Genderneutral urinal can replace dangerous pit latrines
A dry-sanitation company wants to kill two birds with one stone with its gender-neutral urinal that aims to minimise the use of water and offer an alternative to pit-latrine toilets at schools.
LiquidGold in Randburg, Johannesburg, came up with WeeStand, said to be a female-friendly urinal that saves water.
“We are battling a stubborn invention of decades ago, the pit latrine, which puts the lives of our children in danger.
“It doesn’t make sense that we live in an age of extreme technology advancements, yet we still have open-pit toilets,” said LiquidGold CEO Orion Herman, who won R250,000 from the South African Innovation Summit’s ANDZA Entrepreneur competition that took place in September.
“Many schools using this system, and we have seen pupils pay the ultimate price. I had to do something.”
In 2014, five-year-old pupil Michael Komape, from Mahlodumela Primary School, Limpopo, fell into a pit toilet and drowned in excrement at the school.
The family is now suing the department of basic education for more than R2m for damages‚ funeral costs and loss of income for Michael’s mother‚ Rosina Komape.
The gender-neutral urinals have a similar shape and design to male urinals, but are positioned lower to enable squatting.
He said there were many advantages to female urinals.
“Small children using toilets that are too big for them may have to use their hands to lift themselves onto a soiled toilet seat, which represents an unacceptable level of potential exposure to disease.
Makhosini Mgitywa, head of communications at the ministry of human settlements, water and sanitation, in a recent opinion piece published in the Sunday Times, said an urgent intervention was required.
“Only two-thirds of households in SA have reliable water supply services.
“When it comes to sanitation, the picture is even bleaker only half of our country’s households have access to adequate sanitation services.”
LuquidGold is looking to help reduce the use of water in its urinals too.
We can save up to 120l to 300l a year across the country,” Herman said.
This materialise to provide more than 28,000 urinals to schools in SA.
So far, he has sold five to school in Mpumalanga.
LiquidGold also collects the stored urine and turns it into “excellent” fertiliser.
“If the school has established vegetable gardens, urine from urinals can be collected in a tank and used for this purpose,” said Herman, who started working on this project in 2015.
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