Loola: Safe Water Gardens for Sanitation in Indonesian Villages

Loola Adventure Group has devised a very simple and completely autonomous wastewater treatment system, called the Safe Water Garden (SWG).  The SWG is extremely easy to build, maintenance-free, and where the house owners can have complete ownership.





The system doubles up as a crop-garden (notably for chilli, together with rice, as key food ingredients for Indonesians), and this crop garden has proven to be a catalyst for villagers extending their garden and hence their food self-sufficiency. The SWG has other outcomes, such as:





 	
Health benefits: the system eliminates chronic diarrhoea and thus alleviates stunting. Also, because the house no longer features greywater puddles, the mosquito population decreases which, in turn, reduces insect-borne diseases.
 	
Poverty alleviation: Because parents do not have to bring children to the hospital on account of sanitation-related illnesses, they do not lose workdays, and reduce transport and the hospital costs. Contrary to the traditional sanitation systems which last 10 years, the SWG lasts forever. Combining this with the savings from not having to buy chilli means a nett savings of around 10% of household income for village families.
 	
Improved Living Conditions: With better sanitation and waste management, people are able to lead happier, healthier lives.



For more information, do refer to our Slide Deck.