Chemical toilets to replace buckets as interim measure

TO honour its promise of eradicating all bucket toilets in Nelson Mandela Bay by the end of the year, the metro will spend R22-million to provide chemical toilets for thousands of residents.

The infrastructure, engineering, electricity and energy committee made this commitment at its meeting on Friday.

However, this was only temporary, committee chairwoman Annette Lovemore said.

In keeping with mayor Athol Trollip’s promise during his inaugural speech to eradicate all bucket toilets by the end of this year, the municipality had brought the number down from 16 317 in June last year to 12 333 by last month.

However, the committee was forced to consider a Plan B in the form of chemical toilets at its August meeting.

This was because residents in some wards were reluctant to accept the construction of new flush toilets as they thought it might mean they would wait longer for RDP houses.

Water and sanitation senior director Barry Martin said this meant the metro’s hands were tied.

“You can do nothing in a ward without the community’s buy-in up front,” Martin said.

“You have to unlock the door first through consultation.”

Planning and research director Lauré Pieterse said while residents in seven wards had agreed to the construction, others wanted more engagement with officials from the human settlements department.

“The public participation process was not as easy as we anticipated,” Pieterse said.

“It is going to be extremely difficult to achieve full eradication by the end of December, [so] chemical toilets [will be used] as an interim plan.”

For this plan, the metro would need about 5 000 chemical toilets at a cost of R4 410 each, bringing the total cost to just over R22-million.

The metro would aim to sell the chemical toilets when no longer required, to recover some of the costs.

Lovemore stressed that the chemical toilets would not replace constructed toilets.

“It is a temporary solution. We will still remove every bucket by the end of December,” she said.

“Where there have been delays, the roll-out of communal sanitation has been scheduled for early next year, with the installation of chemical toilets as an interim measure.”