Villagers get Re 1 for urinating in loo

DARECHOWK, Oct 27: As a means to create awareness regarding the value of human urine, Sewa Nepal of Darrechowk-7, Chumlingtar has started paying one rupee each to those who urinate in their toilets.

“We´ve started this payment to make people aware about the importance of urine,” Sriren Prakash Pokharel, president of the organization, said.

Pokhrel said they have started to collect urine to convert the human waste into money. Upon learning that human excreta can be used instead of chemical fertilizers, many people in Chumlingtar have started to collect excreta at their homes.

“We give a bar of soap to people who bring us 10 liters of urine, and a brush to clean the toilet to those who bring 30 liters,” Pokhrel said. “We´ve started this campaign as using human excreta is very beneficial.”

The campaign which started three years ago has now spread to 733 houses in the village. These houses have modern EcoSan toilets that store the excreta. “Since everything can be reused, we´ve started to prioritize use of human excreta also,” Pokharel said. These toilets collect the feces in septic tanks and urine in a drum through two different pipes. The contents of the two tanks will be used every six month.

“After using a tank for six months, it should be covered, and a new one used. After six months, feces turns into manure,” Pokhrel said. Likewise, the urine stored in a drum comes into use after a month. The collected urine should be used according to the size of the plants. “If it´s a small plant, water should be mixed, and in case it´s a big one, the urine can be poured on directly,” Pokharel said. With this initiative, the whole of Chumlingtar village has also become cleaner.

“Productivity is good even with the use of human excreta,” said Shiv Ram Pokharel, a local farmer who has been using urine for vegetable cultivation. “It was due to unawareness that the excreta used to be gotten rid of. We have to learn to utilize it and benefit from it,” Shiv Ram said.

Shiv Ram has been using urine as manure for his vegetable cultivation since last year. He finds that productivity is good.

Agriculturalists who have learnt of the benefits of human excreta also say that it´s good to use it on farmland. “Excreta can be used as compost manure,” Birendra Bahadur Hamal, director at the Western Regional Agriculture Directorate, Pokhara said. “Chemical fertilizers increase productivity at once. However, human excreta increases soil productivity slowly but steadily,” Hamal said.

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