Francis de los Reyes: Sanitation is a basic human right

翻译人员: chunhua zhang 校对人员: Luo Wang

I am an engineering professor,

我是一个工程学教授，

and for the past 14 years

但是在过去的14年

I've been teaching crap.

我一直在教废话/大便

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Not that I'm a bad teacher,

不是因为我是一个坏老师，

but I've been studying and teaching

而是我一直在学习和教授

about human waste

关于人类排泄物方面的知识，

and how waste is conveyed

和这些排泄物是如何运达

through these wastewater treatment plants,

污水处理厂，

and how we engineer and design

以及我们是如何设计和建造

these treatment plants so that we can protect

这些处理厂从而使得我们能够保护

surface water like rivers.

像河水这样的地表水的。

I've based my scientific career

我的科学职业生涯是建立在这样的基础上的，

on using leading-edge molecular techniques,

那就是通过使用最前沿的生物分子学技术、

DNA- and RNA-based methods

用基于DNA和RNA的研究方法

to look at microbial populations in biological reactors,

去观察生物反应器中的微生物，

and again to optimize these systems.

然后再去完善这些系统。

And over the years,

这些年来，

I have developed an unhealthy obsession with toilets,

我已经形成了一种不健康的对厕所的痴迷，

and I've been known to sneak into toilets

我通常溜进世界各地的厕所

and take my camera phone

然后用我的拍照手机

all over the world.

拍下照片。

But along the way, I've learned

一路下来，我了解到

that it's not just the technical side,

这不仅是一个技术方面的问题，

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

更是一种被称为大便文化的东西。

So for example,

例如，

how many of you are washers

你们当中有多少人是冲洗者，

and how many of you are wipers?

有多少人是擦拭者？

(Laughter)

（笑声）

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

如果，嗯，我想你们知道我的意思。

If you're a washer, then you use water

如果你是一个冲洗者，那么你会用水

for anal cleansing. That's the technical term.

清洗肛门。这是一个技术术语。

And if you're a wiper,

但是如果你是一个擦拭者，

then you use toilet paper

你会使用卫生纸，

or, in some regions of the world

或者，在一些用不上卫生纸的地区

where it's not available, newspaper

甚至使用报纸

or rags or corncobs.

或者破布、玉米棒子。

And this is not just a piece of trivia,

这不是一件小事，

but it's really important to understand

它对于理解

and solve the sanitation problem.

和解决卫生问题真的很重要。

And it is a big problem:

这是一个大问题：

There are 2.5 billion people in the world

全球大约有25亿人

who don't have access to adequate sanitation.

生活在卫生条件不达标的环境中。

For them, there's no modern toilet.

对这些人来说，没有现代的厕所可用。

And there are 1.1 billion people

大约有11亿人

whose toilets are the streets

他们的厕所就是大街、

or river banks or open spaces,

河岸或者露天的空地，

and again, the technical term for that is

对此也有一个技术术语

open defecation,

就是随地大小便，

but that is really simply

简而言之

shitting in the open.

就是在露天的地方排便。

And if you're living in fecal material

如果你生活在一个

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

被粪便包围的环境中，你会生病。

It's going to get into your drinking water,

它会进入到你的饮用水中，

into your food, into your immediate surroundings.

你的食物中，你身边的环境中。

So the United Nations estimates

因此，联合国估计

that every year, there are 1.5 million child deaths

每年有150万的儿童

because of inadequate sanitation.

因卫生设施不足而死。

That's one preventable death every 20 seconds,

那意味着每20秒就有一例可预防性死亡发生，

171 every hour,

每小时就是171例，

4,100 every day.

每天就是4100例。

And so, to avoid open defecation,

因此，为了避免随地大小便，

municipalities and cities

城市里

build infrastructure, for example, like pit latrines,

会修建基础设施，比如说，就像在城郊和农村地区

in peri-urban and rural areas.

修建坑式厕所一样。

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

例如，在南非的夸祖鲁-纳塔尔省，

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

他们修建了成千上万的这种坑式厕所。

But there's a problem when you scale up

但是当你把规模扩大到成千上万时，

to tens of thousands, and the problem is,

有一个问题就出现了，问题就是

what happens when the pits are full?

当这些坑都满了的时候会发生什么？

This is what happens.

这个就是到时候会发生的。

People defecate around the toilet.

人们会在厕所的周围排便。

In schools, children defecate on the floors

在学校，孩子们会把便排在地板上

and then leave a trail outside the building

然后蔓延到楼外，

and start defecating around the building,

然后开始在楼层的周围排便，

and these pits have to be cleaned

这些坑需要被打扫

and manually emptied.

并且用人工去清空。

And who does the emptying?

那么谁来清空这些坑？

You've got these workers

这些工人

who have to sometimes go down into the pits

他们有时必须下到坑里去

and manually remove the contents.

用手清除这些粪便。

It's a dirty and dangerous business.

这是一桩很脏并且很危险的生意。

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

正如你所看到的，他们没有防护设备，

no protective clothing.

没有防护服。

There's one worker down there.

这里有一个正在下面的工作。

I hope you can see him.

我希望你能看到他。

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

他只有一个面罩，但是没有衣服。

And in some countries, like India,

在某些国家，像印度，

the lower castes are condemned

低等种姓会被叫去

to empty the pits,

清空这些坑，

and they're further condemned by society.

并且他们还会受到进一步的社会谴责。

So you ask yourself, how can we solve this

所以问问你自己，我们如何才能解决这个问题，

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

为什么我们不为这25亿人

for these two and a half billion?

修建西式的抽水马桶？

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

答案就是，这是不可行的。

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

在上述的某些地区，没有足够的水，

there's no energy,

也没有能源，

it's going to cost tens of trillions of dollars

为了修建这些抽水马桶将要花费数十万亿的美元

to lay out the sewer lines

去铺设排污管道

and to build the facilities

和建设这些设施

and to operate and maintain these systems,

以及运营和维护这些系统，

and if you don't build it right,

并且如果你不能正确的修建它的话，

you're going to have flush toilets

那么你的抽水马桶

that basically go straight into the river,

就可能基本上把污水直接排到河里，

just like what's happening in many cities

就像那些在很多发展中国家的城市里

in the developing world.

正在发生的情景一样。

And is this really the solution?

并且这是真正的解决方案吗？

Because essentially, what you're doing is

因为基本上来说，你所做的

you're using clean water

就是用干净的水

and you're using it to flush your toilet,

去冲厕所，

convey it to a wastewater treatment plant

再把它运到污水处理厂，

which then discharges to a river,

然后再排放到河里去，

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

而这些河呢，又是饮用水源。

So we've got to rethink sanitation,

因此我们必须重新想一想卫生问题，

and we've got to reinvent the sanitation infrastructure,

我们必须改造卫生基础设施，

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

我正打算说服人们去做这些，

you have to employ systems thinking.

你必须采用系统的思考。

We have to look at the whole sanitation chain.

我们必须考虑整个卫生链。

We start with a human interface,

我们从人性化界面开始，

and then we have to think about how feces

然后我们必须思考粪便

are collected and stored,

如何被收集和储存、

transported, treated and reused —

运输、处理和再利用——

and not just disposal but reuse.

不仅要处理，还要再利用。

So let's start with the human user interface.

所以让我们从这个拟人化用户界面开始。

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

我想说，不管你是一个冲洗者或擦拭者，

a sitter or a squatter,

坐着的或蹲着的都没关系，

the human user interface should be clean

这个拟人化用户界面应当干净

and easy to use, because after all,

和易于使用，因为毕竟

taking a dump should be pleasurable.

排便应当是一件愉快的事。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And when we open the possibilities

当我们展现出

to understanding this sanitation chain,

理解这个卫生链的可能性时，

then the back-end technology,

那么后台技术、

the collection to the reuse, should not really matter,

从收集到再利用，都不是真正的问题，

and then we can apply

然后我们可以应用

locally adoptable and context-sensitive solutions.

适合当地并与当地环境相关的解决方案。

So we can open ourselves to possibilities like,

我们可以打开自己的潜能，

for example, this urine-diverting toilet,

例如，这个尿液转移厕所，

and there's two holes in this toilet.

这个厕所有两个洞，

There's the front and the back,

前面一个后面一个，

and the front collects the urine,

前面的收集尿液，

and the back collects the fecal material.

后面的收集粪便。

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

因此你要做的就是将大小便分开，

which has 80 percent of the nitrogen

尿液中含80%的氮

and 50 percent of the phosphorus,

和50%的磷，

and then that can then be treated

然后将尿液进行处理

and precipitated to form things like struvite,

再沉淀以形成像磷酸氨镁

which is a high-value fertilizer,

这样的高价值的肥料，

and then the fecal material can then be disinfected

而大便呢首先要被消毒

and again converted to high-value end products.

然后再变成高附加值的终端产品。

Or, for example, in some of our research,

或者，举例来说，在我们的一些研究中，

you can reuse the water by treating it

你可以通过用花盆或者人工湿地

in on-site sanitation systems

这样的就地卫生系统去处理污水

like planter boxes or constructed wetlands.

以达到再利用的目的。

So we can open up all these possibilities

我们可以开创所有的可能性，

if we take away the old paradigm of flush toilets

如果我们能拋弃旧的抽水马桶

and treatment plants.

和污水处理厂模式的话。

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

你可能会问，谁来为此买单？

Well, I'm going to argue that governments

嗯，我想要说的是政府

should fund sanitation infrastructure.

应当投资修建卫生设施。

NGOs and donor organizations,

非政府组织和捐赠机构，

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

他们会尽他们所能，但是仍然不够。

Governments should fund sanitation

政府应当在卫生方面进行投资

the same way they fund roads

就像他们投资在公路、

and schools and hospitals

学校和医院

and other infrastructure like bridges,

以及其它的基础设施比如桥梁上一样,

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

因为我们知道，并且世界卫生组织也做了这方面的研究，

that for every dollar that we invest

研究表明我们在卫生设施上

in sanitation infrastructure,

每投资1美元，

we get something like three to 34 dollars back.

就可以获得3到34美元的回报。

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

让我们再回到清理坑式厕所的问题上去。

So at North Carolina State University,

在北卡罗莱纳州立大学，

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

我们让学生们想出一个简单的解决方案，

and this is what they came up with:

而这就是他们想出来的方案：

a simple, modified screw auger

一个简单、改良过的麻花钻

that can move the waste up

可以将这些排泄物

from the pit and into a collecting drum,

从坑里运上来倒进一个收集桶，

and now the pit worker

现在这些清理粪坑的工人

doesn't have to go down into the pit.

不再需要下到坑里面。

We tested it in South Africa, and it works.

我们在南非测试了它，并且成功了。

We need to make it more robust,

我们需要使它更加坚固，

and we're going to do more testing

并且我们打算在未来的一年里

in Malawi and South Africa this coming year.

在马拉维和南非做更多的测试。

And our idea is to make this

我们的想法是把它变成

a professionalized pit-emptying service

一种专业化的粪坑清理服务，

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

这样的话我们就可以利用它创造一个小型企业，

create profits and jobs,

创造利润和就业机会，

and the hope is that,

这件事的希望所在

as we are rethinking sanitation,

就是当我们重新思考卫生问题时，

we are extending the life of these pits

我们也在延长这些坑式厕所的使用寿命，

so that we don't have to resort

这样一来我们就不必去寻求

to quick solutions

那些并不是真正的有意义的

that don't really make sense.

快速解决方案。

I believe that access to adequate sanitation

我认为获得足够的卫生设施

is a basic human right.

是一项基本人权。

We need to stop the practice

我们要停止那种

of lower castes and lower-status people

把低等种姓和社会地位低的人

going down and being condemned to empty pits.

叫去清理厕所的做法。

It is our moral, it is our social

这是我们在道德上、社会上、

and our environmental obligation.

和环境上的义务。

Thank you.

谢谢。

(Applause)

（掌声）