World Toilet Day – November 19
World Toilet Day celebrates toilets and raises awareness about the need for toilets not just for safe sanitation but also to mitigate the green house effects that cause climate change. As of today, more than fifty per cent of the global population, that is about 4.2 billion people lack safe sanitation since they don’t have access to safely managed sanitation.
Figures show that about 40% – or three billion people – of the global population still live without basic hand washing facilities with soap and water available at home. Moreover, more than 800 children aged under 5 die every day from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor hygiene, poor sanitation or unsafe drinking water. This means bout 297,000 children under five die annually just because of diarrhoea!
Raising awareness about toilets is therefore the need of the hour also because it implies action to tackle the global sanitation crisis and achieve United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 6: Water and Sanitation For All by 2030.
Consider that wastewater and sludge from toilets contain valuable water, nutrients, and energy. Hence human waste must be reused safely so as to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and capture it for energy production. Safe reuse of human waste and can also provide agriculture with a reliable source of water and nutrients. However at present 80% of the wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem without being treated or reused, globally.
In a sustainable sanitation system, a toilet effectively captures human waste in a safe, accessible, and dignified setting. This year the theme remarks the importance of “Sustainable sanitation and climate change”.
Today flood, drought, and rising sea levels because of climate change threaten sanitation systems – from toilets to septic tanks to treatment plants. While floods contaminate wells and other drinking water sources, flooding is also damaging toilets. Floods also spread human waste into communities and food crops resulting in deadly and chronic diseases.
Droughts cause water scarcity. It is projected that by 2050, up to 5.7 billion people could be living in areas where water is scarce for at least one month a year. This will create unimaginable fight for water.
UN mandates that there must be sustainable sanitation for everyone. That everyone must have access to clean water. As it is, the importance of clean water for hand washing facilities was never more evident than during the present time as it helped protect and maintain the health security and stop the spread of deadly infectious diseases such as COVID-19, cholera, and typhoid.
Toilets can help fighting climate change by allowing productive use of waste and safely boosting agriculture. This would help reduce and capture emissions for greener energy. There is therefore no doubt that sustainable sanitation only begins with a toilet that effectively captures human waste in a safe, accessible, and dignified setting. The waste then gets stored in a tank, which can be emptied later by a collection service, or transported away by pipework. Thereafter it is treated and disposed safely. Safe reuse of human waste helps save water, reduces and captures greenhouse gas emissions for energy production, and provides agriculture with a reliable source of water and nutrients.
In India, on the occasion of World Toilet Day today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reaffirmed the nation’s resolve build toilet for all. “On World Toilet Day, India strengthens its resolve of #Toilet4All. The last few years have seen an unparalleled achievement of providing hygienic toilets to crores of Indians. It has brought tremendous health benefits along with dignity, especially to our Nari Shakti,” Modi tweeted.
– globalbihari bureau
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