There might be as many as 74 000 public toilets in the township of Khayelitsha. There might be more. There might be less. The thing is, no-one really knows and as any good engineer will tell you – that which can’t be measured can’t be improved.

Which is why activists from Ndifuna Ukwazi and the Social Justice Coalition are currently spending their days walking the streets of the township tagging toilets with mobile phone and GPS devices, so that they can create an accurate map of where the public conveniences are. And there’s a really great feature all about that you should read over on Ground Up.

Just be warned – if your stomach is a little on the delicate side you probably won’t want to scroll to the pictures right at the end of the piece. It’s a pretty damning indictment of public health in a major metro area.

From the article by Michelle Korte:

The purpose of the mapping project is to improve efficiency of toilet maintenance. Currently when there’s a complaint, it is difficult for the City to locate the exact toilet in need of repair among informal settlements, says Shaun Russell of NU, who works with the project’s research and development…

Using the GPS data, the NU and SJC team will plot toilets on a map for a website they are creating. The map would indicate the location and usability of each toilet. “Putting a visual element to a whole bunch of data often makes it easier for people to engage with,” Russell says. He hopes to incorporate submitted photos of toilets on the website as well.

Ultimately, Korte writes, the plan is to have an interactive map accessible by cell phone that residents can use to locate toilets and flag up those that aren’t working. Right now it’s just permanent ablution blocks that are being added to the map data – but mobile toilets will be recorded soon.

Initially only permanent ablution blocks that are being recorded, but the plan will be extended to mobile facilities soon too.

Go read the full article here.

[Image – CC Michelle Korte]