SB-cTsGkmK0
Comments
Post a Comment