The market
Today, the global water -based sanitation products and services is estimated at $ 124 billion. While an additional 1.6 billion people have had access to water and sanitation since 1990, in total 2.5 billion have no access today. This number has remained unchanged in the past three decades due to population growth. The millennium objectives for the United Nations Development (MDG) propose to double aid and investment to combat the fact that one in four people in developing countries do not use any form of sanitation at all. In South Asia, around 65 % of the population practices outdoor defecation. The city of Mumbai has 82 people for a toilet: there are more mobile phones in India than WC. The market potential to meet "toilet needs" is estimated at more than $ 400 billion, on the basis of existing costs, economic models and the number of people not reached.
Although the first patented toilet toilet bowl with a self -cleaning vortex dates back to 1907, it was only since the 1950s that the current concept of toilets has become a standard. As water -based sanitation became widespread, the use of drinking water for the toilet flush has become one of the most ineffective uses of this precious liquid. Today, 25 to 40 % of domestic drinking water is used for something that does not require drinking water at all. The extent of consumption is illustrated by the 45 million toilets in British homes which use about two billion liters of fresh water per day. During the FIFA Football World Cup, the municipal authorities strive to run the water for the millions of people pulling the flush during the 15 minutes of the half-time break.
We neglect the fact that each infected person could release up to 10 billion viruses per day. If the viruses are transmitted by water, there is a sharp need to use chemicals to control the spread of diseases. Even if chemicals were to kill 99.99 % of all bacteria and all viruses, there are around a million viruses that continue to spread.
Only one is enough to infect someone. The rarity of domestic water being the engine of the installation of 12,500 water purification systems in the world, the conversion of salt water into drinking water at a very high energy cost, the use of 'Water sanitation and increasing freshwater demand must therefore be fundamentally redesigned. This is an opportunity to introduce innovations on the market
Innovation
The redesign of sanitation systems motivated few high -level engineers. The toilets have been the subject of multiple changes, with prices falling up to 30 dollars per unit - cheaper than a mobile phone - and water consumption limited to only 3 liters and even 1.5 liters per use. Excrement evacuation installations such as a septic tank, flush latrines, pit latrines are known as improved sanitation systems which essentially move the problem and continue to depend on water drinking for hunting.
When Dr. Mats Wolgast, a sanitation professor and a training doctor, studied water diseases, he realized that he was stuck between the desire to carry out a campaign "No toilets, no wife ", which pushes women of the world to refuse contenders if they can provide toilets to a house and the cultural anachronism which pushes them to use drinking water to hunt. He studied physiology of the human body and designed a simple system that separates liquids from solids, avoiding mixing with water. The liquids are collected in a separate urine tank, the solids are deposited in a container and are left to dry.
As a doctor, he focuses on the control of bacteria and viruses, while respecting the desire to stick to flush. He designed a separation system based on the Aquatron vortex just under the WC which ensures a rapid and complete separation of solids and water. The solid material dries in a few hours, thus eliminating the risk of propagation of diseases. Mr. Wolgast continued his original idea of a dry toilet and added a black fireplace to the inner room by applying the laws of physics. When the chimney heats the air, which expands and rises, a depression is created inside the toilet, thus sucking the air of the room towards the inside of the toilet. This simple and ingenious system which requires neither fan nor electricity has never been lacking: the air is fresh and clean without the need for artificial air refreshments.
The first cash flow
While there are many models of toilet, key professionals to convince are first and foremost the architects of the building. Dr. Wolgast worked closely with Anders Nyquist who was then to convince his customers. The first to adopt the new system were the village of Rumpan, near Sundsvall, Sweden, where the toilets were tested. This collaboration effort made it possible to simplify the design more. After several years, Anders concluded that time had come for a large -scale project. The Laggarberg School of Timrå, north of Sundsvall, adopted the system for the school in 1995. The annual solid waste generated for a college of 150 children represent less than 300 kilograms of dry mass, and never a complaint of odor . Perhaps even more important, solid waste is a quality compost that is sold to local farmers, generating additional (minimal) income. Urine is collected in an underground tank. A unit is mixed with 10 parts of water and used as fertilizers on the neighboring golf course.
The opportunity
Mats Wolgast and his colleagues decided that the best of his creations should be marketed. A series of companies have acquired the rights, many architects have become familiar with the water without water. The cheapest of the models, however, has been transformed into "open source toilet", that is to say that any interested person can download drawings on the internet for free and "do them". Anders Nyquist, who is not only an architect but also a carpenter, added his art of "keeping things simple". The final success of conceptions is confirmed by the desire of the populations of Latin America, Africa and Asia to produce their own dry and separate toilets, transforming one of the greatest challenges of humanity - drinking water and sanitation - in an opportunity for local entrepreneurs to use local materials and simple tools for manufacturing, while ensuring sanitation for a fraction of the current cost. This is innovation.
