In Guanghan Dishui village, which has a population of 108 people, 20 environmentally friendly toilets (UDT, the toilet in which urine and faeces are collected separately) were installed. Over thirty more are now under construction and estimated to be finished by the end of the year.
Villagers here are comparatively well-off and willing to try new ideas in contrast with those in other disaster areas (for there were frequent tourists before the quake and fruit-selling once flourished during that time). Therefore it was quite easy to persuade people to try using this kind of toilet.
According to the village head, it takes only 2 or 3 days and no more than 4 people to built a UDT. And the price ranges from 600-1600 RMB depending on the specific requirement of every family, such as decoration and material.
Though the toilet is widely praised, a few people still have some reservations. “It will take a year or 2 to see if this project is successful,” said Yang Xiulei, a journalist of Sichuan Rural Area. “Obviously these are quite newly built and barely used. And in my opinion, the process of disposal of excrement seems a little bit inconvenient, so it could happen that villagers stop using it months afterwards.”
Also, during the visit and observation, Huang Zhenping, a staff of China Environmental Protection Foundation, expressed his concern about the fact that “there could be many NGOs rushed in to this without thorough consideration. And if they failed in such project, the worst we may be facing is that no one would do it anymore.”
