AFFORDABLE RURAL SANITATION TECHNOLOGY

OPTIONS: BASIC TOILET CARE AND MAINTENANCE

MANUAL

Table of Contents

I. Rationale................................................................................................................. 2
II. What is a hygienic toilet?........................................................................................ 3
a.

Definition of a hygienic toilet............................................................................3

b.

What should be found in the toilet?..................................................................4

III. The Proper Way to Clean Toilets............................................................................. 4

a.

Frequency......................................................................................................... 4

b.

What to Use in Cleaning.................................................................................... 5

c. Dos and Donts of the Toilets.............................................................................. 5

IV. Trouble Shooting Tips............................................................................................. 8
V. Signs That the Concrete Ring or Plastic Drum Needs Desludging...........................9
a.

Approximate Period of Mandatory Desludging................................................10

a.

Illustrative Process of Manual Desludging.......................................................12

VI. Signs That the Leaching Pit Needs Cleaning or Replacement of Element............12
VII. Simple Upgrades for Longer Service and Beauty...............................................15

I. Rationale
This manual is an output of the ABCDE Foundation in its task commissioned by WB-Water
and Sanitation Program to Develop a Rural Sanitation Product and Service Model
Design in the Philippines. It is one of the reference manuals developed to provide
a comprehensive guide towards proper maintenance and care of toilets to ensure
toilet maximized service life and therefor support sustained ZOD in rural
communities.

Diseases can be spread through users, thus, using clean and safe toilets, keeping water
sources clean, and disposing of garbage properly should be a habit. Toilets are used daily
and it is important to keep them hygienic and sanitary. Furthermore, a well-maintained toilet
can increase its functional life resulting in sustained convenience and even savings on
unnecessary repair expenditures
This document is intended to emphasize proper toilet maintenance to be done by members
of the household themselves. Although almost everyone seem to know how to clean the
toilet; not everyone can maintain the cleanliness of the toile, perhaps due to their busy
schedules or because it is not their priority. Toilet sanitation, while conveniently ignored, has
great influence on the familys health and even budget.

II. What is a hygienic toilet?

a. Definition of a hygienic toilet
A hygienic toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human
urine and feces that has the following basic characteristics:

Has a flooring that is easy to clean

Is free of unpleasant odor
Does not contaminate underground water source
Does not contaminate the top soil
Does not attract disease spreading insects and pests
Free of leakages and clogs
Provided with bowl cover
Free of scattered trash

b. What should be found in the toilet?

Water for flushing, washing
Water for washing hands
Soap
Garbage can with cover

Old newspaper for wrapping sanitary napkins

Any other medium for anal cleaning
For arborloo toilets, ash or saw dust or any similar medium to
be used to negate the unpleasant smell

III. The Proper Way to Clean Toilets

a. Frequency
Cleaning the toilet is every users responsibility. Below are suggested frequency of
cleaning:

Activity
Flushing
Cleaning the bowl
Emptying garbage bin
Cleaning the floor

Cleaning the surrounding of the

toilet
Cleaning water container
Cleaning the wall and roof
General cleaning of the toilet

Frequency
Every after use
Daily but more frequent if
necessary
Daily
Daily but more frequently if
necessary; must be kept dry and
clean
Daily
Weekly
Weekly
Every two weeks

b. What to Use in Cleaning

Use water and soap in cleaning the toilet and avoid using chlorine (Zonrox) and
other chemicals since these
Can kill beneficial microorganisms that help destroy

harmful microorganisms in the digestive chamber of the toilet.

Can cause quick deterioration of the light materials
Can damage the toilet bowl finish, and, as a consequence,,
Accelerate she fading and deterioration of the toilet bowl.

c. Dos and Donts of the Toilets

There are affordable arborloo and pour-flush toilets recommended in this manual.
Following are some of the items that should and never be done in either pourflush or standard toilets:

Regularly clean the bowl and must be covered when n

Care should always be observed not to wet the walls when taking a bath and or washing of clothes inside the toilet; this c

Do not load bowls with solid objects such as napkins, c

Maintain clean and sufficient water for anal washing and ensu

Dont build a fire near the toilet superstructure or housing as it is only made of light materials.

Repair must be done right away when there are observed damages in any part if the toilet so as not to further aggravate

Do not use the toilet as a storage area for non-toilet

equipment/materials.

Important consideration for pour-flush toilet care and maintenance:

Check the volume of the accumulate waste in the septic tank

and desludge properly when the septic tank is full already.

Important consideration for arborloo toilet care and maintenance:

Water should not be poured inside the toilet pit.

Add 1 cup of charcoal ash or saw dust every after

defecating to remove foul odor.

Other Dos and Donts of the toilet facility:

Ensure that all facilities are clean and in a good condition. (E.g. taps, basins, paper holders, door locks, toilet seats, mirro

Ensure that cleaning materials are properly kept and

not
within the reach of children.

IV. Trouble Shooting Tips

There are actual situations where even before the estimated desludging time is reached,
the toilet systems would stop working efficiently or would not work at all. These situations
would require some trouble shooting interventions that are simple to do by the household
before calling a professional plumber. However, Should the household owner feels that he
cannot do the steps enumerated below or has done them and the problem persists, it is
advisable to get professional assistance:.
a. The most common problem is the non-flushing of the toilet bowl:
i. If the estimated time of has not been reached, then the P-trap section
of the bowl might be clogged with hard objects such as plastic
shampoo or soap sachets, face towels, solid anal cleaning materials
such as old newspapers, etc.
ii. Using a manual rubber vacuum,force out any object inside the P-trap.

Manual rubber vacuums are available in most of the hardware stores.

iii. Lye can also be used for minor clogging. Consult the hardware store on
how to use it. Keep out of reach of children.
iv. The same procedure can be used in case the toilet floor gets flooded. Using
the manual rubber vacuum, try pumping out the materials causing the
clogging through the p-trap on the floor of the toilet.
v. However, if the problem persists, ask assistance from the qualified
neighborhood plumber.

V. Signs That the Concrete Ring or Plastic Drum Needs Desludging

Solid concrete rings and plastic drums when used as alternative human excreta receptacles
have distinct loading capacities and these are dependent on the total number of household
users and the actual volume of the receptacles. Common signs which signals that
desludging services may be necessary are the following:

Water back flow

Foul smell within the vicinity of the toilet

Slow draining toilet or backing up of wastewater at the inlet.

Overflow of wastewater from the tank

The estimated capacity when desludging may be needed is reached and

above signs are beginning to show.

Table below shows the approximate period of use of the different types of waste receptacles
prior to possible desludging:
a. Approximate Period of Mandatory Desludging

ALTERNATIVE SEPTIC TANK

QUANTITY

PERIOD OF USE PRIOR

TO DESLUDGING (5
MEMBER HOUSEHOLD)

1 footer solid concrete

ring

5 pieces (5 feet)

3 years

2 footer solid concrete

ring

2 pieces (4 feet)

2 years

1 footer solid concrete

ring

4 pieces (4 feet)

2 years

220 liter plastic drum

1 piece

1 years

220 liter plastic drum

2 pieces

2 years

Call a professional desludging service for your desludging needs. Use desludger that will
properly dispose of the sludge.

BREAKING DEVELOPMENT: A manual equipment has been developed and will

soon be available in your community. Pictures below show its successful test
run. It took a total of about an hour to desludge a drum waste receptacle.
Inquire from your Barangay if this service is already available in your
community.
Actual trial run of the Manual Desludging Equipment

Steps in Desludging Using the Manual Deslugding Facility

1. Prepare the manual desludging equipment including the sealed plastic container
for the sludge.
2. Thoroughly Mix/stir 5kg powdered ash to the 10L water (5kg powdered ash:10L
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

water) in a bucket.
Pour or flush the mixture into the bowl.
Open the 4 clean-out PVC pipe
Stir the contents of the waste receptacle for about 5minutes.
Install wooden platform for the operator to step-on when desludging.
Insert the desludging equipment through the 4 PVC clean-out opening.
Attach a flexible hose to the 3 PVC outflow pipe while the other end of the

flexible hose will be attached to the container sludge.

9. Pump the manual desludging equipment through it its handle.
10. Transport the sludge to the localized sludge treatment facility the lagooning
design principle with a minimum size of 3m by 3m.

a. Illustrative Process of Manual Desludging

Mask

Gloves

Long pants/jeans

Boots/closed shoes

VI. Signs That the Leaching Pit Needs Cleaning or Replacement of Element
Signs that the leaching pit needs cleaning or replacement of elements:
1. When the flushing of the bowl becomes very slow even though estimated desludging
schedule has not been reached,
2. When the recommended time of eight months for cleaning the leaching pit elements
is reached.;
3. When the leaching pit has been unintentionally dug or tampered for some reason.

A. Proper Disposal of Used Leaching Bio-Sand Filter Elements

Dis-infect used leaching bio-sand filter elements before disposal to avoid health
and environmental risks and breeding of illness carrier like flies, mosquitoes,

rodents, cockroach, etc.

Bleaching/Chlorine can be used as disinfectant
Properly place it in a closely tight container or plastic.
Dig a pit in a non-flooded or soggy area and burry it.

B. Management of Bio-sand Leaching Chamber

Bio-sand leaching chamber needs proper management in order to function well.
The following are some steps for proper chamber management:

The household should do this procedure at least every 8 months.

Wearing a face mask, rubber hand gloves, and using a spade, dig the upper layers of
the leaching pit until the gravel enclosing the perforated end of the 2 PVC is
reached.

Uing a small shovel, scoop the gravel including more or less 2 inches of sand after
the gravel and place it in a container i.e. an empty 4 liter paint can.

Clean the pipe especially the perforations to clear it of any matter that may have
cause clogging; place the collected matter in the container.

After clearing the PVC pipe, put additional sand and gravel to replace the displaced
volume of sand and gravel that were taken out.

The collected sand, gravel, and other materials that caused clogging previously
placed in the container should be mixed with half a can of ashes. Dispose these by
burying them inside a small pit of about 2 feet deep of soil.

C. Ensure that the leaching chamber will be properly re-constructed as the original.

Illustration on the specifications of the leaching chamber.

VII. Simple Upgrades for Longer Service and Beauty

There are unlimited ways of upgrading and beautifying the prototype toilets. These are
actually determined by the households initiative and creativity. The following are just some
of the upgrading options that can done on the basic units:

From nipa shingles roofing to GI sheets

From amakan made walling to ferrocement
From ordinary cemented flooring to tiled flooring
From un-painted to painted or varnished walls
Adding curtains towels, other decorations
Planting of flowers around the toilet
Putting plants inside the toilet
Using shower curtains as substitute wall paper

The following are actual examples of upgrades done by households:

Using water curtain as wall covering of the

Fencing Painting of the toilet

Amakan made walling of the toilet

walling

Upgraded
flooring.

to

tiled