Floating sanitary toilets launched in Bolinao

BOLINAO – This town is assured of cleaner water for its fishery industry with the introduction of floating sanitary toilet (FST), a low-cost pour-flush sanitation facility which floats of water.

The FST, developed by the Center for Health Development Ilocos Region in collaboration with the local officials of Bolinao, was launched in Luciente I on August 27.

Its structure and waste treatment materials are made up of locally available indigenous materials such as bamboo, nipa, sawali, used plastic drums, sea corals or river gravel/stones, charcoal and garden soil.

The FST was conceptualized in response to the challenge of preventing the different bodies of water with E.coli, Vibrio cholera, and other microorganisms causing severe diarrheal diseases and outbreaks.

The project’s primary targets are the fish cage/fishpen watchers and operators, households living along riverbanks or coastal areas and floating villages.

When found to be efficient, the FST can be used for commercial purposes as in floating restaurant or floating recreation facilities with some technology modifications.

The FST has three model. For Model A, which is good for 1-2persons, waste materials go to digestion chamber then it is desludged offshore. It cost P18,000.

For Models B and C (costing P25,000 and P50,000), the fecal materials go to the digestion chambers where anaerobic decomposition occurs.

The effluent then goes to the treatment chamber which further improves the quality of the wastewater to levels which are hoped to be within the standards of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Model B is good for one household with 4-5 members while Model C is communal and can serve four households.

FST is an easy to use and readily accessible means of containing human wastes from being directly disposed to bodies of water, thus preventing contamination.

It is an interim and long-term solution to the problem of waterborne and water-related diseases and epidemics.