Toilet that collects human waste in a hole in the ground
Pit latrine
Synonym
Pit toilet, household latrine, long drop
A simple pit latrine with a squatting pan and shelter[1]
Position in sanitation chain
User interface, collection and storage (on-site)
Application level
Household level
Management level
Household, public, shared
Inputs
Feces, urine[2]
Outputs
Fecal sludge[3]
Types
With or without water seal, single or twin pit
Construction cost
Cheapest form of basic sanitation[4]
Maintenance cost
US$2–12/person/year as of 2011 (not including emptying)[5]
Environmental concerns
Groundwater pollution[3]
Number of users
1.8 billion people (2013)[6]
A pit latrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human waste in a hole in the ground.[2] Urine and feces enter the pit through a drop hole in the floor, which might be connected to a toilet seat or squatting pan for user comfort.[2] Pit latrines can be built to function without water (dry toilet) or they can have a water seal (pour-flush pit latrine).[7] When properly built and maintained, pit latrines can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation.[4][8] This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies.[4] These pathogens are major causes of infectious diarrhea and intestinal worm infections.[8] Infectious diarrhea resulted in about 700,000 deaths in children under five years old in 2011 and 250 million lost school days.[8][9] Pit latrines are a low-cost method of separating feces from people.[4]
A pit latrine generally consists of three major parts: a hole in the ground, a concrete slab or floor with a small hole, and a shelter.[7] The shelter is also called an outhouse.[10] The pit is typically at least three meters (10 ft) deep and one meter (3 ft) across.[7] The hole in the slab should not be larger than 25 cm (10 in) to prevent children falling in.[4] Light should be prevented from entering the pit to reduce access by flies.[4] This may require the use of a lid to cover the hole in the floor when not in use.[4] The World Health Organization recommends that pits be built a reasonable distance from the house, ideally balancing easy access against smell.[4] The distance from water wells and surface water should be at least 10 m (30 ft) to decrease the risk of groundwater pollution.[11] When the pit fills to within 0.5 m (1+1⁄2 ft) of the top, it should be either emptied or a new pit constructed and the shelter moved or re-built at the new location.[12] Fecal sludge management involves emptying pits as well as transporting, treating and using the collected fecal sludge.[3] If this is not carried out properly, water pollution and public health risks can occur.[3]
A basic pit latrine can be improved in a number of ways.[2] One includes adding a ventilation pipe from the pit to above the structure.[12] This improves airflow and decreases the smell of the toilet.[12] It also can reduce flies when the top of the pipe is covered with mesh (usually made out of fiberglass).[12] In these types of toilets a lid need not be used to cover the hole in the floor.[12] Other possible improvements include a floor constructed so fluid drains into the hole and a reinforcement of the upper part of the pit with bricks, blocks, or cement rings to improve stability.[7][12] In developing countries the cost of a simple pit toilet is typically between US$25 and $60.[13] Recurring expenditure costs are between US$1.5 and $4 per person per year for a traditional pit latrine, and up to three times higher for a pour flush pit latrine (without the costs of emptying).[5]
As of 2013 pit latrines are used by an estimated 1.77 billion people, mostly in developing countries.[6] About 892 million people (12 percent of the global population) practiced open defecation in 2016, mostly because they have no toilets.[14] Southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa have the lowest access to toilets.[14] The Indian government has been running a campaign called "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan" (Clean India Mission in English) since 2014 in order to eliminate open defecation by convincing people in rural areas to purchase, construct and use toilets, mainly pit latrines.[15][16] As a result, sanitation coverage in India has increased from just 39% in October 2014 to almost 98% in 2019.[17] It is estimated that 85 million pit latrines have been built due to that campaign as of 2018.[18][19] Another example from India is the "No Toilet, No Bride" campaign which promotes toilet uptake by encouraging women to refuse to marry men who do not own a toilet.[20][21]
^WEDC (15 January 2011). Latrine slabs: an engineer's guide, WEDC Guide 005(PDF). Water, Engineering and Development Centre The John Pickford Building School of Civil and Building Engineering Loughborough University. p. 22. ISBN 978-1843801436. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 May 2016.
^ abcd"Fact sheets on environmental sanitation". World Health Organization. Archived from the original on 7 September 2016. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^ abcdStrande, Linda; Brdjanovic, Damir (2014). Faecal Sludge Management: Systems Approach for Implementation and Operation. IWA Publishing. pp. 1, 6, 46. ISBN 978-1780404721.
^ abcdefgh"Simple pit latrine (fact sheet 3.4)". who.int. 1996. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
^ abSanitation and Hygiene in Africa Where Do We Stand?. Intl Water Assn. 2013. p. 161. ISBN 978-1780405414. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017.
^ abGraham, JP; Polizzotto, ML (May 2013). "Pit latrines and their impacts on groundwater quality: a systematic review". Environmental Health Perspectives. 121 (5): 521–530. doi:10.1289/ehp.1206028. PMC 3673197. PMID 23518813.
^ abcdTilley, E.; Ulrich, L.; Lüthi, C.; Reymond, Ph.; Zurbrügg, C. (2014). Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (2 ed.). Dübendorf, Switzerland: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (Eawag). ISBN 978-3906484570.
^ abc"Call to action on sanitation" (PDF). United Nations. Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2014. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
^Walker, CL; Rudan, I; Liu, L; Nair, H; Theodoratou, E; Bhutta, ZA; O'Brien, KL; Campbell, H; Black, RE (20 April 2013). "Global burden of childhood pneumonia and diarrhoea". Lancet. 381 (9875): 140514–16. doi:10.1016/s0140-6736(13)60222-6. PMC 7159282. PMID 23582727.
^Understanding Viruses. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. 2016. p. 456. ISBN 978-1284025927.
^Communicable Disease Epidemiology and Control: A Global Perspective. CABI. 2005. p. 52. ISBN 978-0851990743.
^ abcdefFrançois Brikké (2003). Linking technology choice with operation and maintenance in the context of community water supply and sanitation(PDF). World Health Organization. p. 108. ISBN 9241562153. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 November 2005.
^Selendy, Janine M. H. (2011). Water and sanitation-related diseases and the environment challenges, interventions, and preventive measures. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley-Blackwell. p. 25. ISBN 978-1118148600. Archived from the original on 8 March 2017.
^ ab"Progress on Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene: 2017 Update and SDG Baselines". UNICEF. United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), World Health Organization (WHO). 2017. Archived from the original on 28 August 2019. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^Sanjai, P (30 July 2018). "World's Biggest Toilet-Building Spree Is Under Way in India". www.bloomberg.com. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^"Restructuring of the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan into Swachh Bharat Mission". pib.nic.in. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^"A Clean (Sampoorna Swachh) India". www.unicef.org. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
^"3 Years Of Swachh Bharat: 50 Million More Toilets; Unclear How Many Are Used". Fact Checker. 2 October 2017. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^"Swachh Bharat Mission – Gramin, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation". swachhbharatmission.gov.in. Retrieved 20 September 2018.
^Global Problems, Smart Solutions: Costs and Benefits. Cambridge University Press. 2013. p. 623. ISBN 978-1107435247.
^Stopnitzky, Yaniv (12 December 2011). "Haryana's scarce women tell potential suitors: "No loo, no I do"". Development Impact. Blog of World Bank. Archived from the original on 1 March 2015. Retrieved 17 November 2014.
A pitlatrine, also known as pit toilet, is a type of toilet that collects human waste in a hole in the ground. Urine and feces enter the pit through...
sanitation, a hole in the ground (pitlatrine), or more advanced designs, including pour-flush systems. The term "latrine" is still commonly used military...
connected to one or two pits, in which case it is called a "pour flush pitlatrine" or a "twin pit pour flush to pitlatrine". It can also be connected...
(e.g. wood ash, sawdust, or quick lime) to cover excreta after use. Pitlatrine – excluding pour-flush versions with water seal Urine-diverting dry toilet...
constructed watertight, to allow liquid to leach out (similar to a pitlatrine or to a soak pit). In the UK a cesspit is a closed tank for the reception and...
from a main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pitlatrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may...
system Flush / pour-flush to a pitlatrinePitlatrine with slab Ventilated improved pitlatrine (abbreviated as VIP latrine) Composting toilet Sanitation...
pitlatrine or a septic tank and a water source. In any case, such recommendations about the safe distance are mostly ignored by those building pit latrines...
pour-flush to piped sewer system, septic tank or pitlatrine, ventilated improved pitlatrine, pitlatrine with slab or a composting toilet. Unimproved sanitation...
Inflammatory Bowel Disease emergency). In the case of home pitlatrines, some people fear that their toilet pits will get filled very fast if all family members...
and pitlatrines) without mechanical equipment and without personal protective equipment. These workers are "scooping out feces from ‘dry’ latrines and...
comprising septic tanks, ventilated improved pitlatrines (VIP), urine diversion dry toilets and pour-flush pitlatrines. The main determinants of urban sanitation...
portability of bucket latrines can make them a useful part of an appropriate emergency response, especially where pitlatrines cannot be isolated from...
mode Squat toilet in Pitsunda, Abkhazia Squat pitlatrine toilet in Poland, Central Europe. Such latrines are seen as a relic of the country's past as...
frequent emptying. It is not connected to a hole in the ground (like a pitlatrine), nor to a septic tank, nor is it plumbed into a municipal system leading...
there is also no increase in temperature. Composting toilets differ from pitlatrines and arborloos, which use less controlled decomposition and may not protect...
very broadly as what accumulates in onsite sanitation systems (e.g. pitlatrines, septic tanks and container-based solutions) and specifically is not...
handling, human excreta in an insanitary latrine or in an open drain or sewer or in a septic tank or a pit". Manual scavengers usually use hand tools...
system and reducing the need for frequent emptying, in comparison with pitlatrines. Further, worm-based digestion is virtually complete and produces vermicompost...
collected in a shallow pit and a fruit tree is later planted in the fertile soil of the full pit. Arborloos have: a pit like a pitlatrine but less deep; a...
A portable toilet is not connected to a hole in the ground (like a pitlatrine), nor to a septic tank, nor is it plumbed into a municipal system leading...
to a septic system Flush / pour-flush to a pitlatrine Ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrinePitlatrine with slab Composting toilet Some special cases...
from wastewater treatment processes: 23–25 or as fecal sludge from pitlatrines and septic tanks. The term is also sometimes used as a generic term for...
existing pitlatrines which lack a supporting infrastructure of fecal sludge collection and processing when the pits are full. Sludge from pitlatrines has...
usually a simple hole discharging to the outside into a cesspit (akin to a pitlatrine) or the moat (like a fish pond toilet), depending on the structure of...
deal with fecal matter collected in on-site sanitation systems such as pitlatrines and septic tanks. The sanitation systems in place differ vastly around...
a wheelchair-width door; additional options to upgrade a toilet are pitlatrines that include a moveable wood seat with support bars. Accessible toilets...
contaminants, for example fertilizers, wastewater or human excreta from pitlatrines.: 611 Droughts reduce river dilution capacities and groundwater levels...
shilling, currency in Kenya KVIP - Kumasi ventilated-improved pit, closest article is Pitlatrine L - Lakh, used for one hundred thousand in India L - Liter...