Water Wheel Jan/Feb 2022: Sanitation

Abstract

Seminar points to long road to create safe sanitation for all You’re done with the paperwork, zipped up and are good to go. But before you quit the cubicle, you might be alarmed to learn of research by a Durban sanitation fundi that identifies toilet door internal pull latches as the surface in a public bog most likely to bear nasty bugs. And it’s not only latches. Toilet seats, external door handles and wash hand basin tap handles, were also found to be “highly contaminated” with E. coli bacteria according to the research, presented at a World Toilet Day webinar hosted by the Water Research Commission (WRC). E. coli are commonly found in faecal matter and can cause diarrhoea and other illnesses. But before you swear off public toilets for good, a little context and a few caveats... Preshod Ramlal was sharing findings of his study of 23 community ablution blocks serving residents in two crowded Durban informal settlements – Kennedy Road (population 11 000) and Foreman Road (7 148).

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