Francis de los Reyes: Sanitation is a basic human right

Prevodilac: Mile Živković Lektor: Anja Saric

I am an engineering professor,

Ja sam profesor inženjerstva,

and for the past 14 years

i u poslednjih 14 godina

I've been teaching crap.

predavao sam sranje.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Not that I'm a bad teacher,

Nije da sam loš predavač,

but I've been studying and teaching

ali učio sam i predavao

about human waste

o ljudskom izmetu

and how waste is conveyed

i kako se izmet prenosi

through these wastewater treatment plants,

kroz ova postrojenja za prečišćavanje otpadnih voda,

and how we engineer and design

i kako mi gradimo i dizajniramo

these treatment plants so that we can protect

ova postrojenja za prečišćavanje,

surface water like rivers.

kako bismo zaštitili površinske vode, poput reka.

I've based my scientific career

Zasnovao sam svoju naučnu karijeru

on using leading-edge molecular techniques,

na korišćenju vrhunskih molekularnih tehnika,

DNA- and RNA-based methods

zasnovane na DNK i RNK metodama

to look at microbial populations in biological reactors,

da posmatram mikrobne populacije u biološkim reaktorima,

and again to optimize these systems.

i da opet unapredim ove sisteme.

And over the years,

I tokom godina,

I have developed an unhealthy obsession with toilets,

razvila se bolesna opsesija prema toaletima,

and I've been known to sneak into toilets

i znao sam da se uvučem u toalet

and take my camera phone

i da ponesem telefon

all over the world.

širom sveta.

But along the way, I've learned

Ali usput sam naučio

that it's not just the technical side,

da ne postoji samo ta tehnička strana,

but there's also this thing called the culture of crap.

već i takozvana kultura sranja.

So for example,

Tako na primer,

how many of you are washers

koliko vas se pere

and how many of you are wipers?

a koliko se briše?

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

If, well, I guess you know what I mean.

Pa, pretpostavljam da znate na šta mislim.

If you're a washer, then you use water

Ako se perete, onda koristite vodu

for anal cleansing. That's the technical term.

za analnu higijenu. To je tehnički izraz.

And if you're a wiper,

A ako se brišete,

then you use toilet paper

onda koristite toalet papir

or, in some regions of the world

ili, u nekim područjima sveta

where it's not available, newspaper

gde to nije dostupno, novine

or rags or corncobs.

ili krpe ili list kukuruza.

And this is not just a piece of trivia,

Ovo nije samo puka trivijalnost,

but it's really important to understand

već je veoma bitno da se razume

and solve the sanitation problem.

i reši problem kanalizacije.

And it is a big problem:

I to je veliki problem:

There are 2.5 billion people in the world

Postoji 2,5 milijarde ljudi na svetu

who don't have access to adequate sanitation.

koji nemaju pristup adekvatnim higijenskim uslovima.

For them, there's no modern toilet.

Za njih, moderan toalet ne postoji.

And there are 1.1 billion people

I postoji 1,1 milijarda ljudi

whose toilets are the streets

čiji su toaleti ulice

or river banks or open spaces,

ili rečne obale ili otvoreni prostor,

and again, the technical term for that is

i opet, tehnički izraz za to je

open defecation,

defekacija na otvorenom,

but that is really simply

ali to je jednostavno

shitting in the open.

vršenje nužde na otvorenom.

And if you're living in fecal material

A ako zivite na fekalnom zemljištu

and it's surrounding you, you're going to get sick.

koje vas okružuje, razbolećete se.

It's going to get into your drinking water,

Ući će u vodu koju pijete,

into your food, into your immediate surroundings.

u hranu, u blisku okolinu.

So the United Nations estimates

Tako Ujedinene nacije procenjuju

that every year, there are 1.5 million child deaths

da svake godine umire 1,5 miliona dece

because of inadequate sanitation.

zbog neadekvatne kanalizacije.

That's one preventable death every 20 seconds,

To je jedna sprečiva smrt svakih 20 sekundi,

171 every hour,

171 svaki sat,

4,100 every day.

4,100 svaki dan.

And so, to avoid open defecation,

Tako, da bi se izbegla defekacija na otvorenom,

municipalities and cities

opštine i gradovi

build infrastructure, for example, like pit latrines,

grade infrastrukture, kao što su na primer rupe za toalet

in peri-urban and rural areas.

u predgrađima i selima.

For example, in KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa,

Na primer, u provinciji Kvazul-natal u severnoj Africi,

they've built tens of thousands of these pit latrines.

sagradili su na desetine hiljada poljskih toaleta.

But there's a problem when you scale up

Ali postoji problem kada se sagrade

to tens of thousands, and the problem is,

na desetine hiljada, i problem je,

what happens when the pits are full?

šta se događa kada se jame napune?

This is what happens.

Ovo se događa.

People defecate around the toilet.

Ljudi vrše nuždu oko toaleta.

In schools, children defecate on the floors

U školama, deca vrše nuždu na podovima

and then leave a trail outside the building

i ostavljaju trag do ispred zgrade

and start defecating around the building,

i počinju da vrše nuždu oko škole,

and these pits have to be cleaned

onda vanjski tolaeti moraju biti očišćeni

and manually emptied.

i ručno ispražnjeni.

And who does the emptying?

A ko vrši pražnjenje?

You've got these workers

Postoje radnici

who have to sometimes go down into the pits

koji nekada moraju da se spuste u jamu

and manually remove the contents.

i ručno ih isprazne.

It's a dirty and dangerous business.

To je prljav i opasan posao.

As you can see, there's no protective equipment,

Kao što vidite, ne postoji sigurnosna oprema,

no protective clothing.

nema zaštitne odeće.

There's one worker down there.

Dole je jedan radnik.

I hope you can see him.

Nadam se da možete da ga vidite.

He's got a face mask on, but no shirt.

Nosi masku, ali ne i majicu.

And in some countries, like India,

U nekim zemljama, kao što je Indija,

the lower castes are condemned

ljudi iz nižih klasa su osuđeni

to empty the pits,

da čiste jame,

and they're further condemned by society.

osuđeni su i od strane društva.

So you ask yourself, how can we solve this

Tako se zapitate, kako možemo ovo da rešimo

and why don't we just build Western-style flush toilets

i zašto prosto ne sagradimo toalete u zapadnjačkom stilu

for these two and a half billion?

za ove dve ipo milijarde?

And the answer is, it's just not possible.

A odgovor je da to prosto nije moguće.

In some of these areas, there's not enough water,

U nekim od ovih područja, nema dovoljno vode,

there's no energy,

nema energije,

it's going to cost tens of trillions of dollars

i koštalo bi desetine biliona dolara

to lay out the sewer lines

da se postave cevovodi,

and to build the facilities

sagrade postrojenja

and to operate and maintain these systems,

i za rad i održavanje ovih sistema,

and if you don't build it right,

i ako se ispravno ne sagrade,

you're going to have flush toilets

dogodiće se da voda iz klozeta

that basically go straight into the river,

ide pravo u reku,

just like what's happening in many cities

baš kao sto se desilo u mnogim gradovima

in the developing world.

u zemljama u razvoju.

And is this really the solution?

Da li je ovo stvarno rešenje?

Because essentially, what you're doing is

Jer zapravo koristite

you're using clean water

čistu vodu

and you're using it to flush your toilet,

da biste pustili vodu u toaletu,

convey it to a wastewater treatment plant

koja prolazi kroz postrojenja za prečišćavanje vode

which then discharges to a river,

koja se meša sa rekom

and that river, again, is a drinking water source.

i onda je reka ponovo izvor vode za piće.

So we've got to rethink sanitation,

Tako da moramo da ponovo osmislimo kanalizaciju,

and we've got to reinvent the sanitation infrastructure,

moramo da unapredimo infrastrukturu kanalizacije,

and I'm going to argue that to do this,

i tvrdim da bismo ovo uradili,

you have to employ systems thinking.

moramo razmišljati sistematski.

We have to look at the whole sanitation chain.

Moramo da sagledamo čitav lanac kanalizacije.

We start with a human interface,

Počinjemo sa ljudskim interfejsom

and then we have to think about how feces

i onda moramo da mislimo o tome kako se izmet

are collected and stored,

skuplja i skladišti,

transported, treated and reused —

transportuje, obrađuje i ponovo koristi -

and not just disposal but reuse.

ne samo deponuje već ponovo koristi.

So let's start with the human user interface.

Počnimo sa ljudskim interfejsom.

I say, it doesn't matter if you're a washer or a wiper,

Mislim da nije bitno da li se brišete ili perete,

a sitter or a squatter,

sedite ili čučite,

the human user interface should be clean

ljudski interfejs mora da bude čist

and easy to use, because after all,

i lak za korišćenje, jer čovek ipak

taking a dump should be pleasurable.

treba da uživa kada kenja.

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

And when we open the possibilities

I kada otvorimo mogućnosti

to understanding this sanitation chain,

razumevanja lanca kanalizacije,

then the back-end technology,

tehnologiju s kraja procesa,

the collection to the reuse, should not really matter,

od skupljanja do ponovnog korišćenja, zaista nije bitno,

and then we can apply

i onda možemo primeniti

locally adoptable and context-sensitive solutions.

lokalno prilagodljiva rešenja koja su osetljiva na okruženje.

So we can open ourselves to possibilities like,

Tako sebe možemo otvoriti mogućnostima poput,

for example, this urine-diverting toilet,

na primer, ovog toaleta koji preusmerava urin,

and there's two holes in this toilet.

gde postoje dve rupe.

There's the front and the back,

Tu je prednji i zadnji deo,

and the front collects the urine,

prednji skuplja urin

and the back collects the fecal material.

a zadnji skuplja fekalije.

And so what you're doing is you're separating the urine,

Vi zapravo odvajate urin,

which has 80 percent of the nitrogen

koji ima 80% azota

and 50 percent of the phosphorus,

i 50% fosfora,

and then that can then be treated

i onda se to može obraditi

and precipitated to form things like struvite,

i izvući talog kako bi se dobile stvari poput struvita

which is a high-value fertilizer,

što je đubrivo visoke vrednosti

and then the fecal material can then be disinfected

i onda se fekalne materije dezinficiraju

and again converted to high-value end products.

i ponovo tranformišu u krajnje proizvode visoke vrednosti.

Or, for example, in some of our research,

Ili na primer, u nekim od naših istraživanja,

you can reuse the water by treating it

možete ponovo koristiti vodu tako što je obradite

in on-site sanitation systems

u kanalizacionim sistemima na samom licu mesta,

like planter boxes or constructed wetlands.

poput kutija za sađenje ili veštačkih močvara.

So we can open up all these possibilities

Sve ove mogućnosti se otvaraju

if we take away the old paradigm of flush toilets

ako ukinemo staru paradigmu klozeta gde se pušta voda

and treatment plants.

i fabrika za obradu otpada.

So you might be asking, who's going to pay?

Možda se pitate, ko će to da plati?

Well, I'm going to argue that governments

Rekao bih da su vlade te

should fund sanitation infrastructure.

koje treba da plate kanalizacionu infrastrukturu.

NGOs and donor organizations,

Nevladine organizacije i donatori

they can do their best, but it's not going to be enough.

mogu da urade sve od sebe, ali to neće biti dovoljno.

Governments should fund sanitation

Vlade treba da finansiraju kanalizaciju

the same way they fund roads

na isti način kao i puteve,

and schools and hospitals

škole i bolnice

and other infrastructure like bridges,

i druge infrastrukture poput mostova,

because we know, and the WHO has done this study,

jer znamo sledeće, a Svetska zdravstvena organizacija

that for every dollar that we invest

je došla do ovoga - za svaki uloženi dolar

in sanitation infrastructure,

u infrastrukturu kanalizacije,

we get something like three to 34 dollars back.

vraća nam se od 3 do 34 dolara.

Let's go back to the problem of pit emptying.

Vratimo se problemu pražnjenja rupa.

So at North Carolina State University,

Na Univerzitetu Severne Karoline,

we challenged our students to come up with a simple solution,

naše studente smo izazvali da smisle jednostavno rešenje.

and this is what they came up with:

i došli su do ovoga -

a simple, modified screw auger

jednostavna spirala

that can move the waste up

koja može da prebaci otpad nagore

from the pit and into a collecting drum,

iz rupe u rezervoar za skupljanje,

and now the pit worker

i sada radnik u rupi

doesn't have to go down into the pit.

ne mora da se spušta u rupu.

We tested it in South Africa, and it works.

Isprobali smo ovo u Južnoj Africi, i to funkcioniše.

We need to make it more robust,

Moramo ga napraviti robusnijim

and we're going to do more testing

i izvršićemo još testova

in Malawi and South Africa this coming year.

u Malaviju i Južnoj Africi naredne godine.

And our idea is to make this

Naša zamisao je da ovo napravimo

a professionalized pit-emptying service

profesionalnom uslugom pražnjenja rupa

so that we can create a small business out of it,

tako da se od ovoga napravi mala kompanija,

create profits and jobs,

da se stvore zarada i poslovi,

and the hope is that,

a nada je sledeća -

as we are rethinking sanitation,

kako ponovo osmišljamo kanalizaciju,

we are extending the life of these pits

produžavamo radni vek ovih rupa

so that we don't have to resort

tako da ne moramo da pribegavamo

to quick solutions

brzim rešenjima

that don't really make sense.

koja zaista nemaju smisla.

I believe that access to adequate sanitation

Verujem da je pristup adekvatnoj kanalizaciji

is a basic human right.

osnovno ljudsko pravo.

We need to stop the practice

Moramo da zaustavimo običaj

of lower castes and lower-status people

da se ljudi iz nižih kasti i nižeg statusa

going down and being condemned to empty pits.

spuštaju u rupe i budu osuđivani da ih prazne.

It is our moral, it is our social

To je naša moralna, društvena

and our environmental obligation.

i ekološka dužnost.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.

(Applause)

(Aplauz)