JOIN USBy 2021, coaches of all the passenger trains will have replaced direct discharge toilets with bio-toilets.
If implemented, this would be one of the cheapest and the most environmentally friendly methods of converting human waste into gases and water so that human excrement do not pollute the tracks.
According to data available from the Railway Ministry, 15,000 bio-toilets have already been fitted in 5,500 coaches in 300 trains. The ministry is planning to further fix 10,500 bio-toilets in 3,100 coaches during 2014-15.
Each bio-toilet costs Rs 90,000 including digester tank and bacteria. The ministry would spend Rs 4,500 crore on the project. All the new passenger coaches have been fitted with bio-toilets.
Bio-toilets treat human waste with bacteria in anaerobic condition. Human waste is converted to small gases, methane and carbon dioxide and water.
The gases are released into the atmosphere and the water is allowed on the tracks after chlorination, drastically reducing pollution of the railway tracks. However, discarding items like plastic bottles, paper cups, cloth rags, sanitary napkin, nappies, plastic/poly bags and ‘Gutka’ pouches into the toilets could choke bio-toilets and render them non-functional.
Passengers’ cooperation is of paramount importance for the success of the bio-toilets, the ministry said. Developed jointly by the Indian Railways and the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the low-cost technology is being used in trains for the first time in the world. A variety of bacteria used in the bio-toilet not only survives extreme heat and cold, but also commonly used disinfectants.