How to build a latrine

The most common type of latrine is a dry pit latrine. Here is a step by step guide on how to build one.

1. Find a suitable site and dig a pit that is at least three metres deep and completely above the water table.
2. Depending on the type of latrine, line the pit with bricks, concrete rings or other locally-available materials.
3. Build a squat slab to cover the pit, that has a keyhole shaped drop hole and foot pads. This needs to be strong enough to regularly hold a person's weight and so is often made of concrete (as pictured) which is pre-cast away from the pit and then placed over it. These can be made by trained latrine builders in a village or through a central construction point set up by the project - where they can be bought at low cost. These are often called 'sani marts'.
4. Build a shelter of locally-available materials such as wood or bamboo around the latrine to provide privacy. In some places bricks are also used - depending on what each family can afford.
5. Place a hand washing facility outside - this could be a gourd filled with water, that has a small hole drilled in it and a twig for a plug.
   

Other latrine options include:

• Ventilated improved pit latrines have a vent pipe included in the design which takes away smells and insects. Insects are attracted to the light at the top of the vent pipe and then trapped at the top by a screen.

• Pour flush latrines are built where people use water to clean themselves after they have used the latrine. In these the latrine pan is placed a few metres away from the pit and a pipe with a water seal in the u-bend stops flies and smells escaping the pit.

• Eco-san latrines create a renewable source of fertile compost from human waste. At their simplest families simply plant a tree once the shallow latrine pit is filled, while the more permanent fossa alterna has two pits - one of which remains covered while the other is in use. Users add soil and ash after each use to help dry the contents, and once the first pit is full, it is covered and left to compost while the second pit is used. Then the first is dug out and the compost used for crops and the process is repeated.

• Sanitation blocks are built in urban areas where the higher population densities mean that different sanitation solutions are needed. Pit latrines fill too quickly and can pollute underground water sources. In some cases septic tanks are used but, where possible sanitation blocks, which are owned and managed by the community, are built that are connected to the city's piped sewerage.

Cost examples

£8 pays for enough cement to produce four latrine slabs in Malawi

£15 buys an ecological sanitation latrine in Mozambique

£350 pays for a school sanitation bock for 150 boys and girls in India