Thanks to Tom for the article on peak phosphorus. The take-home message there was that we need to recycle phosphorus in order to conserve our declining geologic sources. That means beneficial reuse of human and animal "wastes". For more on ecosanitation and urine diversion, see the following:
http://www.howtopedia.org/en/Category:Sanitation Joel At 05:55 PM 3/3/09 -0800, you wrote: >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 _______________________________________________ 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
