Peer-Reviewed Study: ‘Climate change is encouraging unsanitary toilet practices among vulnerable communities’ – ‘Climate change makes toilets more likely to break, which leaves people more likely to ‘go’ outside’
James Harper - Assistant Teaching Professor of Engineering Design, University of Colorado Boulder - The Conversation:
Everyone knows that climate change has consequences, such as a higher likelihood of severe floods, hurricanes and droughts. But here’s a lesser-known problem: Climate change makes toilets more likely to break, which leaves people more likely to “go” outside.
That’s what colleagues and I found when we studied households across six rural Cambodian provinces, focusing on their access to proper toilets and when people decide to abandon sanitary systems in favor of open defecation, or “going” outside.
We analyzed sanitation behavior surveys that were given to about 200,000 households every two years from 2013 to 2020. These questionnaires looked into how households maintained access to sanitary toilet systems, when these facilities were abandoned, and why. It also inquired about the poverty status of the households.
... The key result of our study, which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Environment, Development and Sustainability, was clear: In regions where climate change makes heavy storms and floods more common, households more frequently stop using and maintaining their toilets.
https://www.climatedepot.com/2024/11/19/peer-reviewed-study-climate-change-is-encouraging-unsanitary-toilet-practices-among-vulnerable-communities-climate-change-makes-toilets-more-likely-to-break-which-leaves-people-more-likely-t/
