Sanitation crisis persists in eThekwini despite restoration efforts

Despite plans to improve sanitation in informal settlements around the eThekwini metro in KwaZulu-Natal, poor sanitation and lack of toilet facilities is still a reality in more than 580 informal settlements, say industry experts.

According to Anthony Odili of the School of Built Environment and Development at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), 19% of residents still use non-sewer sanitation and 1% still practise open defecation.

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Odili said the 2022 Durban floods left over 12 000 homes destroyed and sanitation restoration is lagging behind.

The eThekwini municipality earlier this year said the council approved sub-contracts with UKZN and Project Preparatory Trust to improve sanitation in informal settlements, with a pilot project to be rolled out next year.

The municipality also said new generation sanitation technologies that are part of the project include the clear full recirculation toilet, new generator and aquonic wastewater treatment. The eThekwini metro’s Eric Apelgren said the province took a huge knock from the floods.

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“We are sending teams to Germany to look at how they dealt with water and sanitation problems in flood conditions,” he added.

At the University of Science and Technology Beijing’s Centre for Sustainable Environmental Sanitation, Prof Heinz-Peter Mang said the waterless toilet, tested in Germany, was a feasible solution.

UKZN research engineer Dr Santiago Stringel said the Generation 2 Reinvented Toilet (G2RT) prototype was tested in South Africa, India and China in a middle-income urban household, middle-income township household and a shared office/residential space.

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He said the field tests under real world conditions revealed the new technologies were workable. These toilets would only cost R7 500 once-off with a possibly reduced cost once mass production begins.

“The G2RT has opened the door for the toilet to be a household appliance – cleaning human waste in the same way we use a washing machine to clean clothes,” he added.

– reitumetsem@citizen.co.za

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