Lady Frere schools trial eco-friendly 'safe' toilet

Schools trial eco-friendly 'safe' toilet

A new eco-friendly toilet that uses only one to two litres of water per flush could be an affordable alternative to pit toilets at South African schools where there is basic water availability. Since February, 76 Eaziflush toilets have been installed at nine schools in Lady Frere in the Eastern Cape as part of a privately funded project. The schools all had inadequate ablution facilities, using mostly dilapidated pit toilets in crumbling structures. Project manager Billy Qiqimana said the toilets were approved and adopted as a form of decent and sustainable technology for rural sanitation by the Water Research Council of SA (WRC) and the Department of Water Affairs and Sanitation in 2015. Its adaptation for SA has been researched and tested in the field since 2010 by the engineering company Partners in Development, working on behalf of the WRC.