Living Cycles is more than a toilet: it’s an oasis of possibilities. Offering drinking water, sanitation, energy, fertility and especially a safe lively hub. It is low maintenance and has a long lifespan. Living Cycles doesn’t only contribute functionally but especially socially, by offering a safe zone and education.

Every day, an estimated 1.400 children under the age of five die from diarrhoeal diseases [1]. Worldwide, 785 million people don’t have access to clean drinking water [2]. In India, 555 million people don’t have access to improved sanitation [3]. Diarrhoeal disease is the second leading cause of death in children under five. It is both preventable and treatable. 840 million people lack access to electricity [4].

Clean drinking water

Each compound offers drinking water for 145 to 290 people (assuming 2 to 1 litre, a day, a person). The 100 m² roof harvests rainwater. The system harvests a large amount of rainwater during the monsoon, to release during the months of drought. The stored water is recirculated 2 times a day to keep the water clean and drinkable. The first flush diverter, connected to the gutter, diverts a small amount of water at the beginning of a rain shower, with which the dirt on the roof comes, such as leaves, dust and sand. The slow sand filter is low-tech and low-maintenance. The composition of the purifying layers consists of easily accessible materials, such as sand and charcoal, in a basic plastic tank. The size and composition of the filter are determined through extensive calculations by the IHE Delft. The storage capacity is determined according to the amount of water captured in the monsoon to supply drinking water the full year around.

Low maintenance improved sanitation

Each Living Cycles compound offers sanitation for 70 users. The Tiger Worms in the faeces pit are composting worms that process and digest the faeces in situ, replacing the build-up of raw sludge with vermicompost. This minimizes the desludging frequency from every 3 months to every 3 to 5 years instead. The aerobic process of the tiger worms prevents smell, and so attracts fewer flies, which means fewer disease vectors. Tiger Worm Toilets are cheaper than traditional latrines as it does not need a large storage tank. The worms transform the faeces to vermicompost, and so, it is absorbed in the ground and flows away with the water.

Long Living Cycles

We expect the base building to have a lifespan of approximately 20 years if poorly maintained. Instead, if Living Cycles is maintained well it can reach a lifespan of 50 years, with replacements of the roof and the walls every 20 years. Extending the lifespan by ‘harder’ materials is irrational, as the lifespan will rather be ended by insurmountable disasters such as bushfires, floods or earthquakes, or obsolescence due to the ever-changing environment and social tendencies.

A source of energy

Living Cycles shares it’s energy: it yields more than it uses. The 16 solar panels (320 Wp) totally yield 24 kWh/day, but only uses approximately 10 kWh/day for the lighting, mechanical pumps and UV filters. The residual energy is approximately 14 kWh/day and can be stored in the batteries.
14 kWh is equal to 18 tube lights (40W) turned on for 14 hours, or fully charging more than 1.800 iPhones (type: iPhone 5C, battery capacity: 5,45 Wh) every day. This way, Living Cycles supplies the school and neighbourhood with energy. If demanded, the number of solar panels can be increased to 24, which would cover the whole roof area. Or decreased to 8, to only cover the usage of the compound itself.

Sustainable development

Living Cycles offers sustainable development on many levels. It offers decent work and proper education for the student and the cleaners who are fairly paid. Living Cycles contributes to good health and well-being through improved sanitation with fewer disease vectors. Next to this, it contributes to equality by offering safe, useable and pleasant sanitation to wheelchair users, women and girls in their period. It offers clean drinking water and sanitation for many year-round. The compound produces enough clean energy, for free, to supply the needs of the school and its users. The compound is sustainable due to its low maintenance and easy-to-repair nature.

The Living Cycles team

Living Cycles is a cooperation of Living Peace Projects, a foundation uniting the world around peace projects, the IHE Delft, of whom two specialists in rainwater harvesting and purification, and one specialist in sanitation, and Van Roekel, a construction engineer. Studio Jorn Beltman, is responsible for the architectural design, management and engineering of the compound. Together we form a diverse team of professionals with our own expertise.