If you have 50 to 100 sf or space and some modest power, the coolest technology and nicest guy I've encountered in the alternative plumbing world is Clint Elston of (Equaris, inc). Between their aerobic composter (no smells or flies!) and their greywater treatment setup, you can put a toilet anywhere. it's easier to treat the water to be 100% potable and higher quality then tap water, then stopping treatment half way. the key is separation of solid and liquid wastes (you know what I mean). Equaris makes a turnkey system for about $20k that will reduce the water consumption of an typical house to only 3 gallons a day (lost to evaporation). There are many sites where septic/sub-surface treatment isn't possible, or not appropriate, or require very low water use.

The alternative would be create a treatment wetland - hire a good Landscape Architect to help.

Funny you ask this question now, since the AIA-COTE listserve has been having an active discussion about water treatment technologies, sparked by this inquiry (names omitted for privacy - if you would like the original message/sender's names - drop me a note):

We are researching bathroom possibilities for a sensitive site -- one of the more popular overlooks in Yosemite National Park. The site does not have sewer or water but electricity is fairly close. The overlook can receive as many as 5,000 to 7,000 visitors per day. Does anyone have experience with or know about composting, incinerating or any other kind of waterless toilets that can take this kind of high volume?

following responses include
a link to the epa's wastewater site

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...the Island wood project on Bainbridge Island we used Clivus Multrum composting toilets for the classroom building. The use was not this high but I am fairly sure that they have a system that can accommodate that use.

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Buckminster Fuller once noted that the average human being's solid waste coudn't fill two five gallon buckets in a single year and is a na excellent source of methane gas. He had wanted to package the stuff solidly and remove it to r-sue it. He noted "don't waste the waste." It is something to consider for sure.

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Japan and China have been using human waste as fertilizer for a very long time -- 2,500 years or longer in China. Those countries don't suffer from the ICKY factor like the U.S. does. Check the following link if you're interested in how China uses human waste as fertilizer. link.

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For those that are interested ... (this is a subject that catches my interest, as it seems so fundamental to the way we live... if human waste is actually resource instead of a pathogenic waste product, ... think of the energy we spend getting 'rid' of the stuff.)

My understanding; human 'pee' is sterile; always has been, and always will be, even when you are ill. It is also a great fertilizer. I have been experimenting informally at my own cabin in Maine, and can testify that the area where I pee outside has (by far) the best grass.

Human solid waste, however, is not sterile, and can contain nasty disease-type stuff. I have also been told that it's capacity as a fertilizer is 'limited'. Again, at my place in Maine; I have been burying the solid waste in small hand-dug pits about 2' deep, in clay-ey soil that does not grow much. When we return a couple weeks later, that same spot has sprouted a fantastic growth of weedy stuff. We have not used it on any real plants yet.

Please speak up if you know more than I do about this; I am interested!

Last year at this time, I had the opportunity to tour Israel/Palestine to learn about ancient sustainable design practices. I have photographs of a pre-Christian area site (Avdot, in the Negev desert) where you can see that they were catching the human waste in separate large urns (one for liquids only at the downstream end of the urinal; the others for combined liquid and solid waste; presumably to be carted off and used on the fields in this very arid region. The aridity would have helped to dry-out the solid wastes and make it less 'icky', before application to the fields.

Happy to share the photos if anyone is interested... it is really remarkable.

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I find the whole human waster as fertilizer interesting in that it is so basic I'm puzzled why it causes so much dissension sometimes. They still use human waste as fertilizer in Southeast PA and have been as far back as the 1970's, maybe earlier. Philly's "sludge" is trucked off to Lancaster and York counties where it goes onto the fields when the farmers need it. The only problems arose when houses started being built out into the farmland and next to these farms. The "new" neighbors would fuss, but the farms were there first and the smell was only there once a year (unlike paper mill odors year round which are far worse). I'm not sure where the battle is today, a few years ago the "new" neighbors were organizing and claiming disease and toxins were harming kids, but no conclusive proof has ever been shown. The farmers in southern Lancaster County organized back in the 70's into a coop and agreed to binding deed restrictions they put own their own properties that disallows any subdividing except for 1 acre parcels for each child of theirs and cannot be subdivided again for another generation. This has slowed the suburban growth there and the fertilizer issue. The rest of the county, north and east mostly, has grown so much that wells are going dry. What was once the most fertile land in the world is becoming lawns that are sprinklered. This short-sightedness is infuriating to me and to those who restricted their own land and in turn, their future possible retirement lotteries of selling off the farmland.
I remember the corn and soybeans growing a lot taller and fuller where the drain fields extended into the planted rows...and no one got sick from that food. Reusing human waste is something we should absolutely be doing, nature doesn't waste anything, why should we.

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I used to live in Orange County, California. The County forbids use of sludge as a fertilizer because they want to protect ground water supplies from toxic contaminates. So, the sludge is trucked hundreds of miles away to another county with fewer issues regarding ground water contamination. Out-of-sight, so out-of-mind -- it's less disturbing that way. The fertilizer sludge is limit to uses for certain types of crops because of concerns about toxic contaminates.

Evidently, the amount of toxic contaminates has increased as our society has become smarter. Sewage sludge is a combination of human waste (pharmaceuticals), household chemicals (shampoo, bleach, toilet cleaners), stormwater run-off (leaked automotive fluids), and commercial and industrial wastes (dumping of toxics into sewage lines permitted). This is probably why the uses are limited in agriculture.

A water expert from Sweden prepared a study titled "Sustainable Sludge Handling" on how to remove and even recover some of metals from sludge. http://www.lwr.kth.se/Forskningsprojekt/Polishproject/JPS3s73.pdf It looks like there are potential solutions to cleaning up the sludge from municipal systems which could expand it's use as an agricultural fertilizer. The rest of the World seems to be ahead of the U.S. on the topic of sustainable sludge.

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I have not participated in any of these comments yet because I fear my knowledge is not on par with many of those who post to this forum. I have thoroughly enjoyed reading all the comments and discussions, though, and have learned a tremendous amount through this. And this topic is no different, however, our landscape architect ...had a discussion about this topic. She says:

- Human pee can be a good fertilizer in alkaline soil, but probably would not be so good in an acid soil.
- Just giving the plants this extra water would be a benefit – especially in our arid environment in Colorado.
- If you have a kidney or urinary infection, the pee would not be sterile.
- Human solid waste is generally too high in heavy metals to be used as fertilizer. Could be ok for some plants, though generally not crops for human consumption.

So how do we convince any code officials that some of this stuff is ok?...I don’t know too many that are willing to experiment in their own jurisdiction

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and the latest post by archinect's very own:

Funny how a topic like this can provoke some enlightening discussion.

From a landscape perspective, there is a difference between biosolids (composed municipal sludge) and what you would produce with a composting toilet at home. A clarification, most people are not contaminated with heavy metals nor would their homemade composted waste be contaminated by metals. Municipal biosolids may contain varying levels of heavy metals and non-organic chemistry from industrial/commercial effluent depending on the age of the wastewater infrastructure and how well the locality regulated industrial sources. This is the strongest argument for localized/distributed treatment of household sewage just to keep it free of industrial contamination so it can be used as a fertilizer. There is a huge difference between sources/types of biosolids on the market (known as class A, B, & C biosolids) and some municipalities are well know for rigorous standards, testing and purity.

Another clarification is that composting will break down/neutralize most organic chemicals/pathogens/ pharmaceuticals, but most municipal sewage treatment can't remove most drugs from the effluent due to the type/cost of processing to remove them.

That said, biosolids are a common agent for site remediation of heavy metal contamination and mine reclaimation since compost is highly reactive media and strongly binds the metals into a non-soluble state (it's all in the magic of soil chemistry).

For more info, check out EPA biosolids website

ciao!

Barry Lehrman

barry.

thanks for taking the time to write a great response. the links you attached have been helpful in educating myself as well as the client. originally i had been thinking of some type of separation system where we could collect the water from the sinks, showers, dishwasher, and laundry, while flushing the toilet water and the garbage disposal directly to the sewer. because of budget and space concerns this might still be the reality.

we are currently just beginning schematic design so i will keep you posted as things move along.

i am still surprised that there is not more talk/products out there with green being such a big buzz word right now. here in los angeles the talk of water conservation has been going on for quite a while. but i guess it is limited to asking homeowners to limit their usage for watering the lawn.

thanks again.

Spaceghost - I just shared the following LATimes article with AIA-COTE yesterday- maybe you already read it. the article didn't have a hook or picture worthy of posting to archinect news, but here it is for you:

Dear COTE-

Inspired by the following article in the LATimes, I'm looking for information about what jurisdictions allow residential irrigation/recycling of grey water with minimal treatment. Also anybody know about other legislative successes regarding grey water recycling?


[b]Gray water's red tape[b]
Homeowners who want to recycle water from sinks and bathtubs for irrigation jump through governmental hoops first.
By Nancy Yoshihara, Times Staff Writer - [email protected]
March 29, 2007

THE Western red bud trees, ceanothus, island snapdragon and other native flora have been planted with care and precision in front of a new Santa Monica house. Good thing they're not thirsty plants, because not one drop of water has flowed from a special irrigation system installed last June.

Homeowner Steve Glenn is frustrated. He's still waiting for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to sign off in order to turn on the underground drip system, which will recycle water from his bathroom sinks, showers, laundry sink and clothes washer.

Using so-called gray water during what may be a record dry year seems like a no-brainer, but Glenn is finding otherwise. Residents who want to conserve a precious natural resource encounter road blocks, often in the form of red tape.

"I knew there weren't many residential gray-water systems," Glenn says of the drawn-out procedure to get his final certificate of occupancy. "I knew the process was not refined, but I didn't realize it would be this hard."[i]

The rest of the article is here:
LAtimes

BL
LEED-AP


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the responses so far:

[i]Here in Colorado water is king, and the water boards hold all the power. It is generally illegal in the state of Colorado to use water twice, and the rainwater that falls on our roofs is not our legal property. That pretty much wipes out any grey water use.

That being said, however, we often find code officials who really don’t care what the state law is and only feel the need to enforce the building code. In Golden we had such an official and he allowed us to do grey water recycling on a project as long as we met the requirements of the IBC (which are much more lenient than the 97 UBC). We have to couple that, though, with an owner who is willing to take a chance they won’t get caught. Of course, that means we can’t advertise the benefits of this and tout a project as a model for others to follow.

I would like to see the federal government pass a law that no jurisdiction can make reuse of water illegal. Life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and the God-given right to preserve our natural resources.


From an bay area architect, got this response:
At West Coast Green in 06 a home in SF was presented. I'm sorry I don't have the name but perhaps the SF AIA can help. It is a town house that has the first modern cistern in SF. All storm water was collected along with all grey water in the house. I believe it may have included washing machine water, but not sure.

The cistern is located below the rear deck. They said it provided both toilet
flushing water and all irrigation through our dry season which is about 9
months. The actually had to pay something like $30,000. bond to the City of SF because it was "new" technology!

I have a town home subdivision in the early stages for the town of Cloverdale in California. The client is well versed in greywater systems and would like to implement it. I can keep you posted if you like.