Burere Public Latrine Functionality and Usage Assessment
Students: Sruthi Sundaram, Kateri Ang
This was an assessment of a public latrine project involving SHED in the village, Burere. This public latrine was built by Engineering Without Borders at UC, who partnered SHED for the project, and its purpose was to mainly serve fishermen near the Lake Victoria coast. Its intention was to create a safer and more hygienic environment in the area as well as build small revenue for the village through a fee system, through which the village can hire a maintenance worker. The facility is a ventilated pit latrine that uses a diagonal drain system and a pit to collect compost and waste and includes a ventilated air pipe to improve the smell. Functionally, it is a very sound latrine, but its use in the village is limited because of some political conflicts between the three units involved: the Beach Management Unit, Burere Health Committee, and the Burere Village Government. These conflicts will hopefully be resolved through further communication between these three parties and the instatement of an enforcement policy for the latrine by imposing fines on those who use other modes that are unhygienic and/or disrupt the general environment in the area. |
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