We have an idea.  Provide a qualified relief organization with 40 cases of Packit Toilet kits (36 toilet kits to a case; 1440 kits total) - along with a contingent of supplies - to TEST in a real-time, real-world, situation, the solution we believe we have for quick-fixing the sanitation problems that permeate much of the Third World.  A single helicopter can deliver 40 cases - along with a complement of toilet supplies - in one landing (or if necessary, a single drop).

We’re seeking an organization, or an individual or group, that might be willing to help fund such a test.  Once we can accumulate some actual in-field data verifying the usefulness of our toilet kit to quick-fix such sanitation problems, we could then make our way toward expanding our efforts throughout the Third World.   Yes, it's a big idea.  But the IMMEDIATE need is actually much bigger.

Much of the information that follows is from the World Health Organization.  What Ultralight Toilet didn’t know is that there wasn’t much factual information regarding the actual state-of-things in the Third World regarding sanitation and drinkable water - until 2000.  And one could say that perhaps by 2002 the data was even more reliable.  Simply put, TODAY (fall 2007) a vast portion of the world’s population doesn’t even have military-style latrines, let alone sewage systems, to deal with their body waste.

"The world is still on track for reaching the MDG (Millennium Development Goals) drinking water target, but that trend appears to be deteriorating. On current trends, the world will miss the sanitation target by more than half a billion people.
 
"Every year, unsafe water, coupled with a lack of basic sanitation, kills at least 1.6 million children under the age of five years – more than eight times the number of people who died in the Asian tsunami of 2004.

"At the beginning of the Water for Life decade, 1.1 billion people did not have access to an improved source of drinking water.  84% of the population without access to an improved source of drinking water live in rural areas.

"2.6 billion people, more than 40% of the world population, do not use a toilet, but defecate in the open or in unsanitary places (near water sources, or near where children play, or where animals walk in it and then track it into the homes).

"In 2004, more than three out of every five rural people, over 2 billion, did not have access to a basic sanitation facility.

"If the current trend persists, nearly 1.7 billion rural dwellers will still not have access to improved sanitation by 2015.

"In 2004, urban sanitation coverage was more than double the rural sanitation coverage.

"Although 73% of rural dwellers have access to an improved source of drinking water, only 30% have access to piped water in the home.

"Keeping up with the population increase is a major challenge for urban areas; maintaining current coverage levels till 2015 requires serving 700 million urban dwellers over the coming decade.

"Migration from rural to urban areas poses a major challenge for city planners; extending basic drinking water and sanitation services to urban and slum areas to reach the poorest people is of the utmost importance to prevent outbreaks of cholera and other water-related diseases in these often overcrowded places.

"Urban drinking water coverage has remained at 95% since 1990.  Urban sanitation coverage has increased by only one percentage point, from 79% to 80%."

If you would like to help finance this plan, or to simply know the details of our plan to test our toilet kit via a relief organization and in a real-time, real-world, situation, in order to make an informed decision to help, please call Mark at 360-597-4522 (9 AM - 6 PM PST).