Unesco-IHE starts field test with eSOS smart toilet in Tacloban, Philippines
After months of designing, construction and testing in the Netherlands, the eSOS smart toilet has finally arrived to a refugee camp in Tacloban City in Philippines.
A group of researchers from Unesco-IHE, ITB Bandung, PBF Zagreb and Systech.ba Sarajevo successfully erected and started up the eSOS toilet under extremely challenging
conditions.
In the coming months the toilet will be tested for functionality and will be subject to several scientific observations and experiments of both technical and social nature.
The toilet is currently frequently used by the local population and first results are very encouraging. Field testing is made possible by funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Asian Development Bank.
In November 2013 Tacloban City was destroyed by typhoon Haiyan, one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded.
Many smart features
The smart eSOS toilet includes some unique features in the prototype that will shed new light on how the toilets are used in emergencies.
This includes remote-sensing monitoring, an energy supply unit, GSM/GPS sensor/card, occupancy sensors, urine/faeces accumulation sensor, an S.O.S. button, and a communication system that allows for data collection by remote sensing and their transfer to an on or off-site emergency coordination center.
The data resulting from the use of the toilets will allow the toilets as well as the entire sanitation management chain to be improved.
About eSOS
The emergency Sanitation Operation System (eSOS) concept provides a sustainable, holistic and affordable sanitation solution during the aftermath of a disaster. The eSOS reinvents (emergency) toilet and treatment facilities, and uses ICT to bring cost savings to the entire sanitation management chain.
The toilet will improve the quality of life of people in need during emergency situations - from natural to anthropological disasters - and minimizes the threat to public health of the most vulnerable members of society.
This news item was originally published on the website of Unesco-IHE.
Read also on this website
● Smart emergency eSOS toilet launched by Unesco-IHE institute, Delft, the Netherlands, 15 July 2014
More information
Unesco-IHE
Delft, the Netherlands
+31 15 212 29 21
www.unesco-ihe.org
Professor Damir Brdanovic of Unesco-IHE explains the development of the eSOS toilet.