Why GOSEP?

Sanitation

There are over 2.4 billion people with inadequate sanitation. In 2015 it was reported that 68% of the world's population had access to improved sanitation.^[3] Improved sanitation includes systems most people would consider inadequate the list includes:

• Flush toilet

  • Connection to a piped sewer system

  • Connection to a septic system

• Flush / pour-flush to a pit latrine

• Pit latrine with slab

• Ventilated improved pit latrine (abbreviated as VIP latrine)

• Composting toilet

Sanitation was a Millenium Development Goal that has remained intractable for decades. Proposed solutions have been too expensive and/or require specialist infrastructure and maintenance to keep working.

Scarce clean water

Drinking water sources are often contaminated because of poor sanitation. Global warming is causing desertification and unreliable seasonal rainfall. Recycling water onsite can take pressure off of scarce clean water supplies and guarantee a reliable water source for onsite food production. The same technology used to purify used water can also be used to purify stormwater and provide safe drinking water onsite improving the lives of millions of mostly women currently responsible for carrying water sometimes long distances and from dubious sources. Creating reliable potable water sources using simple lined trenches filled with sandy loam soil could decrease the global burden of disease and health costs. Recycled wastewater will typically be cleaner than stormwater so irrigating it above a planted potable water treatment zone can boost the total amount of stormwater harvested and provide a more reliable and safer overall supply especially in dry climates.

High infant mortality and preventable diseases

Inadequate sanitation and unsafe water have a big impact on infant mortality rates. Infant and child mortality rates associated with diarrhea could be drastically reduced simply by access to clean water. The lack of clean water is the biggest contributor to premature childhood deaths. The main cause of contamination is improperly treated human and animal wastes. Clean water and good sanitation are inextricably linked.

Hunger and malnutrition

Food insecurity is a problem worldwide and not just in underdeveloped countries. Irrigation water is increasingly scarce or unpredictable and farmers struggle to afford fertiliser inputs. Food input supply chains are increasingly controlled by global corporations and highly processed food is often cheaper than more nutritious options. Cheap high energy low nutrition foods are associated with metabolic diseases like diabetes, obesity and other chronic illnesses. Poverty is exacerbated by high food costs. Reliable recycling of used water organic matter and nutrients is key to increasing the abundance of locally available nutritious unprocessed food.

Poverty

Inequality is growing globally. The gap between rich and poor both within developed countries and between the wealthy and poor countries is growing. Apart from the obvious income disparity between those with power and good education it is fair to say that poverty has little to do with how hard people work. The financial and legal systems in most countries are rigged in favour of those who are already wealthy and powerful. Against this structural societal headwind, those who are already poor are further disadvantaged by the costly burden of disease associated with inadequate living conditions. Many poor people simply cannot afford to pay for conventional or any sanitation. Food insecurity is part of the poverty cycle. Effective healthcare is unaffordable for billions of people. Proper sanitation, clean water and good nutrition can reduce the cost of healthcare and free up funds for educational and economic advancement. Producing food locally at low cost using safely recycled water and nutrients can be critical to breaking the poverty cycle.

Plastic pollution

Ocean monitoring organisations warn that on current trajectories, our oceans will soon have more plastics in them than biomass!

Plastic pollution occurs predominantly where people are poorly educated, unable to afford garbage collection and recycling services and are not empowered with the knowledge to recycle this valuable resource locally to make things they genuinely need. One of the outcomes of this project is to perfect a low-cost low-tech way to make critical water and sanitation treatment system components using waste plastics they would otherwise throw away.

Loss of soil organic matter and organic waste pollution

Farm soils in many intensively farmed areas are losing organic matter partly caused by extreme ‘wet-dry’ cycles. The organic matter cycle that returns waste food and human wastes back to the soil to replenish it is also broken by garbage collection, sewage export and urban runoff. The nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus these “wastes” contain is lost and have to be imported from far away to replenish the farm soil productivity. Nitrogen fertiliser has to be synthesised from the air using a very energy intensive process reliant on fossil fuels. Phosphorus is an increasingly scarce “fossil” resource that is only replenished over thousands or millions of years. A true and sustainable “green revolution” will depend on recycling water and nutrients at source. Reliable irrigation preserves soil organic matter and boosts soil life. Recycling used water, organic matter and nutrients at source creates an ecologically sustainable loop and pathway to long term soil fertility and local abundance.

All of these wicked problems point to the urgent need for a project like GOSEP.