Passengers unsure of bio-toilets use

Chennai:Rail travelers beware! The next time you see a dustbin inside a train toilet, ensure that you do not throw any non-recyclable material, particularly plastic or bottles, in to it. The sign on the wall may escape your eye, but the dustbin inside the toilet is an indicator that you have entered a bio-toilet, which not only keeps fecal material off the environment but also prevents smell from disturbing you aboard trains.

It’s this public insensitivity that remains one of the grave concerns of railway maintenance managers, who introduced the first fully bio toilet fitted train in Bundlekhand Express on January 18, 2011

“People do not realise that they make the biotoilet inoperable by throwing bottles into it. Once a plastic or any non-recyclable material enters the chamber, it chokes it and in course of time the bio digester becomes inoperable,” said a senior SR officer explaining how it takes caution even to maintain the bio-toilets. Chemicals used for cleaning the conventional toilets cannot be used for bio toilets, as the chemicals will kill the bacteria that break up the human fecal material and reduce it to river water quality, the officer reasoned.

This is where the use of high-pressure water guns comes as a shot in the arm for railway officials, who claim that high pessure water guns have reduced water consumption by 40%. The gun cleans with pressure and hence the use of chemical is eliminated, which is ideal for bio-toilets.

However, SR officials admitted that some amount of sensitisation was needed also for maintenance staff of railways and private contractors to whom toilet maintenance has been outsourced. Ironically, both Chennai Central and Egmore do not have water guns, while relatively smaller stations like Erode, Coimbatore and even Tirunelveli have water guns. Efforts are on to provide water guns at a cost of over Rs 3 crore to all stations in the zone. To begin with, it would be provided to few stations, starting with Chennai, the senior SR officer added.