Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Pissing in Drinking Water

Disgusting thought, isn't it? Yet we do it every single day!

Municipalities spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to provide safe drinking water to our homes, and what do we do? We urinate and defecate in it, via the porcelain throne. Then, of course, that once-safe drinking water is now "contaminated" and hundreds of thousands more dollars are spent to get rid of it, either by municipal sewage systems or a gazillion home septic systems.

Consider this: the urine and solid matters we eliminate are made up of nutrients including nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus that either our bodies haven't used, or that are by-products of our digestive systems. Those liquids and solids contain lots of nutrients, just like the animal manure we put in compost piles. Our urine, in fact, is actually sterile. "Urine can contain up to 90 percent of the N (nitrogen), up to 50 percent of the P (phosphorus) and up to 70 percent of the K (potassium) present in human excreta." (Source)

While we throw away all the nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium we have added to our drinking water, we also go out and buy manufactured nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, aka fertilizer, in bags to put on our gardens to grow green plants. HUH?? 

"This waste is particularly worrisome now because the cheaper sources of commercial fertilizer for farming are declining. Competing uses for natural gas, our biggest source of nitrogen fertilizer, is driving up prices. Potash deposits in Canada, our handiest source, are declining, and talk of opening up new mines in the rainforest does not sit well with the environmental community. Some specialized phosphorus fertilizers are very expensive. The day is coming when we must start thinking about scrupulously saving our wastes for fertilizer as humans have done, especially in Asia, for centuries." ~Gene Logsdon

So why do we use our very expensive drinking water as a vehicle to throw away those nutrients?

Simple answer: fear and ignorance... plus a healthy dose of "comfort zone" boundaries coupled with inertia.

When the liquid and/or dry ingredients are collected from home in a safe manner, it can be odorless, cheap and sustainable, both for us and the planet we inhabit. (Please do not confuse the toxic material from public waste treatment plants as acceptable or the same thing. Those waste systems contain many materials dumped in the system like drugs, paints, solvents, cleaning agents, oils, and who knows what else, in addition to human excrement.)


Human waste material can be collected in a fancy composting toilet like the one pictured above made by environlet™ (where the works are hidden), or even in a simple but adequate bucket with a lid. The liquid components can be collected separately or together in the bucket.

"Bucket and Lid" dry matter system (radiator optional!) photo from Sustainable Sanitation

In the bucket method, if waste is covered immediately with a carbon material like sawdust, coconut coir or peat moss, it will have no odor even if it remains in the bathroom until the container is full enough to empty. When enough is collected, it can be put in a dark-colored plastic 55 gallon barrel and allowed to compost in the sun for 9 months to a year, or it can be put in a well-managed garden compost pile... and either way, when it is fully composted is just like the stuff from our regular garden compost piles... FREE, and sustainable!

Liquid waste material, aka urine, can be collected separately and used immediately as fertilizer in the garden, BUT it needs to be diluted about 1:10 with WATER so it doesn't burn plants. It doesn't have to be diluted with the expensive drinking water we buy either (whether from the city, our own electric-powered well pumps, or in bottles from a store). It can be collected rain water, or water from a creek or even a puddle. You just don't want to burn the plants.

Applying Diluted Urine, Phillipines; photo by Sustainable Sanitation

Large-scale Urine Application in Sweden. photo by Sustainable Sanitation

I have read a little about humanure for many years, and always dismissed the concept, but thinking it would fit in a rustic, off-grid situation. I never really looked at the realities of the nutrients we throw away, only to buy the same soil nutrients from a garden store. Nor did I consider the implications of trashing those nutrients in perfectly good drinking water!

However, now that I AM aware, it will boil down to a matter of how far I'm willing exceed my comfort zone to be a better steward and increase my efforts at sustainability.

Realistically, I can't add a composting toilet to my bathroom (space-wise) unless I removed the existing toilet, but that could be a project for next summer when the temps are warmer and I can put up a temporary outdoor "bucket" facility. Another restraining factor is that I co-own this house with my half-sister and she'll balk at the thought, even though she has her own private bathroom.

I just might install a composting toilet to my private bathroom in spring or summer anyway if I can afford it (in spite of any objections my sis may have) because a new porcelain throne could be re-installed later for any potential resale of the property, and the nutrient benefits I would gain are worth it!


I could, however, begin now to collect my urine, and add it diluted for nutrients my garden soil every day... even now during winter since our ground seldom freezes solid for more than a few days. As a matter of fact, I did collect urine for most of 1 day, and added it diluted to a cold compost pile the day after Christmas. Not sure I want to do that every day until I can get a good system.

(I should mention I have not read the books listed below, so I'm not sure of safety measures or procedures of collecting urine inside and keeping it for more than a day.)

Given the increasing shortage and cost of fertilizers, and the expense of clean, potable water almost everywhere, does it make sense to keep pissing in our drinking water?



Notes:
There are some problems in making these nutrients safe when they are just mixed together and dumped in a pit, as was typical in the smelly and probably toxic outhouses of generations past. The Humanure Handbook by Joseph Jenkins recommends collecting dry and liquid matter together in a carbon matrix, and adding them to a garden compost bin weekly using some safe guidelines. He also has a website for more information and photos.

Gene Logsdon, a contrary farmer whom I admire, has just written Holy Shit: Managing Manure to Save Mankind, and it's on my WishList.

Mr. Logsdon has this to say just about the impact of just pet waste products:

What are we throwing away in money? In Holy Shit I use my own way to come up with a figure. Experts say that ten tons of animal manure and bedding per year can adequately fertilize an acre of farmland. Therefore we have enough pet manure in this country to fertilize something like 20 million acres every year. If a farmer is paying out $100 an acre for commercial fertilizer (right now it’s lower than that, last year higher) we’re talking about a value for pet manure of something like two billion bucks.

And the cost of throwing it away in the landfill or sewage treatment system is a whole lot more.


ps...
The conceptual image of "pissing in drinking water" is not an original thought of mine; it came from Nick Ritar in a TEDx talk.





9 comments:

  1. I could, however, begin now to collect my urine, and add it diluted for nutrients my garden soil every day...

    Two summers in a row we've had a visitor to the raised beds. We mulch heavily with grass clippings which rot down very quickly and produce lots of worms and insects between the soil and the mulch. Two summers in a row a bit of pee in a two-litre Pepsi bottle with a detergent top replacing the cap has deterred the visitor immediately upon sprinkling on the mulch. I don't dilute because it's not much that I use and it's not the top of the mulch where it quickly evaporates.

    Regards,
    Mike

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  2. I've heard many stories like that about human urine acting as an animal deterrent, but didn't even think of that aspect in writing this post. Thanks for the reminder, Mike!

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  3. Thanks for posting this. I have been "thinking" about using urine for a couple of years now. I guess it's time to get going!

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  4. Hi there - I've been enjoying your posts. I've been using our family's urine for a few years now as true
    golden treasure in the garden. Its easy with the guys, of course. For myself I use an old (large) plastic mixing bowl that had been relegated to outdoor use years ago. It sits in my toilet bowl when I know that I will only be depositing fluids. I used to use plastic gloves, but have long since lost the need to do that.
    I empty the bowl into a 5 gallon bucket sitting in my tub. Snap the lid back on the bucket, scrub out the bowl, and leave it sitting in the tub for next use. I empty the men's containers into the bucket once a day, and carry it out to deposit where most needed. In the winter you can pour it on full strength if you prefer, or even in the summer in an area that is fallow or not currently in use. When starting a new garden area I use the lasagna method, layering cardboard and newspaper and leaves and plant material, and then drenching in liquid gold. At any rate, after emptying the bucket I scrub it out so it is ready for the next deposits. There has been no smell from this process, and my garden loves it. I'm not yet set up for composting the solids - but hoping to be in the next year. Sara

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  5. Thanks, Sara. Nice to hear from someone who is actually doing this and having good results in their garden!

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  6. I think Green Gulch tried composting their humanure for a while, but it takes too much attention for their residents to do it safely from a such variety of people of unknown health status that a retreat center has. The possibility of parasite/disease transmission just made it impractical for their purposes.

    However, I do think that in a closed system such as a household, it is much more manageable. I have a friend of the attentive to detail type that has a composting toilet to good effect. She has developed a persistent problem w/flies in the system, due to the screen on the vent coming off w/out her knowing about it.

    We do spread our dog manure out on the pasture & we're working towards getting our large donkey manure pile spread. I use lots & lots of that in my veg garden to great benefit. =0) I have wondered about the big fertilizer 'crisis' in this country juxtaposed against the huge livestock manure 'problem'. eh? It's like farmers on food stamps... eh? There's a serious disconnect out there...

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  7. Another downside to the municipal 'manure'... in some places fracking water is being sent thru the systems & it can be very high in radioactive elements, as well as heavy metals & whatever 'proprietary' chemicals the company uses. The municipal treatment centers aren't really set up to A) deal w/the volume of water & B) monitor many of the contaminants that may be in the effluent, such as radioactivity. Frightening to think of the implications.

    =^(

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  8. Urine really is the low hanging fruit. We've been playing with it for about a year, with great results. Since we live in a very rustic location (no neighbors, no indoor plumbing), I just pee in a bucket while my husband pees into a milk jug. In the winter, keeping these containers of pee outside makes it very easy --- they don't start to smell until they're full and ready to pour on my piles of wood waste (to become hugelkultur mounds). In the summer, they need to be emptied more often, or lidded.

    Even easier is to use urine to water houseplants. I pee in a bucket (about a quart) and add about a gallon of water, then use the mixture on my hungry dwarf citrus trees. We got 31 lemons off our dwarf lemon this year using that method! (Last year, we only got about a dozen without urine.) Just be sure to use urine immediately if watering houseplants or you'll stink up your house.

    Another good use for urine is to activate biochar. I sift the chunks of charcoal out of my woodstove and put them in a bucket to save until spring. Then I soak them in urine for a day before applying the charcoal to the soil.

    I found Liquid Gold to be a much more useful book than Holy Shit when it comes to hands on applications. The former is short, but it's got all of the basics.

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  9. Another positive reinforcement! Thanks Anna.

    I have used urine to inoculate biochar, just as you do... on sifted and saved chunks from the woodstove ashes!

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