Despite many tasks ahead for social and economic development, China
has decided to pay attention to the management and construction of
public toilets.
Members of the Chongqing Municipal Committee of the
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference have
proposed to build adequate, convenient and clean public toilets in
urban districts over the next five to 10 years.
A
recent inspection of Chongqing's public toilets showed almost all
failed to reach the standard required by the state.
China's public toilets have been a cause for concern for a long
time. To have clean toilets, to drink clean water, and to live in
clean surroundings are still out of reach of 900 million Chinese
farmers, although 35 percent of China's 238 million farm households
had clean toilets in 1998.
It
is an ongoing problem too for residents in some medium or big
cities in China. With an increasing floating population in cities,
public toilets are often the most crowded places. In Yuzhong
District, a downtown area in Chongqing, 600,000 people share 208
public toilets. People often have to put up with an unpleasant
smell while they queue up for toilets.
In
addition it can take hours to find a latrine while you are on a
long journey. Sometimes, you can find only the most basic latrine,
with one pit and mud walls.
Beijing, which will host the 2008 Olympic Games, spent 40 million
yuan building or upgrading 200 public toilets last year while some
cities with historical scenic spots have placed latrine upgrading
on their agenda.
Chongqing, which has spent millions of yuan in rebuilding a new
image since it became a municipality in 1997, has much work to do
in latrine improvement.
Gao Qixiang, chief-editor of a local newspaper on public health,
said the problem of latrine concerns with not only the city's image
but also people's quality of living. Discharge of untreated
excrement into rivers is a major cause of intestinal diseases.
According to a survey jointly conducted by the UN Children's Fund and Chongqing,
60 percent of the children in rural Chongqing suffer from
ascariasis and ancylostomiasis, which are closely related to the
discharge of untreated excrement.
This year the city plans to build 50 standard public toilets in
downtown areas and to upgrade existing ones.
(Xinhua News
Agency February 22, 2002)