Flushed into the open

Health-watch

out of a total of 52.2 million deaths around the world in 1997, 17.3 million people died due to infectious and parasitic diseases and 15.3 million, due to circulatory diseases. Another 6.2 million people died due to cancer, 2.9 million due to respiratory diseases, mainly chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and 3.6 million people died due to perinatal conditions.

Our country, our mess

Water and sanitation

A decent toilet is an unknown luxury to half the people on Earth. An estimated 2.9 billion people lack of access to adequate sanitation, up from 2.6 billion in 1990. The percentage of people with access to sanitation has actually fallen in the developing world since 1990 as funding has declined and population has increased. The main result has been a rise in the cases of diarrhoea which kills nearly 2.2 million children every year, raising health care costs. Unplanned settlements lack public utilities mainly because of governments' unwillingness to acknowledge their existence.

Low flow

Less water will now be needed while you use the toilet. The US government has passed a law restricting toilet flushes to a maximum of 1.6 gallons (about 7 .3Iitres} per flush. Eljer Industries Inc has come up with new models that depend on gravity to flow away the wastes. Using less water implies applying extra pressure and this, in turn, makes flushing a noisy business. Eljer plans to introduce highly advanced loos that use rim jets and a 0.2 horsepower electric motor. Experts estimate that a family of four can save about 19,000 gallons (about 85,000 litres) yearly by using

Loco loos going green

WHEN everything from paper to refrigerator is going green, can toilets be far behind? Indian railways are introducing eco-friendly toilets on trains. Thanks to the new toilets fitted with a device that induces bio-degradation, railway tracks will be much cleaner. The 'bio-toilets' have been made by the railways' Integral Coach Factory based near Madras. According to a railway ministry official, the toilets have tanks to collect the waste, bio-degrade it and discharge only a non-obnoxious and hygienically safe

CHICKEN OUT

Marching orders have literally been issued to the Delhi outlet of the famous multinational fast-food joint - Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) within weeks of its opening. The Delhi High Court has refused to stay the Municipal Corporation of Delhi's (MCD) order of closing the restaurant for lack of sanitation. Apparently, the sighting of two flies in the restau- rant premises by the MCD officials was responsible for the closing down of the outlet. "If they apply the same yardstick to others, no restaurant in the Capital will be able to function," argues Kapil

Swamped by sewage

A CAPITAL City such as New Delhi, ranked the third most polluted city in the world, draws more attention than a filtt neigbbourhood locality. Yet, the environmental aspects of f many small towns and villages contribute to make a maj impact on the environment of the country. For instance, towns such as Varanasi and Agra in the nor and Madurai and Mysore in the south find themselves in the

Squatters' rights

WHEN the police fired upon and killed 4 of a violent crowd of slumdwellers of Shahid Sukhdev Nagar in North Delhi's Ashok Vihar, it was not only defecation rights that were in question. The January 31 incident was the apogee of decades of discontent among the 8.1 million slumdwellers -- pitted against both the government and a pampered, righteous middle class -- in the 4 metros of Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta and Madras.

The ground for grassroots technology

FOR the residents of Nari, a village of 700 households in the Una district of Himachal Pradesh, underdevelopment and poverty is losing its harsh edge, thanks to the introduction of a few simple and cheap devices like water seal toilets and biogas plants. The devices are being promoted by the Energy Environment Group (EEG), a Delhi-based ngo, in about 30 villages in the region.