Composting Toilets Offer Solution to Water, Sanitation Problems

[jpak]

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4751

Predictions of more-severe droughts and worsening water shortages as the Earth’s climate changes have led to an increased interest in composting toilets. These toilets, once deemed just for “hippies” or for areas without access to municipal sanitation, have evolved into sophisticated machines that many now prefer to conventional toilets. In addition to potentially saving the planet billions of liters of water a day through no-flush or extremely low-flush systems, composting toilets can provide nutrient-rich compost and even fertilizer for crops and other vegetation.

According to the advocacy group Composting Toilet World, the basic practice of composting human waste has been used in China for centuries, and it is still prevalent in some rural areas today. Historical as well as modern composting toilets function much like conventional flush toilets, but they use little or no water. Instead of sending waste into the municipal waste stream, composting toilets store it in an on-site compartment to facilitate natural aerobic decomposition, eventually producing a nutrient-rich compost. When used properly, the systems are odorless and kill any waste-borne pathogens. Some systems separate liquid from solid waste to create a liquid fertilizer in addition to the compost. Toilet designs range from the relatively simple, do-it-yourself bucket or bin systems featured in The Humanure Handbook, to hi-tech patented systems like Biolet, Envirolet, and Sun-Mar.

Typical “low-flush” toilets in the United States and Canada use 6 liters (1.6 gallons) of water per flush, notes Scott Smith, vice president of Canada-based Sancor Industries, which manufactures Envirolet Composting Toilet Systems. Thus, by switching to a no-flush composting toilet, a person can save more than 8,000 liters (2,000 gallons) of water per year, assuming an average flush rate of four times daily. “In 25, 50, 100 years, we probably won’t have…the luxury of using clean water to wash away waste,” Smith observes.

For many parts of the world, flushing with clean water (often water that has been purified to drinking quality standards) has never been an option. According to the World Health Organization, as many as 1.1 billion people, almost all in the developing world, still do not have access to safe water, and some 2.6 billion people—about 4 in 10—lack access to basic sanitation. Every year, 1.6 million people die from diarrhoeal diseases spread by unsafe drinking water and poor sanitation.

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[AndreaCG]

1. 1.6 million who die of diarrhea seems low

Children are especially vulnerable.

[jeffreyi]

2. A local friend

has been using the Humanure "system" for a couple of years ("The Humanure Handbook" is mentioned in the article)

Positives: cheap, practical, easy, clean, odor and vermin-free
Negatives: none, really.

[kestrel91316]

4. I LOVE his concept of a sawdust bucket toilet!!!!

I want to buy a little house someday and switch to a bucket toilet on the sly, and freak out my germ-phobic yuppie sister!

And I have a degree in microbiology. My adviser and employer in college taught my class on soil and water microbiology. So I know my poop germs........

Sawdust bucket toilets ROCK!!!!!!!!

[Kolesar]

3. Ohio's new septic system laws mean $25,000+ systems are required ...

... for many homes that have poor systems. One cannot sell their house without financing a new system. What do these composting systems cost?

[jpak]

5. Sun-Mar and Enviorlet systems are under $2000

http://www.mtlion.com/sunmar/order.htm

http://www.envirolet.com/prices.html

[Kolesar]

6. thanks.

Now I contemplate whether and how state government approves these. I noted that one of them needed a "blackwater" liquid drain to a 8 square foot "dry well".