Hygiene

The most important thing to do after landing is build a latrine, a water tub, and a primitive well to fill the tub if you don't have ponds or rivers, they will wash with the water tub but this will quickly become dirty and need filling with fresh water from the primitive well or surface water, and the latrine will need to be emptied and the waste dumped or burned in a burn pit, after that everything is optional and just makes life easier for colonists. Pawns will search only a small radius for toilets when they are outside of the home area to prevent them making long trips to the bathroom, so make sure a toilet or latrine is nearby if you are off mining on the other side of the map.

Whats the minimum that i need for pawns to be happy?

You only need a latrine, and a water tub for them to wash with. When the water tub becomes dirty it will need to be refilled with water from a primitive well, or ponds, or rivers. The latrine will need to be emptied which produces drums of sewage, these can be hauled to a dumping spot then stored or kicked over, or they can burned as fuel in a burn pit like logs in a campfire, the burn pit also allows you to burn junk, and acts as a heat source in emergencies, both options have a risk of contamination if the pawns stand in the area of burning waste or walk through the sewage they kicked over. This covers basic survival scenarios where you have no other options.

How do i set up a full sanitation system?

For flushing toilets and latrines you need a piped well to access ground water (not primitive), a water tower to store water (not hot water tank), a pump to pump water from the well to the tower (wind pump only works when windy), and a sewage outlet to dump the waste into a river pond or just on the ground.

For showers and baths you need the same water system, but a sewage outlet is not required, and to provide hot running water you need a hot water tank, and 1 of the types of boiler to heat the hot water tank, or if you are low tech and using baths you can heat it by placing a camp fire in an adjacent cell.

What does bad hygiene do and how do i fix it?

Bad hygiene means pawns haven't washed in a while, it reduces their social stats and makes them more likely to contract diseases, simply give them something to wash with like a water tub, sink, pond, river, showers, baths, or if they are stuck in a hospital bed doctors can clean them by hand.

My fixtures have a flashing broken pipe icon. Whats wrong?

Check that they have a piped connection to the required buildings, showers and baths need a water tower, toilets need a water tower and sewage outlet\septic tank\water treatment plant, and radiators need a boiler. There's also a blocked drain mechanic where a cleaner needs to go and plunge the drain to clear it, it will read blocked in the inspect tab if that's the case, this can also happen to sewage outlets if too much sewage has filled the cells around it and its blocked the flow, use the remove sewage designator to clear it and place more sewage outlets or septic tanks to handle the load.

My pawns, are getting sick after using a toilet! Help.

Using a toilet, or walking through sewage can contaminate a colonist. If the colonist then doesn't wash within a couple of days they can contract diseases like diarrhea and cholera. If there is a nearby basin or water tub then they will automatically wash their hands after using the toilet, and make sure they have enough facilities to wash daily. Washing hands\taking a shower removes contamination completely and also removes any carried dirt. Being contaminated also increases chance for food poisoning so make sure your cooks are washing their hands after using the loo.

Why are my colonists urinating on the floor around the toilet and not in the toilet?

They are drunk.

My water tower says its contaminated, how did it happen and how can i stop it? To fix a contaminated water tower first solve the source of contamination, then press the drain button on the tower to empty it. Or you can research and build a water treatment system which can clean all contaminated water and water towers. Water towers become contaminated if any connected well has a source of pollution within its area. If enough sources of pollution are detected that it can cause contamination of a water tower then an alert message should appear explaining exactly what is causing the pollution. Sources of pollution include sewage, dead bodies, deep drills, graves, burn pits, ash, poison ships, oil spills from Rimefeller, toxic fallout, and anything else that modders have patched into the pollution types def in bad hygiene.

Can i build hidden underground pipes?

There is a mod setting to change how pipes are rendered, by default pipes are visible above ground and hidden under constructed floors, you can change the setting to hide them completely