Ecological toilets will replace an iconic wooden latrine in the High Tatras. (source: Sme/Vladimír Šimíček)
The iconic wooden latrine near Chata pod Rysmi (Chalet Under Rysy Peak) in the High Tatras, which was destroyed by a storm last year, will be replaced by new ecological toilets.
The toilets will be constructed by activists from the Hikemates tourist club, which recently signed a memorandum of cooperation in this regard with the Tatra National Park Administration (TANAP), the Slovak Tourist Club and the Slovak Mountaineering Association James. The chair of Hikermates, Patrik Pajta, announced the building of the latrine, saying that the project is starting with the launch of an architectural competition.
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Chata pod Rysmi is the highest located Tatra chalet at an altitude of 2250 metres and is also one of the most visited places in the Tatras. However, according to Peter Spitzkopf from the TANAP Administration, a growth in tourism is accompanied by, in addition to benefits for the region, negative aspects related to human needs.
"Since people often defecate in the vicinity of hiking trails, leaving behind not only excrement, but also unwanted sanitary waste and other traces that have a negative impact on the surrounding nature," he explained for the TASR newswire.
The new ecological toilets are a patented solution that can be found in several places in mountainous regions in Europe, according to Pajta. Their advantage is easy operation and a long-term sustainable solution, where living organisms, such as earthworms, break down the solid part of the excrement and reduce its volume. The system is similar to that of ordinary "composters". However, it will not be the usual toilets that tourists are used to.
"We will involve all interested parties in the architectural competition. The winning design should fit sensitively into the Tatra environment and help ecologically solve this long-standing problem," explained Matej Ďurnek from the company Corwin, which is covering the architectural competition and project documentation. They will prepare the modular design of the toilets so that it can be adapted to different visitor capacities and the environment in which they will be installed.
After the selection of the winning visual, the permit process will follow and then the construction itself. This will be financially covered by the activists thanks to partners and funds from donations and 2 percent from taxes.
"After the implementation of the pilot project, we will hand over the entire project documentation free of charge to the Administration of TANAP, and the administrations of other national parks interested in building ecological toilets in other locations as well. They will be able to use the project for various grant calls, which usually have short deadlines," concludes Pajta.
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