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Thandeka Moyo-Ndlovu, Chronicle Reporter
GOVERNMENT is working on phasing out open-pit latrines and introduce Eaziflush Sanitation Technology for waste management in peri-urban and rural communities, a development set to reduce by 80 percent the cost of constructing ablution facilities.

Eaziflush is a toilet technology used to convert Ventilated Improved Pit (VIP) and urine diversion toilets into a flush system.

The toilet can be connected to an existing piped sewer network or operate as a pour-flush or low-flush toilet in areas with no piped water.

When used as a pour flush toilet the Eaziflush requires two litres of water per flush.

Eaziflush provides a sanitation facility that is safe, reliable, private, protected from the weather and ventilated, keeps smells to the minimum, is easy to keep clean and minimises the risk of the spread of sanitation-related diseases.

Once in place, the Eaziflush technology will also help reduce the prevalence of water-borne diseases like cholera and diarrhoea.

The 8th Zimbabwe Vulnerability Assessment Committee (ZimVAC) report shows that nationally, 96,7 percent of the households in urban areas have access to improved sanitation facilities with Bulawayo topping in the country at 99,6 percent.

Masvingo follows at 99,2 percent, Harare 99 percent, Midlands at 94,4 percent, Matabeleland south 92,2 percent and Matabeleland North at 89,7percent.

Matabeleland North and Manicaland Provinces had the highest number of households using unimproved sanitation facilities in the country.

The report also states that open defecation decreased from four percent in 2019 to two percent in 2020.

Unimproved facilities include pit latrines without a slab or platform, hanging latrines and bucket latrines.

Nationally two percent of households were using unimproved sanitation facilities, an increase from one percent in 2019.

In her post Cabinet briefing on Tuesday, Information, Publicity and Broadcasting Services Minister Monica Mutsvangwa said the Eaziflush technology will be implemented in phases.

“Cabinet considered and approved the implementation of Eaziflush Sanitation Technology for Waste Management in Peri-urban and Rural Communities, which was presented by the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare as the acting chairman of the Cabinet Committee on Social Services and Poverty Eradication,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

“Government wishes to get rid of open-pit latrines, implement alternative innovations suitable for transforming rural communities with respect to the provision of clean water and improved sanitation.”

She said the Government was taking a deliberate position to provide modern, sustainable and affordable infrastructure in both urban and rural communities.

“It is highlighted that Vision 2030 speaks to Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number Six which seeks to ‘Ensure availability and Sustainability of the Management of Water and Sanitation for all’. Cabinet is pleased to inform the nation that some innovation has been developed.”

Minister Mutsvangwa added that the programme will be funded through the Schools Development Associations, the Constituency Development Fund, Devolution Funds or donor participation.

“The nation is advised that the Eaziflush Sanitation Technology is an innovation that seeks to ameliorate the challenges occasioned by the need to improve hygiene practices in peri-urban and rural communities. The technology which uses two litres of water per flush compared to the seven to nine litres used by the conventional system, will convert the existing pit latrine infrastructure. This will reduce construction costs for new ablution facilities by up to 80 percent,” said Minister Mutsvangwa.

The project will be implemented in phases starting with rural schools and clinics.

“Cabinet acknowledges that the adoption and implementation of the Eaziflush Sanitation Technology will go a long way in reducing the transmission of water-borne diseases such as typhoid, diarrhoea, dysentery, and cholera, which result from lack of adequate sanitation facilities. It will then be cascaded to homesteads once the concept has been demonstrated and popularised. Presently, the technology is already installed and being piloted at Glenwood Primary School in Epworth and has proved to be effective, functional and user-friendly in terms of applicability and cost.”— @thamamoe.