More than 80 percent of wastewater produced by the communities worldwide is discharged to the environment without going through a treatment process (UN World Water Development Report, 2017). When the untreated wastewater flows to water bodies, it can threaten the quality and availability of fresh water. In addition, natural disasters caused by the accelerating climate change, such as flooding and rising sea levels, can damage toilets and stop the septage treatment in the impacted areas.
The 2020 World Toilet Day’s theme was ‘Sustainable Sanitation and Climate Change’ to highlight the interconnection between the two subjects.
To celebrate the 2020 World Toilet Day, USAID IUWASH PLUS collaborated with Cleanomic (a digital content creator for social and environment issues) to conduct an online talk show with the theme of ‘Safe and Sustainable Sanitation for Climate Change Resilience’ on November 18, 2020.
The Director of Housing and Settlements of the Ministry of National Development Planning/BAPPENAS, Mrs. Tri Dewi Virgiyanti, and the Acting Director of the Environment Office of USAID Indonesia, Mr. Jason Seuc, conveyed the opening remarks online during the talk show. The talk show featured two speakers, namely Mrs. Kristin Darundiyah, the Head of Radiation Protection, Directorate of Environmental Health, Ministry of Health; and Mr. Adri Ruslan, the USAID IUWASH PLUS Senior Specialist for On-Site Sanitation. The talk show was moderated by Mrs. Denia Isetianti from Cleanomic. In this talk show, the speakers and moderator discussed safe and sustainable sanitation with the participants who attended the event online. The participants consisted of bloggers, mainstream media journalists, local governments, university students, and community members.
Mrs. Kristin Darundiyah stated that untreated feces could pollute the environment and cause chronic and deadly diseases, such as diarrhea, cholera, malnutrition, and hepatitis.
To emphasize Mrs. Darundiyah’s statement, Mr. Adri Ruslan pointed out that the septic tank and toilet are equally important to domestic wastewater treatment.
Closing the talk show, Mrs. Darundiyah highlighted, “Community empowerment and the involvement of partners from non-governmental organizations must be increased in order to achieve safe and sustainable sanitation.”
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