Water friendly toilets

Ashoka-Lemelson Fellow Juan Carlos Calizaya Luna designs and installs innovative and environmentally friendly sanitation systems that give low-income communities the ability to manage their
waste in a way that is beneficial for the environment, health in a
model that even increases their wealth. Sensitive to each individual's
ability to pay, Juan’s model allows families to opt for a basic dry
toilet which separates and recycles liquid and solid waste, or to
install additional components such as a filter that cleans gray water,
or even convert the gray water into clean water which is later
available to the community to irrigate public parks and gardens. The
gray water can also be used in urban agriculture projects as fertilizer
to enrich soil. The five pilot communities in which Juan Carlos is
working are now equipped with waste management systems for one-third of
the cost of traditional water and sanitation systems. Juan Carlos also
lobbies other engineers and politicians to adapt and further develop
his pioneering waste management programs.

Lima, Peru's capital, is one of the world’s driest urban areas with growing numbers
of low-income neighborhoods that don't have access to running water.
Juan Carlos's new approach to sustainable waste management saves 50% of
typical urban water consumption, and most importantly, it involves
local citizens in development and financing to ensure sustainability.
In a city where a growing population is putting tremendous pressure on
an already failing system of water and waste management, innovative
thinking is necessary to prevent a health crisis of drastic
proportions. The variety of waste management options that Juan
provides to individual families and communities not only save the water
wasted by a traditional waste management system, but also allow
communities to increase efficiency in their urban agriculture projects
and further decrease water consumption.

By 2025, human geographers predict that roughly 48 countries will face water deficits
that will severely affect not only Peru but countries like India, Kenya
and Nigeria. Juan Carlos’s solutions are working to improve waste
management and to provide access to water for segments of Peru’s
population that are powerless to do so otherwise. Juan Carlos is
addressing a pressing global challenge and successfully creating
solutions that both empower local communities and inspire hope for the
future.

http://tech.ashoka.org/Water_friendly_toilets