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The Africa Infrastructure Country Diagnostic (AICD) has produced continent-wide analysis of many aspects of Africa's infrastructure challenge. The main findings were synthesized in a flagship report titled Africa's Infrastructure: a time for transformation, published in November 2009. Meant for policy makers, that report necessarily focused on the high-level conclusions. It attracted widespread media coverage feeding directly into discussions at the 2009 African Union Commission Heads of State Summit on Infrastructure. Although the flagship report served a valuable role in highlighting the main findings of the project, it could not do full justice to the richness of the data collected and technical analysis undertaken. There was clearly a need to make this more detailed material available to a wider audience of infrastructure practitioners. Hence the idea of producing four technical monographs, such as this one, to provide detailed results on each of the major infrastructure sectors, information and communication technologies (ICT), power, transport, and water, as companions to the flagship report. These technical volumes are intended as reference books on each of the infrastructure sectors. They cover all aspects of the AICD project relevant to each sector, including sector performance, gaps in financing and efficiency, and estimates of the need for additional spending on investment, operations, and maintenance. Each volume also comes with a detailed data appendix, providing easy access to all the relevant infrastructure indicators at the country level, which is a resource in and of itself.

The harmless disposal and resource utilization of human feces is important to the sanitation process. Hydrothermal liquefaction (HTL) can convert toilet feces into bio-crude oil and reduce waste. In this study, an integrated eco-toilet system was developed by combining vacuum micro-flush toilets with a continuous hydrothermal liquefaction reactor. The system operated stably for over 10 h. This system can serve 300 households and save 2759 m3 of water per year compared to traditional flush toilets. The energy recovery from the feces was 2.87 times the energy consumed for the HTL process. The HTL bio-crude oil yield was 28 wt%, and the higher heat value (HHV) of the bio-crude was 36.1 MJ/kg. The biochemical compounds of the bio-crude oil consisted of acid ester, hydrocarbons, phenols, and a nitrogenous heterocyclic compound. The carbon in the human feces was mainly transferred to the bio-crude oil, while nitrogen was mainly transferred to the aqueous phase product. The post-HTL aqueous stream could be treated and used as fertilizer. This system achieves energy self-sufficiency, along with water and energy savings. This integrated eco-toilet effectively converts feces into bio-crude to realize waste reduction and resource utilization of human feces.

Water demand measurements have historically been conducted manually, from meter readings less than once per month. Leading water service providers have begun to deploy smart meters to collect high-resolution data. A low-cost flush counter was developed and connected to a real-time monitoring platform for 119 ultra-low flush toilets in 7 buildings on a university campus to explore how building users influence water demand. Toilet use followed a typical weekly pattern in which weekday use was 92% ± 4 higher than weekend use. Toilet demand was higher during term time and showed a strong, positive relationship with the number of building occupants. Mixed-use buildings tended to have greater variation in toilet use between term time and holidays than office-use buildings. The findings suggest that the flush sensor methodology is a reliable method for further consideration. Supplementary data from the study's datasets will enable practitioners to use captured data for (i) forecast models to inform water resource plans; (ii) alarm systems to automate maintenance scheduling; (iii) dynamic cleaning schedules; (iv) monitoring of building usage rates; (v) design of smart rainwater harvesting to meet demand from real-time data; and (vi) exploring dynamic water pricing models, to incentivise optimal on-site water storage strategies.

Vacuum toilets have gained increasing attention in circular urban development projects, because of their marked water saving qualities compared to conventional flush toilets and the increased resource recovery potential for energy in the form of biogas and phosphorous as, e.g., struvite from the resulting concentrated wastewater. A further reduction of the flushing volume of vacuum toilets would also bring nitrogen recovery options in reach. In the framework of the EU Horizon 2020 project Run4Life, a novel dual-flush vacuum toilet was developed and tested at two sites and combined with an analysis of the flushing patterns and a qualitative user survey. The results show that a 25–50% lower flushing water consumption and accordingly 1.5–2 times higher nutrient concentrations are achievable with this novel type of vacuum toilet. The usage frequency of the dual flush feature was higher in residential homes than in an office building, which also had urinals installed at the men toilets. A notable fraction of toilet visits in which the toilet was flushed twice as well as user feedback on dissatisfactory cleaning effects suggest that the applied reduction in water use is most likely the upper limit of what can be achieved in this type of toilet.

Discover how flushing toilets evolved from ancient sanitation practices to advanced designs that dramatically improved public health and hygiene.

Water demand management often focuses on quantifying the benefits of water efficiency rather than the potential impact of reduced flows on the sewer network. This study assessed the impact of a high-density deployment of ultra-low flush toilets (ULFT). A pre-installation washroom survey was carried out in July 2018. Water demand and sewer network condition were assessed ahead of the installation of 119 ULFTs and a real-time monitoring system across seven buildings on the University of Exeter campus. ULFTs were flushed 257,925 times in 177 days saving an estimated 2287 m3 per annum (compared to traditional 6 litre WCs). The annual cost saving of this reduction is approximately £12,580/annum, assuming a volumetric cost of £5.50/m3 of water. Mean discharge to the sewer network reduced by 6 m3/day. In the six-month period, 95 maintenance issues were reported, equating to 1 in 2700 flushes (0.037%). However, the frequency of incidents decreased after an initial commissioning period. There is no evidence, from blockage reports or photographs of manhole flow conditions, that the risk of blockage in the sewer network increased as a result of the ULFT installation programme.

In the main office building of GTZ in Eschborn, Germany a resource-oriented sanitation system containing urine diversion (UD) toilets and waterless urinals has been in operation since 2006. After 2.5 years of operating the system, a first overall evaluation of the system in terms of its acceptance amongst the users and the cleaning staff was conducted by carrying out two surveys and many interviews. The overall result is that most of the users appreciate the sanitation concept in theory but have problems with the technical design of the particular type of UD flush toilets installed here. The survey results also gave some directions towards which hygiene devices the users would appreciate in order to overcome their reluctance to sit down on the toilet seat in public buildings (the sitting being necessary for correct operation of the urine valve to separate urine from flush water). Also, it is difficult to convince the cleaning and facility maintenance staff of the necessity of special cleaning and preventative maintenance routines. Hence, before such systems can be widely used, clear cleaning routines and maintenance instruction are required as well as certain technical modifications of this type of UD flush toilets to optimise the urine/water separation and the flushing properties of the toilet.

One of the drinking water usages is flushing, e.g. toilet flush tank. Gray water is an option to prevent water loss and, on the other hand, the formation of sediment and mass inside the reserving tank has a significant impact on the performance of the flush tank and customers’ satisfaction. In this study, the condition of flush tank, in the respect of bacterial and scum formation, fed by simulated gray water was investigated. The gray water was pre-treated in a septic tank. Flush tanks made of PE, ceramic and galvanized steel sheet were used. The effect of disinfection process was studied for biomass accumulation control. The results from pH, XRF, AAS and bacterial colony count indicated that blue toilet tablet was not effective, while UV lamp effectively controlled bacterial growth. No bacterial growth was observed in the galvanized tank even without any disinfector agent. Applying UV lamp caused scum to form on the surface tank. Generally, no accumulation of suspended solids was observed in the all flush tanks (PE, ceramic and galvanized). Kitchen wastewater can be used in the toilet flush tank as an alternative for potable water.

Dual flush technology contributes to the water savings issue by introducing 3 and 6 liter flush options in contrast to conventional toilets having a typical flush volume of 9 liters. The aim of this study is to assess the public awareness and the role of educated activities toward proper use of dual flushes. Within this context, surveys were conducted in a university library where dual flush toilets had been installed. The surveys have indicated that the awareness among the users about the proper use of dual flush was only 43% at the beginning but it increased from 43% to 85% over a period of 5 months of awareness raising and educated activities. The results emphasize the critical need for public awareness, education and participation to complement technical applications in accomplishing water savings.

The return of the popular series that takes viewers behind the scenes of the largest factories in Europe, revealing the secrets of high volume manufacturing. Inside the Factory marvels at the process, scale, skill, science, engineering and technology involved in making our favourite foods and lifestyle goods. Gregg Wallace is our guide, getting exclusive access to the enormous factories and meeting the people who work there. Featuring a different factory in each episode, Series 4 uncovers the astonishing processes that produce items such as instant coffee, toilet rolls, sausages and curry. Each film has an as-live feel, with an on-screen clock tracking how quickly raw ingredients are transformed into finished goods in less than 24 hours. Outside the main factory, Cherry Healey investigates the world of science and innovation behind each product, while historian Ruth Goodman reveals how it was invented, marketed and popularised.