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Inactivation Of Ascaris In Double-Vault Urine-Diverting Composting Latrines In Panama: Methods And Environmental Health Engineering Field Applications, Daragh A. Gibson

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The United Nations Millennium Development Goals have prioritized improving access to sanitation, but unfortunately about a third of the global population is still without an improved sanitation source and one billion still practice open defecation. Lack of access to adequate and safe sanitation means the proliferation of dangerous pathogens in the environment, especially soil-transmitted helminths (STHs). In the Bocas del Toro Province of Panama (and similar locations in the world), composting latrines have been built in many of the indigenous communities in the area. They are a form of dry or ecological sanitation and are designed to produce an end …

An Evaluation Of The Use Of Composting Latrines And The Perceptions Of Excrement In Ngäbe Communities In Panama, Patricia Anna Marie Wilbur

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Engineers are exploring a new paradigm in wastewater treatment; focus is shifting to the recovery and reuse of energy, water, and nutrients. Ecological sanitation (EcoSan) technologies, which allow for this recovery and reuse, are an environmentally sound option for the future of sanitation. While the technology to achieve this goal of recovery and reuse exists, a limiting factor is user attitudes and perceptions. Social sciences, especially anthropology, can and should inform engineering projects to ensure socio-cultural sustainability.

Since 2003, rural indigenous Ngäbe communities in Panama have been implementing ecological sanitation projects, mainly double vault urine diverting (DVUD) latrines known as …