Memorandum submitted by James Cogan OBE
and Dr M K Musaazi on behalf of the Good Earth Trust
The role of interlocking stabilised soil block
technology in addressing water and sanitation needs across the
developing world
1. The world is facing an impending water
crisis on an unprecedented scale. Six billion people depend on
the world's finite supply of freshwater—to drink, to grow
food and for many other purposes. By 2025 that number is projected
to rise to eight billion. To add to this, water resources are
predicted to become more scarce due in no small part to climate
change. At present 1.7 billion people are living in countries
that are experiencing water stress (ie using more than 20% of
their average annual renewable resources). The UN estimates that
by 2025 that number will rise to 5 billion. This growing crisis
will continue to affect disproportionately, the poorest people
in developing countries. Today, over a billion people do not have
access to safe water and 2.4 billion do not have adequate sanitation.
The lack of safe, clean water and sanitation facilities causes
untold misery across the developing world. As a result of diseases
related to unsafe water, inadequate sanitation and poor hygiene,
one child dies every 15 seconds. The people most at risk from
these dangers are frequently unaware of the water/disease relationship.
Sickness, the money spent on treating water-related diseases as
well as the time spent collecting water, reduce productive capacities
and contribute to keeping people trapped in a cycle of poverty.
Enabling and empowering poor people to understand
the link between unsafe water and ill health and to manage their
own water resources so that they can enjoy better quality water
and access to improved sanitation and hygiene will lead to a reduction
of human suffering, increased productivity and hence to a better
quality of life and higher life expectancy
2. This paper will focus only on one simple,
affordable technology. It does not address all of the issues related
to water and sanitation, just as the technology, by itself, does
not provide a complete solution. But if it were delivered on a
grand-scale, it could play a vital role in providing rural and
marginalised people with vastly improved water and sanitation
facilities and form part of a preventative health model dealing
in a systemic and replicable way with fundamental issues common
to all developing countries. The technology in question could
accurately be described as an Appropriate Technology. Appropriate
Technology (AT) is the collective term for a broad range of technologies
with proven developmental benefits. Some ATs are innovations,
others rediscoveries. All address basic human needs and provide
cost-effective and environmentally friendly solutions. Often more
effective than expensive and sophisticated Western technologies,
they are affordable and simple to use and maintain. Developed
specifically to enable poor people to deal with their health and
resource problems, they constitute a basis for community empowerment
leading to sustained self-sufficiency. And yet despite their obvious
benefits, they have been largely ignored by the scientific community,
by international agencies and by governments reliant upon donor
support for development of infrastructure on conventional lines.
The vast majority of impoverished communities for whom the technologies
are designed, do not know of their existence.
3. This submission focuses on SSB technology—more
particularly on a recent design modification of the presses and
the moulds. SSB technology compresses moistened subsoil mixed
with small amounts of cement into oblong building blocks which
are cured not fired. Widely used across Latin America and
Africa, the technology has proved benefits and is suitable for
all soil types with the exception of Black Cotton soil. DFID's
Construction Unit in Lilongwe have used the presses to build over
1000 classrooms to a high standard. Perhaps as a result, the Malawian
government has banned the use of fired brick in parts of the country.
The new machines—designed by the Faculty of Technology at
Makerere University in Kampala—use the same process but
with increased compaction produce ISSBs:
— interlocking straight blocks
for basic building; and
— interlocking curved blocks for
water tank construction.
Both these adaptations have multiple advantages.
The blocks are stronger and more durable than fired bricks. The
interlocking design strengthens all construction work. It enables
quicker construction and requires lower level masonry skills.
Considerably less mortar is needed which significantly reduces
the cost. Full technical specifications have been measured and
documented.
4. But the curved presses constitute a fundamental
breakthrough in water storage and sanitation technology. The technology
enables rural people to collect ground water or roof-harvested
water and store it for domestic and community use and for irrigation.
Using curved blocks, a self-standing water tank with a 10,000
litre capacity can be constructed by a small team in just two
days at a dramatically reduced cost compared to alternatives.
Larger tanks—up to 30,000 litre capacity—can be constructed
below ground level, their walls internally lined by cement and
externally reinforced by the surrounding earth. Larger tanks are
particularly suitable for schools, hospitals and other institutions
which have large roof areas for water-harvesting and have high
demands for water. They are superior in every way to plastic or
ferro-concrete alternatives.
5. Designed in Kampala and currently manufactured
by Makiga Engineering Services in Nairobi, this technology has
been widely tested and documented in Eastern Uganda. A large number
of tanks have been built, mainly for schools and several large
subterranean tanks have been installed for institutional water
storage. Two years ago, the Austrian NGO, Horizont 3000 donated
a curved ISSB machine to a diocese north of Kampala. Later re-visiting
the area, they discovered that local groups had constructed 750
small tanks (with up to 3,000 litre capacity), mainly for domestic
use. This had been achieved using local labour and was funded
by the communities themselves. As a result Horizont 3000 has since
funded a much larger project in the Kapchorwa region in Uganda.
6. The technology is obviously equally suited
to the construction of pit latrines and septic tanks. The curved
blocks are ideal for lining the walls of pit latrines from a radius
of one metre up to much larger containers. Access to a single
curved block machine would allow a community to put in place appropriate
sanitation facilities. It would also enable individuals or groups
to line and strengthen walls of existing pit latrines. The director
of Oxfam's Emergency and Relief Services is a firm supporter of
the technology. Oxfam has recently bought 43 presses for construction
of improved sanitation systems in Chad.
7. The technology also has significant environmental
benefits. Throughout the developing world, environmental problems
including air and water pollution, deforestation and decrease
in biodiversity are endemic. Natural resource bases are diminishing
and as the population grows, these problems must become more pressing.
Central to all notions of development is the understanding that
all people need to be housed, educated and provided with adequate
healthcare and water and sanitation facilities. Frequently however,
the materials used to develop this vital infrastructure threaten
the very existence of the ecosystems in which these people live.
8. Deforestation is a problem across the
whole of the developing world, with the global annual average
loss of forest cover at 0.8%. As well as the devastating effect
that decreased resources and loss of biodiversity has on local
communities, deforestation counts globally for between 20 and
30% of all greenhouse emissions. As has already been mentioned,
the consequent rise in temperature across the planet has been
projected to make water resources yet more scarce in many regions.
Research into SSB technology by the University of Makerere was
prompted by the severe bio-deficit in areas of Eastern Uganda.
It was discovered that the use of firewood and charcoal to manufacture
fired bricks was a major contributor. Fired bricks are cut from
clay or sub-soil mixed with cement and then burnt for two to three
days in kilns fired by charcoal and firewood. 10,000 bricks are
necessary to construct a small two-bedroom house. To fire them
requires 10 tons of firewood. The situation in Uganda and
elsewhere in the developing world constitutes a terrible irony
where the development of infrastructure and community assets so
urgently required, threatens the very existence of the vital ecosystems
on which people depend for survival.
9. Conversely, ISSBs do not require kiln-firing
and as blocks are made on-site, the further costs and environmental
pollution of transportation are eliminated. As well as enabling
communities to manage their water and sanitation facilities, ISSB
technology can also be used to build housing, shelter and other
community assets. Houses, classrooms, clinics and large-scale
storage facilities have all been constructed to a high standard
in Uganda. If, on a large scale, the switch was made from fired
bricks to ISSBs, there would be a dramatic decrease in deforestation
and subsequent carbon emissions. A study is being carried out
in Eastern Uganda by the agency Climate Care, to measure the exact
carbon savings entailed in ISSB construction as against fired
brick construction. If the technology were adopted across the
whole developing world, the benefits to the global environment
could be immense.
10. A further compelling argument on behalf
of the technology lies in its simplicity. The skills required
to use the technology can be quickly gained and the machines themselves
require little maintenance. Access to the machines would facilitate
community participation and mobilisation which would in turn promote
proactive behaviour, self-reliance and encourage a problem-solving
approach to other issues. Helping to overcome dependence on donor-driven
interventions is a concern increasingly voiced by development
agencies. A straightforward, common-sense technology like this
could help to make this a more realistic possibility. Schools
and academic institutions in particular have proved to be an ideal
medium for the technology not only because vital infrastructure
such as classrooms, latrines and water tanks can be constructed
at reduced cost but because students can become actively involved.
Construction projects have proved an ideal medium for sensitising
the next generation to the advantages of the technology. One such
project was initiated at the Lord's Meade Vocational College in
Jinja, Eastern Uganda, in June 2006, funded by the Haileybury
Youth Trust. The initial objective was to construct teachers'
houses, a classroom block and water tanks. However, the simplicity
and safety of the technology has enabled many students to participate
in the project, making blocks and helping with the construction
of their own classroom. This has given them the opportunity to
learn new skills, earn themselves some money and to study the
developmental, environmental and health benefits of an alternative
technology through practical demonstration and participation.
The headmaster has been so impressed that he has actively encouraged
teachers to initiate discussions about ISSBs in technology and
agriculture lessons. The students have also become eloquent advocates
for the technology and interest in the local area has been considerable.
More projects are planned. This highlights the potential of the
technology for peer education schemes and rapid take-up.
11. The success of this project could provide
a model for schools across the developing world. Academic institutions
are the logical focal point for introducing this new technology
and for mobilising community action, particularly in rural areas.
Using the technology, a school would be able to tackle its own
water and sanitation problems, constructing water tanks above
or below ground level as well as latrines and septic tanks. With
their large roof areas, schools are ideal for water-harvesting
and for demonstrating this and other benefits of water management
and sanitation to the whole community. (In areas with very low
rainfall schools will have to adopt alternative strategies—such
as borehole drilling or surface water collection and purification)
At the same time the school would develop a context-specific "water
module" for classroom use, stressing the importance of clean
water, water management and the water/disease relationship. This
combination of practice and theory could impact on the whole community.
The educational power of this model is considerable. By linking
education in the classroom to the practicalities of collecting
and storing water for their own use, the school could bring alive
this central resource issue and children could internalise the
importance of clean water and sound hygiene practices for their
own health. This would impact on whole families and communities
and attitudes and behaviour will begin to change. Gradually the
community would take responsibility for and ownership of its own
water management and other related issues.
12. As well as the potential health and
educational benefits, a technology such as this provides opportunities
for communities to generate local skills, employment and income.
Because of their utility and low cost (circa $500 each),
the machines would constitute a resource from which people could
make a living—by selling or hiring them, or training others
in their use. Access to the machines could easily be incorporated
into micro-finance schemes or other similar localised income generation
projects. Were the technology to become widely disseminated and
publicised there is the genuine possibility of generating subsidies
through carbon credits or large-scale investment from companies
looking to offset their emissions—which would significantly
reduce their cost.
13. The wide-ranging benefits and potential
of this technology speak for themselves and yet thus far, its
profile is relatively low. The most obvious conduit for disseminating
the technology widely and encouraging its use is development agencies.
As a group, they are involved in rural development work across
the whole of the developing world. Many have long-standing links
or partnerships with local communities and grass-roots organisations
and they also have the finances to afford the machines in significant
numbers. Were these organisations to use and endorse the machines
widely this would prompt governments to follow suit. In this respect,
the outlook in Africa is promising. Already major agencies in
addition to Oxfam have expressed commitment to the technology.
These include: Plan International, MSF, Water Aid Uganda, Pact
and UNHCR. The Shell Foundation sent experts to East Africa to
evaluate the technology and their report was entirely positive.
The Kenyan and Ugandan governments now acknowledge the significance
of the technology but have yet to back it in policy terms. The
World Bank's Water and Sanitation unit in Nairobi recognizes the
importance of the curved blocks at community level but has been
unable to influence the relevant Departments of government. Until
the technology is used widely and systematically by development
agencies, its future in the region cannot be assured. These significant
improvements to the technology have yet to reach beyond Africa
at all.
14. The widespread adoption of this technology
could trigger a paradigm shift in approaches to water and sanitation
and public health—a move away from a narrow dependence on
Western technologies and on Western curative medicine towards
investment in improved community-level infrastructure, in basic
health education and above all in people themselves.
October 2006
|
