We spent 1993 testing a simple, inexpensive and efficient passive solar toilet. The passive solar toilet offers a solution to the problem of how to dispose of human waste in remote mountain regions. This project originated when we learned of the success Michael Reynolds, an architect in Taos, New Mexico, was having using solar toilets. Bob McConnell met Col. Ajit Dutt, Principal of the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, at a conference of the International Union of Alpinist Associations (UIAA) in Las Vegas last October. Headquartered in Darjeeling, India, the HMI is host to 1,400 students each year. Each student spends ten days at the HMI Base Camp during training. At a pound of poop per day per student, the HMI has to deal with approximately seven tons of human waste a year at its Base Camp. Co. Dutt invited us to install and test how well solar toilets could deal with that problem. Michael agreed to donate two solar toilets and come with us to install them at the HMI Base Camp. Air India donated transportation for the solar toilets and gave our team reduced air fare to Delhi and back. India Air (a local carrier) donated air transportation from Delhi to Bagdogra, the airport which services Darjeeling. The Indian Mountaineering Foundation offered to put us up in Delhi. In the end, due to weight and size constraints which were not resolved until literally the last minute, we only took one solar toilet with us.
Our goals were to deliver the solar toilet system which Michael was using successfully in Taos, New Mexico to HMI at Darjeeling, install the system at the HMI Base Camp, evaluate how it worked in a high altitude, monsoon environment, and determine if the materials needed to construct solar toilets were available in India. We left the U.S. on September 6, 1993. On arriving in Delhi, we learned that the two largest boxes containing parts of the solar toilet had not arrived. Michael immediately began designing a "fall back" option using materials we could obtain there. Although the two boxes did eventually arrive, we couldn't get them through Indian customs. Presumably, the boxes are still sitting at the Delhi airport.
The "evolution" of the new solar toilet design and construction of two prototypes were completed in less than a week. All the materials we used were purchased locally at a cost of about $100 per unit. After driving from Darjeeling to Sikkim and hiking for three days, we arrived in Base Camp at 14,600 feet. The toilets in use there when we arrived were typical of those in base camps throughout the Himalayas; open pits with burlap privacy screens. We selected a site and began installation of the first toilet the afternoon we arrived. Despite almost continuous rain, we got both toilets installed in four days. They are designed to dry out and sterilize waste using passive solar power. The end product is a sterile, dry powder which can be disposed of safely and easily. We are now waiting feedback from HMI to confirm how the toilets work.
Once we know the toilets are working and we have built a few more "base camp models" to refine the construction technique, Michael will write and publish a manual detailing how to construct, install and maintain the toilets. The manual will be as "user friendly" as possible. Providing we raise enough money to cover costs of publication and distribution, EEP will distribute the manual to people in developing countries free of charge. The American Alpine Club committed $5,000 to this effort within a week after our return. We made a video of the work in Darjeeling and at Base Camp. It is not an Academy Award winner, but we will send you a copy for 15.00. All proceeds will go towards publication and distribution of the manual. Remember that all contributions are tax-deductible.
Expenses paid by EEP for the solar toilet project to date total $1,395. Providing the toilets work as well as we expect, and we find enough money to get the manual published and distributed, that small initial investment could revolutionize how human waste is handled, not only in base camps but on trekking routes and in villages throughout the Himalayas.