Sanitation and Ventilation System in Hometown - World Water Day Focuses On Sanitation in Poor Countries

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Home Sanitation and Ventilation

Sanitation is the hygienic means of promoting health through prevention of human contact with the hazards of wastes. Hazards can be physical, microbiological, biological or chemical agents of disease. Wastes that can cause health problems are human and animal feces, solid wastes, domestic wastewater (sewage, sullage, greywater), industrial wastes, and agricultural wastes. Hygienic means of prevention can be by using engineering solutions (e.g. sewerage and wastewater treatment), simple technologies (e.g. latrines, septic tanks), or even by personal hygiene practices (e.g. simple handwashing with soap).

Sanitation in the hometown

If you've worked in a nuclear radiation area, you understand about step-off pads. You understand how to contain contaminants. The concept is very simple: don't put something clean onto something dirty. In the home, that concept often goes unheeded. Consequently, people make themselves sick by turning their homes into "centres of sickness."

You can turn your home into a centre of wellness, if you know what to do. Follow these tips, and you'll be well on your way:

An International Sanitation Trend

Many countries are planning to implement ecological sanitation projects on a national scale. For example, in the last five years, the number of countries working on ecosan projects with the Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit, a German development organization, has nearly tripled, from 15 in 2002 to 44 in 2007. In China, one project involving GTZ and others started with 70 ecosan users and has since grown to more than 1 million participants. India, where almost half of the country's 1.1 billion residents lack sanitation, is a focus for ecosan practitioners, according to Sören Rüd, junior expert on ecosan at GTZ.

Good Brewing Sanitation

Sanitation is critical to brewing good beer at home. Even the slightest contamination of fermenting or finished beer can ruin a perfectly good batch. This week, we take a look at good sanitation techniques for home brewers.

Anything that comes in contact with your wort or beer after it has been boiled should be both washed and sanitized. Items used prior to boiling should be washed, but need not be sanitized as boiling the wort will sanitize it.

Unsafe Water and Poor Sanitation Causes 4000 Children to Die Each Day

More people are affected by the negative impact of poor water supply and sanitation than by war, terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction combined, states a paper published in this week's issue of The Lancet.

The article is the fifth in a series of papers summarising the key conclusions of the Millennium Project-a three-year independent advisory effort commissioned by UN Secretary-General KofiAnnan to review progress of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). The MDG's commit the international community to address extreme poverty, with quantitative targets set for the year 2015.