Crow and I just got back from a Rainbow Gathering where everyone is taught not to "go" near the water because we drink it. On the other end, I come back to my office where the auto-flush function causes the toilet to start flushing as soon as I walk in and not stop until after I leave the restroom entirely.
For a good book on the subject, check out the "Humanure Handbook" by Joseph Jenkins. It is available free online and we have a copy I am happy to share. --- On Sun, 3/1/09, Joel and Sarah Gagnon <[email protected]> wrote: > From: Joel and Sarah Gagnon <[email protected]> > Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] Fw: Yellow Is the New Green > To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv" > <[email protected]> > Date: Sunday, March 1, 2009, 7:10 PM > Indeed, it does. This is an apt form of source separation. > > Joel > > At 12:56 PM 3/1/09 -0500, you wrote: > >This article makes a nice sidebar to Tom Shelley's > TCLocal piece on > >waste treatment last month. > > > >Jon > > > >================================================================== > > > >The New York Times > >Op-Ed Contributor > >Yellow Is the New Green > >By ROSE GEORGE > > > >Woolley, England > > > >IN the far reaches of Shaanxi Province in northern > China, in an > >apple-producing village named Ganquanfang, I recently > visited a > >house belonging to two cheery primary-school teachers, > Zhang Min > >Shu and his wife, Wu Zhaoxian. Their house wasn't > exceptional -- a > >spacious yard, several rooms -- except for the > bathroom. There, up > >a few steps on a tiled platform, sat a toilet unlike > any I'd > >seen. Its pan was divided in two: solid waste went in > the back, > >and the front compartment collected urine. The liquids > and solids > >can, after a decent period of storage and composting, > be applied > >to the fields as pathogen-free, expense-free > fertilizer. > > > > From being unsure of wanting a toilet near the house > in the first > >place -- which is why the bathroom is at the far end of > their > >courtyard -- the couple had become so delighted with it > that they > >regretted not putting it next to the kitchen after all. > > > >What does this have to do with you? Mr. Zhang and Ms. > Wu's weird > >toilet -- known as a "urine diversion," or > NoMix (after a Swedish > >brand), toilet -- may have things to teach us all. > > > >In the industrialized world, most of us (except those > who have > >septic tanks) rely on wastewater-treatment plants to > remove our > >excrement from the drinking-water supply, in great > >volumes. (Toilets can use up to 30 percent of a > household's water > >supply.) This paradigm is rarely questioned, and I > understand why: > >flush toilets, sewers and wastewater-treatment plants > do a fine > >job of separating us from our potentially toxic waste, > and > >eliminating cholera and other waterborne diseases. > Without them, > >cities wouldn't work. > > > >But the paradigm is flawed. For a start, cleaning > sewage guzzles > >energy. Sewage treatment in Britain uses a quarter of > the energy > >generated by the country's largest coal-fired power > station. > > > >Then there is the nutrient problem: Human excrement is > rich in > >nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which is why it has > been a > >good fertilizer for millenniums and until surprisingly > >recently. (A 19th-century "sewage farm" in > Pasadena, Calif., was > >renowned for its tasty walnuts.) But when sewage is > dumped in the > >seas in great quantity, these nutrients can unbalance > and > >sometimes suffocate life, contributing to dead zones > (405 > >worldwide and counting, according to a recent study). > Sewage, > >according to the United Nations Environment Program, is > the > >biggest marine pollutant there is. Wastewater-treatment > plants > >work to extract the nutrients before discharging sewage > into water > >courses, but they can't remove them all. > > > >And there's also the urine problem. Urine, like any > liquid, is a > >headache for wastewater managers, because most sewer > systems take > >water from street drains along with the toilet, shower > and kitchen > >kind. Population growth is already taxing sewers. > (London's great > >network was built in the late 19th century with 25 > percent extra > >capacity, but a system designed for three million > people must now > >serve more than twice as many.) When a rainstorm > suddenly sends > >millions of gallons of water into an already overloaded > system, > >the extra must be stored or -- if storage is lacking -- > >discharged, untreated, into the nearest river or > harbor. Each > >week, New York City sends about 800 Olympic-size > swimming pools' > >worth of sewage-polluted water into nearby waters > because there's > >nowhere else for it to go. > > > >This probably won't kill us, but it's not > ideal. Environmental > >scientists in California have calculated that sewage > discharged > >near 28 Southern California beaches has contributed to > up to 1.5 > >million excess gastrointestinal illnesses, costing as > much as $51 > >million in health care. We can do better. > > > >Urine might be one way forward. Before engineers scoff > into their > >breakfast, consider that since at least 135,000 > urine-diversion > >toilets are in use in Sweden and that a Swiss aquatic > institute > >did a six-year study of urine separation that found in > its > >favor. In Sweden, some of the collected urine -- which > contains 80 > >percent of the nutrients in excrement -- is given to > farmers, with > >little objection. "If they can use urine and > it's cheap, they'll > >use it," said Petter Jenssen, a professor at the > Agricultural > >University of Norway. > > > >The price of phosphorus fertilizers rose 50 percent in > the past > >year in some parts of the world, as phosphate reserves, > the > >largest of which are in Morocco and China, dwindle. > (The gloomiest > >predictions suggest they'll be gone in 100 years.) > Although half > >of sewage sludge in the United States is already turned > into cheap > >fertilizer known as "biosolids," urine > contains hardly any of the > >pathogens or heavy metals that critics of biosolids > claim remain > >in mixed sewage, despite treatment. > > > >The rest of Sweden's collected urine goes to > municipal wastewater > >plants, but in much smaller volume so it's easier > to deal > >with. Research by Jac Wilsenach, now a civil engineer > in South > >Africa, found that removing even half of the > nutrient-rich urine > >enables the bacteria in the aeration tanks to munch all > the > >nitrogen and phosphate matter in solid waste in a > single day > >rather than the usual 30. Urine diversion also makes > for richer > >sludge and produces more methane, which can be turned > into gas or > >electricity, Mr. Wilsenach said. In short, separating > urine turns > >a guzzler of energy into a net producer. > > > >Putting urine to use is not new. A friend's > grandmother remembers > >the man coming round for the buckets 60 years ago in > Yorkshire, > >which were then sold to the tanning industry. The flush > toilet > >ended that, and no one -- my friend's nan included > -- wants > >outside privies again. "Any innovation in the > toilet that > >increases owner responsibility is probably seen as > downwardly > >mobile," said Carol Steinfeld, of New Bedford, > Mass., who imports > >NoMix toilets into the United States. > > > >Then there's the sitting problem: in most > urine-diversion toilets, > >a man must empty his bladder sitting down. This > wouldn't be a > >problem in some countries -- Germany recently > introduced a > >toilet-seat alarm that admonishes standers to sit -- > but it has > >been in others. Professor Jenssen was flummoxed by one > participant > >at a training workshop in Cuba who said firmly, > "If a man sits, he > >is homosexual." > > > >For now, "ecological sanitation" -- or more > sustainable sewage > >disposal -- thrives mostly in fast-industrializing > countries like > >China and India, which have money to invest in > alternatives but > >few sewers. A subculture of composting toilets exists > in the > >United States, but only a few hundred urine-diversion > toilets have > >been imported, Ms. Steinfeld said. > > > >Necessity -- whether occasioned by fertilizer prices, > carbon > >footprints or crippling capital investments -- could > bring > >change. At a recent wastewater conference, I watched in > >astonishment as dour engineers rushed to question a > speaker who > >had been talking about stabilization ponds, which clean > sewage > >using water, flow control, bacteria and light. > Normally, such > >things would be cast into the box of hippie-ish > ecological > >sanitation. But to managers struggling with energy > quotas and > >budget limitations, more sustainable, less > energy-intensive > >sanitation may be starting to make sense. > > > >As Mr. Zhang told me with a smile: "For me, > whatever the toilet > >is, I use it. For example, here we eat wheat. When we > go to the > >south of China, we eat rice. Otherwise we starve." > > > >It's been more than 100 years since Teddy Roosevelt > wondered aloud > >whether "civilized people ought to know how to > dispose of the > >sewage in some other way than putting it into the > drinking water." > >The Zhang family toilet is not the perfect answer to > Roosevelt, as > >it still uses some water, though 80 percent less than a > regular > >flush toilet uses. But at least it's the result of > someone asking > >the right questions. > > > >== > > > >Rose George is the author of "The Big Necessity: > The Unmentionable > >World of Human Waste and Why It Matters." > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >For more information about sustainability in the > Tompkins County area, > >please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > > >RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information > for: > >[email protected] > >http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > >Questions about the list? ask > [email protected] > >free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org > _______________________________________________ > For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins > County area, please visit: > http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ > > RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: > [email protected] > http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins > Questions about the list? ask > [email protected] > free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org _______________________________________________ For more information about sustainability in the Tompkins County area, please visit: http://www.sustainabletompkins.org/ RSS, archives, subscription & listserv information for: [email protected] http://lists.mutualaid.org/mailman/listinfo/sustainabletompkins Questions about the list? ask [email protected] free hosting by http://www.mutualaid.org
