The Department of Water and Sanitation successfully launched an Interim Sanitation Solution in Khayelitsha.

Minister of water and Sanitation Nomvula Mokonyane officially handed the project called the Kayaloo Ablution Facility to the people of Khayelitsha in the city of Cape Town Metropolitan Municipality on Friday, 22 May 2015.

The project which consists of a single communal ablution facility boasts water borne toilets for male and females, showers and basins and outside laundry troughs for the residents to wash their laundry in.

There will be a few across the area. Minister Mokonyane says for now the project will test how the community of Khayelitsha will respond to the new system and if they are comfortable with it.

“Keeping in mind that different settlements require different forms of sanitation methods, we would like to see how the community of Khayelitsha responds to this method before the Department implements it widely”.

The Department will assess the project for Three to Four months before deciding on whether it is suitable.

The communal ablution facility solution is however already being implemented in the Buffalo city Municipality and other areas in the KwaZulu-Natal Province.

Meanwhile another development by the department is being piloted in Barcelona and other areas which include the use of liquid technology aimed at improving the lifespan of dry sanitation and reducing the sludge within the toilets.

This is to explore the use of alternative technologies to address sanitation challenges