'One pipe fits all' is the usual approach used by our local governments to deal with our household waste-water.
By flushing liquid and solid human waste with large amounts of clean water - and then by flushing all that into all other household water.
But:
Is it clever to use 17.000 litres of drinkable water to flush away the 50 litres of faeces that we humans produce every year and then waste a huge amount of money and energy trying to clean and purify this water - so insufficiently that it can only be released to special fields or the ocean?
Is it hygienic to disperse pathogens and pharmaceuticals into our ground water aquifers thereby providing an optimal spreading and breeding ground? Water finds its way with all dissolved contaminants back into our food chain.
Is it sustainable to use artificial fertilisers on our gardens and crops when all of those nutrients are available in the huge amount of urine that we produce for free?
Is it good quality, pure tasting water which comes out of our town-water taps?
And how much will we have to pay for bottled and town water in 10 years?
It is time to start the smarter way towards
A new age of sanitation
We at Loopit are working for solutions which are in harmony with nature and are cost efficient.
We are part of the movement of hundreds of organizations worldwide that are enabling a new chapter in Eco-Sanitation.
In nature waste does not exist. Everything is a living circle. We Loop it and create value.
As it is with other rubbish : re-using starts with separation. Loopit-peehappy is an easy, most efficient way to start.
And best of course is not to create rubbish in the first place.
Pee: The urinal is only the first step. The amount of urine in our waste-water is only one part in a hundred, but 70 parts of hundred of the nutrients in the waste-water mix that causes so much trouble to our aquatic life.
Pure urine is not a serious hygienic issue. More than one third of all fertilizer used world-wide today could be substituted by human urine which is mostly pf better quality.
Poo comprises only a thousandth part of our domestic waste-water, only 50 litres per capita per year.
Faeces, when separated (see under DIY separation toilets), can easily be composted.
Even when you still use your flushing toilet, but mainly for faeces - because you use a urinal and treat the grey-water separately - you can use a solid waste worm digester.
Grey-water from baths and washing-machines can be used after very simple treatment to water your garden. (see under grey-water treatment)
For more background information check out the presentation we put together for an international water conference in Iraq - Kurdistan 2007.
We will publish more information about waste-water-separation.
We are currently developing technologies and products to separately treat urine, faeces and grey-water.
Is your community thinking of extending your waste-water plant?
Some commonly faced problems with alternative solutions :
too much volume: seperate grey water for use on site ( watering gardens etc )
too much solids and e-coli: On site primary treatment using a worm digester
(most commonly ) too much Nitrogen, Phosphorus: Install urinals and use or collect on site
How to produce good fertilizer using human urine
"Urine is unfortunately mostly a mineral fertilizer, but what we need is an organic one. This transformation can be made using a plant called Comfrey, that absorbs a lot of nitrogen and which creates a huge amount of biomass.
This we can turn into compost. Add some charcoal powder and you have a very good fertilizer.
Or pour urine onto a pile of sawdust and woodchips, add some humus and charcoal and turn it to compost. "
Ralf Otterpohl Univ. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Director Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection TUHH Hamburg University of Technology, Germany www.tuhh.de/aww Phone secretary +49-40 42 878-3207
See "Organic NZ" March -April 2018 "Growing with liquid gold
How to treat an use grey-water
Grey Water Treatment in Sand and Gravel Filters
Introduction to Grey Water Management
Domestic Grey Water Use : A guide