Friday 26 February 2016

IMA Welcomes Bio Toilets in the Trains

IMA Welcomes Bio Toilets in the Trains
Dr SS Agarwal, Dr KK Aggarwal

 
All trains in India should have eco-friendly bio-toilets. They are based on bio-digester concept of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). 

Bio-toilets would ensure that there was no bad smell in toilets and no infestation of cockroaches and flies, besides eliminating the ordeal of removing human waste, which was acidic in nature and causing corrosion in coaches as well as the track.

Under the bio-toilet concept of the DRDO, the bio-digester tank in every toilet is filled with inoculums containing four types of bacteria. The water trap system in the toilet prevents air from getting into the tank, the human waste is processed by anaerobic bacteria in seven chambers in the tank and the methane gas is allowed to escape into the air.
Indian Railways will provide 17,000 bio-toilets in trains and additional toilets at 475 stations before the closure of this financial year.

Some facts
  • 60% of Indian population defecates in the open
  • Annually 2.4 million Indian children die of diarrhea, caused by open defecation
  • GOI spends INR 12 billion on rectifying ailments resulting from improper sanitation
  • 78% girls in rural India drop out of school owing to inadequate sanitation facilities
  • Indian Railways spends INR 350 Crore annually on rectifying rail corrosion
  • Only 31% of our country's population has access to proper sanitation facilities
  • Only 11% of the Indian rural families dispose child excretion safely
  • 80% of children's solid excretion is left in the open or thrown into the garbage
  • Over 75% of our country's population has access to Mobile Phones but basic Sanitation is a remote dream!
  • Untreated human waste leads to Viral Gastroenteritis, Typhoid, Cholera, Jaundice, Diarrhea, Viral Hepatitis, Malaria and Chikungunya.

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