Building an Outhouse - Construction du cabinet - English, Français

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Levi

Instructions for constructing an outhouse with clear guidance to protect drinking-water sources. The text recommends placing the outhouse away from wells and springs, especially below the well on downward slopes, and keeping a minimum distance to prevent germs entering groundwater. It also explains siting relative to the house to reduce smell and flies, maintaining a clear access path, and managing the pit by allowing shower drainage only when safe, then filling and digging a new pit when waste reaches unsafe levels.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages32

Reading Time1 h 21 min

Building an Outhouse

Choose a safe location away from water sources

Position on slopes and maintain distance

Keep proper distance from the house

Manage pit filling and shower drainage

Building an Outhouse Construction du cabinet English, Français Health Building an Outhouse Construction du cabinet Original French text used with permission from “Construction du cabinet,” Atelier de Matériel pour l’Animation (AMA) B.P. 267, Yaoundé, Cameroon. Images by MBANJI Ernest Bawe. English, Français Copyright © 1997, SIL Cameroon [http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)[ ](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)[You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You may](You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You may)[ ](You may not use this work for commercial purposes. You may)adapt and add to this work, but you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one. You must keep the copyright and credits for authors, illustrators, etc. Texte : utilisés avec l’autorisation de l’Atelier de Matériel pour l’Animation (AMA) Images by MBANJI Ernest Bawe, © 1997 SIL Cameroon. CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. You should always build an outhouse away from the water source . This village, built on a hill, has many houses. It also has a water source at the bottom of the hill. When building an outhouse, you should choose a place that is far from the water source. Never build it on a hill above the source, otherwise you will contaminate the water in the source. Il faut toujours construire le cabinet (le W.C.) loinde la source . Ce village, construit sur une colline a beaucoup de maisons. Il y a aussi une source en bas de la colline. Pour construire un W.C. , on choisit un endroit éloigné du point d’eau, jamais sur la colline en haut près de la source, pour ne pas contaminer l’eau de la source. To build an outhouse you should choose a place that is away from the well . This village has three compounds and a well where the families get water. When you want to build an outhouse, you should choose a place that is as faraway as possible from the well, to not contaminate the water that is in the well. Pour construire un cabinet (un W.C.), tu choisis un endroit éloigné du puits . Ce village a trois concessions et un puits où les familles viennent puiser l’eau. Quand une famille veutconstruire un cabinet, elle va choisir l’endroit le plus éloigné du puits pour ne pas contaminer l’eau du puits. An outhouse could make the water in the well dirty. On a downward slope, the outhouse should always be built below the well to not contaminate the water in the well. Even if built to the side, the outhouse should be at least 50 meters away. In this picture, two of the outhouses are in the wrong place. They will fill the ground water with germs. The germs will go down into the water in the well. Un cabinet (W.C.) peut rendre l’eau du puits mauvaise . Sur une pente le cabinet doit toujours se trouver en bas du puits pour ne pas contaminer l’eau du puits. Même sur les côtés on éloigne le cabinet d’au moins 50 m. Donc sur le dessin, deux des cabinets sont mal placés. Ils vont donner des microbes à l’eau souterraine et les microbes descendront dans l’eau du puits. The outhouse should be a bit away from the house, but not too far away . The outhouse should be built a bit away from the house, so that the bad smell or flies don't bother the people in the house. But it must not be too far away, otherwise the people will not want to walk out so far to use the outhouse and not all the members of the family will use it. The path to the outhouse should be kept well cleared to make it easy to get to. Le W.C . est un peu éloigné de la maison, sans être trop loin . Pour que les odeurs ou les mouches qui[peuvent provenir du W.C. ne](peuvent provenir du W.C. ne) gênent pas les habitants de la maison, le W.C. doit être un peu éloigné de la maison. Mais pas trop loin. Autrement les habitants hésiteront à se déplacer au loin pour aller au W.C. , et[ce W.C. ne](ce W.C. ne) sera pas utilisé par tous les membres d

FAQs

Why must an outhouse be built away from the water source?

An outhouse can contaminate the well or spring with germs. Placing it far from water prevents dirty groundwater from reaching the drinking supply.

How should an outhouse be positioned on a downward slope?

On a slope, the outhouse should be built below the well so contaminated water does not flow into the well. Even on the sides, it should be kept at least 50 meters away.

What should you do when the pit fills up near the top?

Stop using the pit when waste reaches about 50 cm from the surface. Fill it with dirt and dig a new pit farther away.

Jul 17, 2026

Upload by Levi