User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in the Federated States of Micronesia

Public toilets in the Federated States of Micronesia are rare, many of which do exist are pit latrines which had resulted in degrading the local water supply.

Septic, sewage and public toilets
There were few public toilets in the 1980s and 1990s. Where pit latrines existed to serve that function, many were built to inferior standards, resulting in ground water contamination. The Trust Territory Toilet Facility and Sewage Disposal Regulations did not meet the needs of the country in the 1990s. Improperly installed septic tanks for toilets in more remote places had resulted in ground water contamination in the 1980s and 1990s. In the mid-1990s, there were efforts in a few localities to improve or build local sewage systems. This had limited effect in improving environmental conditions and in improving toilet access across the Federated States of Micronesia.

Chuuk
In the 1980s and 1990s, tap water on Chuuk was generally not fit for human consumption. Chuuk and Yap needed improved regulations for toilet facilities in the 1990s.

Kosrae
While the Kosrae Environmental Protection Board was created in 1985, it had ceased functioning by 1988. Part of their remit was to prevent ground water contamination. The Kosrae Code in the 1990s had toilet standards spelled with the State Department of Health Service in charge of enforcement. This same code also spelled out how human waste located outside toilets was supposed to disposed of and required that inhabited dwellings have toilets. In the 1990s, most inhabited dwellings in Kosrae had toilet and showers located in a separate building outside the main residence.

Pohnei
The Solid Waste and Toilet Facilities and Sewage Disposal Regulations was not being enforced in the 1990s in Pohnpei. At the same time, it needed to be revised to deal with the specific issues face Pohnpei.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in the Federated States of Micronesia
Public toilet access around the world is most acute in the Global South, with around 3.6 billion people, 40% of the world's total population, lacking access to any toilet facilities. 2.3 people in the the Global South do not have toilet facilities in their residence. Despite the fact that the United Nation made a declaration in 2010 that clean water and sanitation is a human right, little has been done in many places towards addressing this on a wider level.

German notions of cultural codes around the usage of public toilets has been exported to many parts of the world as a result of German colonialism, but many places in Africa and the Pacific continue to challenge those norms around cleanliness well into the 2010s.

Foreigners visiting the South Pacific in the 1990s were advised to bring their own white toilet paper, and tampons or sanitary napkins as they were not commonly found in the region. Septic systems and any sewage systems were not strong enough in the 1990s for tampons to be thrown into them.