A serious question about nightsoil

I believe many countries deal with their sewage by fermenting it and then spraying it on farmland. This is not just poor countries, I believe many western european countries do this too.

As I have a plot of land in the middle of nowhere, with no planning permission on it, I have done some reading about compost loos or "treebogs". It seems that if you make your hideout out of living willow, and plant comfrey round the outside, then you can safely use it as a toilet without risk of any leakage contaminating anything because between the willow and the comfrey, and leakage is quickly taken up. The stuff that didn't leak off (in theory all of it in a properly built unit) is left to rot for six months to a year and then used on the land as fertiliser.

I haven't built one of these things, but may well do in the future.

All in all, why should we be so disgusted about using human waste as a fertiliser when we would think nothing of using animal waste, and at least we know what we've eaten and where we've been.

 

Eeew!!!

Ill admit that I regularly pee in the compost bin in my own garden to save taking boots off and going inside, same for the gardens I work in.

C***ing in buckets then sieving it not a chance in hell !!!! Id rather have slightly samller plants!!!!!!

 

"why should we be so disgusted about using human waste as a fertiliser when we would think nothing of using animal waste"

I believe that there is a difference between the "waste" from animals that eat meat (like us, Dogs, Cats, etc) and those that just eat grass (cow, pig, horse muck) - in terms of the harmful pathogens that they can contain.

The natural revulsion to the former, and the tolerance to the latter, is possibly a useful side effect of evolution.

 

That's a very good point, and I agree it is repulsive to think about, but at the same time, properly treated it is harmless. I certainly wouldn't go walking on a freshly manured patch of ground if it was untreated human waste, but if it had been left to rott really well and/or processed in some way then I expect the microbial/fungal activity in the ground would quickly render it safe.

 

I don`t think it`s anything to be disgusted about, it`s an unfortunate truth that there probably isn`t an inch of soil anywhere on the planet that hasn`t seen the interior of a digestive tract of something.


What is the environmental impact of our current sewerage system-if anyone knows I`d be interested.

 

Most seweradge solids are spread on agricultural land after 12 or more months of bacterial digestion. The urine goes through a filter bed and is discharged.

Im sure there are ruless about were the solids can be spread though.

 

"What is the environmental impact of our current sewerage system"

Separate topic, but I resent using water treated to drinking-quality for irrigation.

I'd love to have a piped "grey water" supply, similar to what I have seen in the Mediterranean countries; probably cheaper, certainly less environmental impact.

If I can s****e together the funds we plan to replace our ancient sceptic tank with a more modern system that "purifies" the water, sufficient to use for irrigation. Currently about 50% of our annual water usage goes on the garden, and if we treated our effluent we could reuse that - i.e. reduce our overal water consumption by half.

Improving our rainwater harvesting would help too.

 

Kristen, did you see Its Not Easy Being Green on BBC last night? There is a couple shown each episode who are doing up their house to be as "carbon neutral" as possible. Last night they showed them digging a huge whole in their back garden to sink a water tank that will contain rain water to use for flushing their toilet, running dishwasher, washing machine and any other grey water usage. They're doing it in a London townhouse garden.

 

"did you see Its Not Easy Being Green on BBC last night"

Recorded ... so will see "soon" I don't think its as hands-on as the previous series, but enjoyable none the less.

Rainwater harvesting tanks are a bit dear - like everything to do with being more green :( It needs some government help, which will create more demand, which will drive price down with economies of scale etc. For my veg patch and garden I would need storage of about 35,000L to tide me over for a potential prolonged dry spell. That's a surprisingly large amount, of course, and also a lot of rainwater harvesting tank (£10,000 ) :( and with purified drinking water out of the tap only costs me £1 / 1,000L - not much incentive :( :( [I realise that I can make a cheaper store using IBCs or whatever, this just be way of illustration).

I'll lookforward to watching INEBG, thanks.

 

"surely its better that the local water company does it"

For drinking water, yes.

But for grey water I like the idea of reuse locally. The run-off from roofs, and now all the paved-over-front-gardens, is quite a significant cost for storm drainage infrastructure.

Like so many of these type of things, built into a new house the costs are affordable, but as a retro-fit the costs are hideous :(

Install a separate water supply to each of the loos, and (say) the washing machine in an existing house - probably loads of turmoil and make-good-and-mend afterwards. Nightmare :(

Brand new house - just run a second pipe alongside the cold feed; job done

 

There are a lot of things they could be installing in new builds-recycling water systems is only the tip of it. Solar panels on the roofs, proper insulation, etc, etc but all these things cost money and unless it becomes law, it ain't going to happen unless individuals request it.

It would be good to use rain water (lets face it, we have plenty these days) for the garden.

Funny, I remember when I moved to Sussex three years ago from London and discovered a hosepipe ban in place. Everyone thought this would be the shape of summers to come. Yeah right! The garden is like a swamp all winter