The Community Plumbing Challenge (CPC) Indonesia Design Week continued today, with the Design Team back at the team base at the Dalton Hotel, where it reviewed the various design aspects for the new public toilet and wash facility in Untia village, particularly issues around water supply and wastewater management. 

“We have now pulled together a lot of background information, so the team know what they need to start from. Designing a system, from the water source right through to the waste: water in, water out,” said Dave Donald, Program Director for Healthabitat, a long-standing IWSH Foundation collaborating partner leading the design process in Untia this week. “If you want the toilet to work, it’s about the whole continuum. So we have been reinforcing that message for the Design Team: it’s not only about the toilet facility in the middle. Get the overall system right, and the facility has a better chance of being there in 10-15 years’ time, still doing its job.”

The Design Team will return to Untia Village on Wednesday, to discuss its initial design concepts with community leaders and other local partners.

“Today, we looked at different considerations for things like water storage and septic tank requirements,” said Fareenha Khan, a Master of Architecture student at the University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, who is originally from Pakistan. “We are trying to consider all scenarios to make sure future maintenance of the new toilets will be up to the mark. The whole point of today was to list everything and pinpoint the remaining issues. Tomorrow we will go back to talk to the community again and share our initial design ideas.”

The Design Team also received an overview of Indonesian plumbing standards and World Health Organization guidelines around water and sanitation.

“I am happy for this experience, and happy to meet and interact with others from around the world. I have gotten knowledge about plumbing that I would not get in school,” added Muhammad Rezky Fahlevi, a second-year student of chemical industry at SMK-SMTI Makassar (Sekolah Menengah Kejuruan, Sekolah Menengah Teknologi Industri — the industrial technology vocational high school of Makassar). 

Companies or organizations wishing to get involved with the new CPC Indonesia program, or any other future editions of the international CPC program, are encouraged to get in touch via info@iwsh.org. One-time, tax deductible donations to support these efforts may also be made via www.iwsh.org/donate.