Single and double pits in Lesotho

More than a thousand Double Vault Ventilated Improved Pit-latrines (VIDP) have been built in Maseru, Lesotho. The largest concentrations of the latrines are in the low cost sites and services areas of Katlehong and Khubetsoana. These latrines have also been promoted widely by the Urban Sanitation Improvement Team (USIT) in the rest of the peri-urban area and many rural people have opted for this type of latrine and constructed it with help either from USIT or the Rural Sanitation Project (RSP). Because of the ingress of groundwater in many of these latrines, it has not been possible to achieve complete separation of the contents of the two pits and cross-contamination has been evident in many of them. USIT has therefore been led to re-consider further promotion of this type of latrine.