Latrine

For example, it can be a communal trench in the earth in a camp to be used as emergency sanitation, a hole in the ground (pit latrine), or more advanced designs, including pour-flush systems.

[3] The use of latrines was a major advancement in sanitation over more basic practices such as open defecation, and helped control the spread of many waterborne diseases.

However, unsafe defecation in unimproved latrines still remained a widespread problem by the end of 2020, with more than 3 billion people affected (46 % of the global population).

It is typically used to describe communal facilities, such as the shallow-trench latrines used in emergency sanitation situations, e.g. after earthquakes, floods or other natural disasters.

This type of latrine is used either by squatting, with the users' legs straddling the pit, or by various arrangements for sitting or leaning against a support structure.

Such support may be simply a log, plank, branch or similar arrangement placed at right angles to the long axis of the pit.

Roman public latrine found in the excavations of Ostia Antica ; unlike modern installations, the Romans saw no need to provide privacy for individual users.
Public Latrine at Athens ' Roman Forum site
Roman latrines in Els Munts villa at Altafulla in Tarragonès , Spain.
1) Bench
2) Main water channel
3) Front water channel
4) Wall
5) Window
6) Divider
7) Washbasin
Latrines of Krak des Chevaliers in Syria