SEMiLLA Sanitainer

Abstract

Poor sanitation is a challenge around the world, more than 2 billion people lack access to basic sanitary facilities like a toilet. In Ghana, it is estimated 25% of children under the age of five die because of diarrhea. A disease that often can be prevented by providing hygienic sanitation facilities. Tackling the problem across the whole of Ghana is challenging because of the large scale. Therefore the scope of this project is smaller, looking into the city of Techiman. Public sanitation in Techiman is far from ideal, sanitation facilities are usually dirty, smelly, and lack proper handwashing facilities. The waste streams are stored in pit latrines. When these are emptied, the sludge is dumbed without treatment in the environment, contaminating the groundwater. Semilla Sanitation Hubs has access to different proven technologies to recycle human waste streams. These technologies originate from the European Space Agency and are used in space, but Semilla is looking for concepts to bring these to earth. In this project, I designed a concept for a sanitary facility together with Semilla, based inside a standard 20 feet shipping container. It features seven toilets, six urinals, two handwashing facilities, and two showers. For a small entrance price, all visitors of the Techiman market have access to hygienic sanitation facilities. Three different waste streams are collected independently and recycled using the technologies of Semilla. Yellow water is processed into fertilizer and clean water, and blackwater is recycled into biogas, and drinking water. Grey water is collected on-site and used to flush the toilets. The facility functions stand-alone, meaning freshwater is won on-site, and all energy required to run the facility is generated using solar panels. This report elaborates on the final design, the considerations, and design decisions that led to this concept. Five stakeholders: the users, the company, the cleaners, the mechanics, and the container builders, and their influence on the final design are discussed extensively.