For millions of people living in third world countries, access to basic sanitation facilities is limited or nonexistent.  In many of these areas, the lack of running water means that the same rivers used for bathing and obtaining cooking water are also used for defecating and dumping garbage.  The biggest problem with such contamination is the threat of waterborne illness, a leading cause of death among infants and children in impoverished countries.  One of the best possible solutions to this problem is waterless toilets.

Waterless toilets are not a new invention; in fact, they’ve been around for decades.  One of the biggest barriers to their use and integration in third world nations is education.  Groups like the Peace Corps and UNICEF routinely go into such countries to promote better sanitation by making waterless toilets available and educating people on how to use and maintain them. Unfortunately, there are far more areas that need such assistance than there are volunteer groups and funds to provide it.

There are various types of waterless toilets available today, and some are more feasible than others for use in third world nations.  Probably the most commonly used is the sawdust toilet because of its extremely simple design.  Consisting of nothing more than a five gallon bucket fitted with a toilet seat on top, sawdust toilets are very inexpensive to build and distribute on a large scale. 

All that is required to maintain the system is an ample supply of sawdust, peat moss, sand, or any other fine particulate substance.  This material is used to cover the waste inside the toilet after each use, so as to prevent odors in the bathroom area.  In arid climates with plenty of sandy soil, these systems are quite feasible for people to maintain.  However, sawdust toilets are a good solution only for people living in remote or rural areas, because they do require some land in an area at least fifty yards or so from the primary residence. 

This land should be a location where the composting pile can be kept and buckets routinely emptied as they fill up.  Obviously, in densely populated urban areas, this would not work.

A better alternative for urban areas are waterless composting toilets.  These are professionally manufactured systems that are designed to hold all waste and compost it internally.  The primary problem with this solution is the cost.  Waterless composting toilets are often prohibitively expensive and require grants or donation from generous benefactors to implement them on a large scale. 

The advantage to composting toilets is that they don’t require a lot of land space, since all waste is handled within the toilet itself.  They are very simple to use and maintain; however, they do require an ongoing supply of bulking material, such as peat moss and wood chips.  This bulking material should be added to the toilet on a daily basis in order to maintain the correct balance of carbon and nitrogen within the compost.  This will help the waste to break down quickly and without creating unpleasant odors. 

Access to such a bulking material may be limited in some urban areas and also might be financially unfeasible for people to purchase, and this could create another potential barrier to their use.  Ideally, if an urban municipality could supply bulking material to residents at a minimal cost, this hurdle could be overcome.

One way or another, better sanitation facilities are desperately needed in third world countries.  Millions of people fall ill and thousands die each year due to illnesses caused by contaminated water supplies.  Waterless toilets would allow residents of such countries to dispose of their waste in a hygienic manner without wasting or contaminating their limited freshwater resources.

-
About the Author:
For more information on waterless toilets and composting toilets, please visit http://www.composting-toilet-store.com/
Article Source

Please Note... All links within articles are placed by their author-owners and not by this blog.Products with in those links may or may not be the best in the world.If it sounds too good to be true it could be a scam.Articles are posted for their info,ideas and or entertainment value only.

Powered By WP Footer

There are many pros to installing a composting toilet: money savings for the owner, improved facilities when the composting toilet is replacing an old outhouse, and particularly environmental benefits.  In this article, we’re going to discuss a few of the ways that composting toilets make a very big and very positive impact on the world around us.

Environmental Benefit 1-Less Pollution
The disposal of human waste is one of the largest sources of pollution, water contamination, and disease on earth.  In many third world countries, basic sanitation systems are not present, meaning that people are simultaneously drinking from and eliminating in the same streams and rivers.  The health implications of this are obvious.  The World Health Organization estimates that 80% of all disease and death in developing countries is cause by polluted water, with fecal matter being one of the major contaminants of freshwater around the world.

Even in developed countries like the United States, 20% of people are getting their tap water from private wells, which are easily contaminated by old, failing septic systems that owners don’t want to spend the money to repair or replace.  Septic systems should be inspected every 2 years and pumped every 3-5 years to ensure proper functioning and to prevent possible contamination of nearby wells and other groundwater.  Failure to do so can lead to fecal contamination causing dysentery and even hepatitis.

Environmental Benefit 2-Use Less Water
Since many composting toilet systems are waterless, and since about 25% of the average American home’s water consumption is used to flush toilets, the potential water savings from composting toilets are huge.  As much as 80 to 90 gallons of water per day, or approximately 32,000 gallons per year, can be saved in a U.S. household simply by installing composting toilets.  When freshwater is saved, this also means that energy is saved-the energy that would otherwise go into wastewater treatment plants where wastewater is made clean again.

Environmental Benefit 3-Nutrients are Recycled, Not Wasted
Did you know that over 90% of the waste we produce is actually water?  When the water is removed, and salts are oxidized, only about 3% of the original waste is left.  When this small 3% is properly decomposed, valuable nutrients are leftover, creating a fertilizer that is ideal for plants, trees, and shrubs.  By flushing our waste down the drain, we waste an enormous amount of water simply to transport the waste to another location where those valuable nutrients will be disposed of, instead of recycled back to nature.  A composting toilet, on the other hand is a completely self-sufficient system that does not waste water and uses very little energy.

The primary function of any composting toilet is to first evaporate all the water, leaving behind the very small amount of solid matter.  In a properly functioning composting toilet, this solid matter need not be seen or dealt with directly by the homeowner until it is completely processed (decomposed), at which point it will look like nothing more than inoffensive garden soil.  This compost can then be added to your flower garden, trees, or shrubs, where it will provide excellent growth benefits for those plants.

As anyone can see, composting toilets make a lot of sense when compared to their traditional, water-wasting counterparts.  So if you are someone who is concerned about the environment, or who simply wants to save money on your water bill, and if you need to replace a toilet in the near future, it might be time to give composting toilets a little further consideration and research.  Today’s modern systems are clean and sleek, completely odorless, and very easy to install and maintain.  By installing a composting toilet, you’ll save money in the long run, and you can rest easy knowing that you’re doing something really great for the environment, too.

Ellen Bell works for the Composting Toilet Store. For more information about waterless composting toilets or to request a free catalog, visit us at http://www.composting-toilet-store.com/Compost_Toilets_s/34.htm

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/environment-articles/composting-toilet-environmental-benefits-1645601.html

Please Note... All links within articles are placed by their author-owners and not by this blog.Products with in those links may or may not be the best in the world.If it sounds too good to be true it could be a scam.Articles are posted for their info,ideas and or entertainment value only.

Powered By WP Footer