136 Building Toilets
Pour Flush Pit Toilets
water seal trap
Pour flush toilets use water to flush waste into a pit. These
toilets are common in both urban and rural areas where water
is used to clean the anus after defecating. They are not much
more costly than pit toilets. Because well built pour flush toilets
prevent smells, they can be built in or near the home.
water seal trap set in
concrete platform
Pour flush toilets use a plastic, fiberglass, or cement
bowl or squatting pan set into a concrete platform. The
bowl or pan often has a ‘water seal trap’ that prevents
smells and insect breeding in the wet pits. The concrete
platform is placed directly over a pit. Or it can be
connected by pipe to 1 or 2 pits.
How to use a pour flush toilet
When there is 1 pit, the toilet
is used until full, and then it
must be emptied before it can
continue to be used. When there
are 2 pits, there is a junction box
that directs waste towards the
pit in use. The first pit is used
until near full. Then waste is
diverted into the second pit.
Waste flow
The pipe to the pit not in use
is sealed with a brick, clay, or
fabric plug.
Concrete
channel inside
junction
box directs
wastewater.
1 pit pour flush toilet
2 pit pour flush toilet
Junction box
Junction box made
of brick outside,
and smooth cement
mortar on the inside.
One lined pit underground,
2 meters deep. A family of 5 will
fill this pit in about 5 years time.
Above ground chamber allows wastewater to flow down to
pits. With regular care, this toilet will last many, many years.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012