1. For the concrete experts. . . desperately trying to find a lightweight highly permeable concrete mixture. Have looked at pervious concretes, but am trying to get lighter. Durisol makes a cement-bonded wood fiber concrete that seems like it'd be an ideal material for us to use, but I don't know anything about it. And we don't have wood. Lots of bamboo, coconut fiber, sugar cane fiber and rice straw, though. Also curious about using rice husk ash as a partial cement replacement. If you know much about concrete, in particular lightweight, permeable, natural fiber concretes, I'd love to have an email exchange and get advice on admixtures and how to treat natural fibers to avoid rot, insect damage or concrete degradation from the sugars.
2. For the geotech experts. . . am looking to understand the loads that exist at the bottom of a latrine pit. . . any good equations or rules of thumb? Trying to understand how strong the latrine pit lining needs to be. Typical holes are 1m in diameter, 2m deep. I’m guessing the loads are worst when the soil is saturated because that’s when latrine pits are collapsing. Soil here ranges everywhere from very sandy to very clayey. Note that there should never be the case where the soil has water in it and the pit doesn't. The pit lining is permeable enough to allow water level to equilibrate.
Any help here appreciated. Please email me at jchapin -at- ideo.com. Thanks!
a few years ago i fell in love with the cambodian countryside and their hospitality.
ReplyDeletethese kind of projects can really, without the kind of 'stepmother' development help, be a big step forward.
being a designer myself, I can only cheer up for the user centered approach of your project!!
but of course that's the way of working at IDEO ;)
i'll keep following your blog with great interest (both for the country as for the project)
cheers
pieter
Hello Jeff! My name is Ryan Hubbs and I work with Ashoka, a social entrepreneurship organization with a large presence in the developing world, including SE Asia... found your blog through the IDEO website, and saw that your sanitation design work aligns somewhat with a project I've been doing lately and wanted to pass along some information.
ReplyDeleteAshoka works with and supports "fellows" around the world who have developed innovative entrepreneurial strategies to development, and a number of our fellows work in the sanitation field. I don't know if you're familiar with WasteConcern, but they have some resources on their website (http://www.wasteconcern.org/) that might be helpful.
Also, a number of others have been doing some work in the social behavior and market aspects of sanitation in developing areas. Ones to check out (you can find them all on our website - www.ashoka.org - or google them)are Jack Sim, Issac Durojaiye, and Juan Carlos Calizaya Luna (founded EcoSan, in Peru). Jack and Issac deal more with market/behavioral aspects, while Juan does more with design. I don't think any of them will have a lot of technical details for you, engineering-wise, but it's possible that some of the information you'd find would be helpful, and it also shows some of the trends and ideas that others have had in tackling sanitation issues in the developing world. Hope it helps!
Have a great trip! Look forward to keeping up with how things are going for you.
Ryan
rhubbs@ashoka.org