Description of Challenge
Expensive and difficult access to water. Limited area to farm.
Solution
In the Palestinian Territories the access to water is largely controlled by Israel, which makes it a very expensive resource, and not always reliable. The same happens with the access to land where it is possible to farm. Composting toilets can definitely reduce the amount of water needed per family, and they can also produce good quality compost that can seriously improve the soil’s quality in a short amount of time.
A composting toilet can be built largely with recovered materials. The cultural aspects of using a water-free toilet and the associated work required to deal with the resulting humanure needs to be addressed in the Palestinian culture, and there are modifications necessary to make their use fully acceptable, for example building the toilets in a protected space, fully out of sight.
