Terrain Appropriate Toilet Technology

WaterAid India with support from Twinings implemented a project in two Tea Estates of Darjeeling in the state of West Bengal, India.

Through this project, we were able to reach the community with access to clean water, safe sanitation, and good hygiene which enabled a better quality of life for the workers and their communities in the identified tea estates. Access to these basic requirements decreased instances of diseases and improved the working conditions of the tea estate workers. As a result, the absenteeism of workers was less due to sickness, thereby adding to their productivity and subsequently increasing their livelihood through more opportunities to work and thus enabling them to earn more.

As a result of our intervention in these communities, Community institutions (Samaj), and Tea Estate management, with time, the workers and staff became more aware of sanitation and hygiene issues, which enabled them to build strong systems of operation and maintenance within the tea estates. The project aimed at the overall well-being of the community which includes women, children, Adolescent girls, the elderly, and workers whereas it contributed to the business interests of the Corporates with increased return on investment.

The project commenced on 1st July 2019 and reached out to 5,439 people from 21 villages of two Tea Estates (Nagrifarm and Barnesbeg).

The households in tea estates were using kuccha (temporary) toilet pits which are unhygienic and unsafe. These pits have to be dug every seven or ten years depending on the land and weather conditions. Sometimes the pits collapse in monsoons during heavy rains.

This made it unsafe and prone to landslides due to seepage. The pits also let out a foul odour and cause contamination of underground water and springs.

WaterAid India with the support of Twinings introduced two new toilet technologies in Barnesbeg and Nagrifarm tea estates - Biodigester toilet and Evapotranspiration Faecal Digester (EFD) based toilets. These two types of technologies are environmentally friendly, prevent contamination of soil and water and have a longer life. 

Read more in detail about these technologies in the document.