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Contact person
For further information please contact:
Dr. Elisabeth von Münch
Tel: +49 6196 79-4221
Fax: +49 6196 79-804221
Email: ecosan@giz.de
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GIZ Building 1 - Questions and answers
| Why does GIZ have waterless urinals and urine-diversion toilets in its Building 1? |
| When Building 1 had to be renovated during 2004-2006, the GTZ (now GIZ) ecosan team promoted the implementation of a demonstration and research project on sustainable sanitation. At that time, the GTZ ecosan team suggested that the opportunity should be used to implement a novel, closed-loop sanitation system. The new system should demonstrate a certain concept suitable under German conditions. Note that this system is only one possible example for an ecosan system. Completely waterless systems exist, too (e.g. UDD toilets – urine-diversion dehydration toilets). The system is in operation since late 2006. |
| How do the urine-diversion toilets work? |
| The urine-diversion toilets have two separate compartments in the toilet bowl: one for urine and one for faeces and water (together also called brownwater). The urine is collected without flush water, by means of a valve located inside the toilet seat. When the user is seated, the valve is opened by pressure on the toilet seat, allowing the urine to flow to the storage tank. The valve closes again when the user stands up, so that the subsequent flushing water does not enter the urine pipe but drains off through the brownwater outlet in the rear. |
| Is the collected urine being reused at the moment? |
| Yes, complete reuse started right now within the BMBF-funded research project SANIRESCH. The urine is used for fertilising experiments as well as for MAP precipitation. Till now, on some occasions urine was collected by various universities in the vicinity (Bonn, Aachen, Giessen) for research purposes. SANIRESCH has six research partners and started in July 2009 to investigate urine, brownwater and greywater treatment and reuse. |
| Is it cost-effective to build several pipe networks for the separate collection of wastewater streams? |
| It depends on the specific circumstances, e.g. whether a conventional sewer system is already in place or not, whether flushing water is cheap or not, etc. For GIZ Building 1, there was an additional cost for the separate collection. But for a new building, which is built in an area without a sewer system and where water is expensive, separate collection and on-site treatment may be more cost-effective than building a water-flushed sewer system and treatment plant. This has to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. |
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