The cities of Haiti - Port-au-Prince as the capital and largest city,
and a number of the smaller cities - have been devastated by the January 2010 earthquake.
As international and national donors from the public and private sectors meet and consider ways to help the long-term reconstruction
of Haiti after this initial phase of immediate relief, they should keep in mind that Haitians want and need long-term solutions for their
urban sanitation. These solutions include, in addition to latrines and urine-diversion composting toilets, urban systems for the collection
and treatment of sewage.
Although some experts from donor nations may deem such systems as being "too ambitious at this time," the decision to pursue such solutions
should be up to people of Haiti. Outside of Haiti, the existence of such sewerage systems are often taken for granted. Haitians deserve
at least as much for disposing of their own human waste.
Here we now are, twenty-two months later. The current cholera outbreak is the strongest possible argument for the building of decent sewerage systems (as well as piped water)
in Haiti's cities and towns!
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