Appropriate and Sustainable Technology

What do we mean by “sustainable”

Everyone realizes that our precious Earth is in serious trouble. Solutions to problems in developing countries must consider long-term implications. Is the solution a short-term fix or a enduring answer? Will it add to the pollution? Will it further reduce shrinking water reserves? Is it culturally acceptable to the people involved? Wherever the Need tries to find sustainable solutions whenever possible.

For instance, WTN has purchased a compressed earth brick machine (CEB) from the Auroville Earth Institute. (See photo on left.)

This brick-making machine uses a manual press rather than kiln-firing the bricks. Firing bricks not only creates substantial air pollution, but also destroys vast numbers of trees in the process. We plan to purchase additional CEBs and provide them to construction crews that we train. They then are empowered with the tools and training to start an eco-friendly business.

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We build rainwater harvesting systems, usually using house roofs to collect the rain, and siphon the water into holding tanks for later use. We are experimenting with single home bio-gas units that create methane gas from fermenting dung and vegetation for cooking. (photo of bio-gas unit)

Sustainability also means improving the livelihood potential of the people we work with. Women have been denied both education and vocational training in many developing countries. WTN paid for 188 household toilets, two school toilets, several water pumps and a large overhead water tank for a village in south India. Our partner organization, BLESS, trained women from the village as masons and the entire project was accomplished entirely by this team of women. That ensured wages paid for the project stayed in the village and it gave the women of the village a new skill they could use for family income.

Most of the toilets we construct are a composting model called Eco-Sanitation Toilets. Typically two chambers are constructed with one in use and the other sealed while it composts. Urine is separated from feces by a unique but simple design involving two holes and an inclined floor. The urine is filtered and used as grey water, while the feces drops into the composting tank. Composting toilets are built above ground to prevent any contamination of ground water, especially in flood-prone areas. (photo on left)