Ladakhis want tourists to use dry toilets, save water

From Gaurav Saini Leh, Sep 4 (PTI) Residents of Ladakh, reeling under asevere water crisis, want tourists to use traditional drytoilets instead of the commonly-used flush ones. The region gets scant rains and depends on glaciers forwater for daily needs. But due to global warming, the glaciersare depleting fast, posing a serious threat to the survival ofLadhakis, says noted Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Sanghasena, thefounding president of the Mahabodhi International MeditationCentre. "The sources of water have also depleted due to theinflux of tourists. Hotels have dug submersibles and aresucking up the groundwater. There is a need for a mechanism tocheck this practice," he says. To save water, Ladakhis use traditional composting or drytoilets, while most of the hotels in the cities have flushtoilets. "Traditional Ladakhi toilets do not waste or pollutewater like water toilets, and they also produce useful manurefor fields and trees. Please throw a shovelful of earth downthe hole after each use," reads a poster outside a dry toiletin a monastery. Rinchen Dolma, a local, says, "The region is grapplingwith a severe water shortage. But we have solutions. We usewaterless toilets or composting toilets. You cannot even thinkof using water for sanitation in winters. It freezes. In ourhouses, we do not even have running taps. "The tourists should and will have to use dry toilets.They, for their own comfort, cannot play with our lives," shesays. Asked if the composting toilets are odourless, she says,"The climate conditions are such that the excreta does notstink. So, tourists must not hesitate in making a compromiseand using dry toilets. Our houses have composting toilets. Wedo not face any such problem." Students here are also strongly in favour of touristsusing dry toilets. Sonam Angma, a class IX student at Mahabodhi ResidentialSchool, says: "We have been using dry toilets for long andthey are completely safe. We see no reasons why touristsshould not use them. The plus point is that the bacterialaction breaks down the waste and then it can be put to use inthe field. It is a good manure for crops." A composting toilet has two levels–a toilet on the topand a composting unit underneath. After using the toilet, abit of dirt is shovelled down the hole to cover the waste andblock the foul smell. More importantly, it aids decompositionof the excreta. Manish Wasuja, a sanitation expert from UNICEF-India,said, "The decomposition process takes more time in compostingtoilets as the temperature in places like Leh is very low. Butlocal people have been using them for a long time now.Therefore, they are habitual of dry toilets." PTI GVS ZMNAAR