Corporates can bring DIGNIFIED SANITATION to South Africans

Last year, the Trialogue Business Society Handbook: 24th edition reported that South African companies spent R10.3 billion on corporate social investment (CSI), of which R52.3 million was allocated towards water and sanitation projects.

By Philip Majeke, commercialisation manager, SASTEP

The Water Research Commission (WRC) believes that companies can contribute to bringing dignity to those communities around their operations through their CSI budgets. Access to safe sanitation is a growing challenge in informal settlements, where its occupants use ablution blocks, chemical toilets, ventilated improved pit latrines or unimproved pit latrines.

With more than 2 700 informal settlements in South Africa and approximately 13% of its population living there, corporates can allocate their CSI towards providing better sanitation solutions (and thereby providing dignity) to needy communities. There are innovative solutions that can contribute to addressing the lack of access to dignified sanitation in informal and rural communities.

These solutions can provide full on-site sanitation solutions that include generation and containment, as well as treatment of waste in areas without access to sewer systems and limited water supplies. These inventions can be suited to residential consumers, schools, public spaces, commercial settings and clinics.

Demonstrating solutions The WRC is currently demonstrating some of these innovative sanitation solutions in the informal settlements of Soweto, Johannesburg:

• Clear recycle toilet system in Soweto, Mofolo North informal settlement: Using bacteria to biodegrade the organic pollutants contained in wastewater, the clear recycle toilet system has a membrane biological reactor to separate pollutants and treat wastewater. The treated water is then disinfected using ultraviolet process before being recirculated for flushing purposes.

• NEWgenerator recycle toilet system in Soweto, Slovoville informal settlement: The system uses an anaerobic baffled reactor design followed by a nanomembrane filter. Permeate from the filter is treated for reuse as flushing water by electrochemical chlorine production from table salt. The front-end unit consists of a toilet that uses recycled water and potable water for handwashing.

These full recycle toilet systems have the following benefits:

• recovers and reuses water (closedloop system)

• can be set up off-grid (no connection to water, sewer and electricity)

• provides full flushing sanitation solution

• no need for reticulation infrastructure. Corporates are encouraged to adopt these full-recycle toilet systems, especially in areas with little water or where it is not feasible for sewer systems. Through the South African Sanitation Technology Enterprise Programme (SASTEP), the WRC can offer advisory support for companies interested in taking up these innovative sanitation technologies as part of their CSI budgets.