Last year the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation raised eyebrows with its announcement that they would fund an initiative to take toilet technology to the next level. With 2.5 billion people lacking access to sanitation in a world that cannot afford to use potable water for carrying away human waste in the long run, the economic opportunities that the reinvented toilet offer businesses could be highly lucrative.
Ground zero for the quest to find the perfect toilet for the 21st century's needs may as well be Durban, South Africa. The coastal city with a population of 3.8 million is a prime test bed to find a new solution for the water hogging commode that has changed very little, either technically or functionally, since its invention in the 1850s.
Despite having an average annual rainfall of 1200mm, Durban, as is the case with much of South Africa, now faces increasing water scarcity. The city's infrastructure suffers further strain as more of South Africa's rural poor move there to find work. Currently 800,000 residents live in shacks situated in districts that have marginal sanitation. Durban has made impressive strides on water issues in the past decade. Tap water, for example, is now safe to drink. Nevertheless, 230,000 families still lack access to safe and hygienic toilets. Communal toilet blocks are a stopgap measure for residents who lack indoor plumbing or space for a private toilet. But with the urban poor viewing the porcelain flushing toilet as the gold standard, municipalities such as Durban face the dual challenge of diminishing water supplies and meeting citizens' increased expectations. For the world's poor, a clean toilet is not just about health, but offers dignity, privacy and a break from the daily chaos in the streets.
Durban's pressing challenge is balancing the needs of its citizens, tight water supplies and the mandate of the South African constitution, which states that access to water and a clean environment are inherent rights. For now the city's strategy is to follow a "sanitation edge concept," under which waterborne sanitation is provided where the housing density justifies such infrastructure. In more remote sections of the city, dry urinary diversion (UD) toilets are the standard. And hence the dilemma: the Victorian-era flush toilets are wasteful, but dry pit toilets are not clean or safe to use in the long term. In the end, poorer citizens want what they view as a simple tool with a handle that flushes. So what about one that does not discharge litres and litres of water?
To that end, the city of Durban has entered a partnership with the Gates Foundation and the Swiss aquatic research institute EAWAG to find a solution that captures the functionality of the flush toilet without waste. According to Neil Macleod, head of Durban's water and sanitation department, the holy grail for the future toilet is one that not only eliminates waste, but also generates wealth.
Speaking to an audience at World Water Week in Stockholm, Macleod said the technology to recover waste and energy from human waste exists, but the process requires much refinement. In a world where resources such as phosphorous are becoming limited and expensive, last night's dinner, multiplied by millions and even billions, could offer a wealth of materials that could provide energy, fertiliser and even recycled water. And the technologies involved could include solar, microwaves and nanotechnology.
The toilet's future, said Macleod, is analogous to what has happened with telephones over the past two decades. In the same way that mobile phones skipped a generation in the developing world, a similar story could unfold with toilets. Instead of wasteful flush toilets replacing filthy pit latrines, a future commode that uses modern technology could generate economic opportunity across the globe. Rather than a massive revamp of centuries-old infrastructure in cities, Macleod envisions decentralised water technology systems where waste would be separated very close to its source. Could such a contraption resemble a washing machine at the back of a house, where recycled water and fertiliser flow out to separate pipes? Could water, which is now generally a monopoly controlled by one central authority, follow the path of computing and telephony and become managed at a more decentralised level?
The shift in viewing sewage as a valuable resource rather than waste will require a massive rethink by government, business and consumers. But a nascent clean technology sector focused on the reinvention of the 150 year old toilet is already taking hold. Entrepreneurs have started to cash in: the Gates Foundation has announced the first round winners of its "Reinvent the Toilet Challenge" and Durban will host the World Toilet summit this December. The future commode, waterless and, for now, a wizardly concept, will bring wealth to a new class of inventors – and also enrich the lives of millions who lack the simplest tool that citizens of wealthier nations access on a daily basis with little thought.
Leon Kaye is founder and editor of GreenGoPost.com