ECOLOGICAL SANITATION SYSTEM USING HUMAN URINE AS A FERTILIZER TO REPLENISH NUTRIENT-DEPLETED AGRICULTUREAL SOIL

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

This came thru on my e-mail

Hi Gail,
Congrats on your EcoSan initiative. I, like everyone, am very interested in seeing your simple design. I have also applied some very simple designs here in Ecuador. One revolucionary and simplifying tidbit: empty rice sacks are sufficient to contain the feces, with plenty of dry leaves in the bottom before use and a cup of ashes/soil/sawdust ontop of each deposit.
Esp since you are looking at very dry places, I highly recommend adapting Peter Morgan's ArborLoo, in which the feces go into shallow holes in the ground, where a tree is later planted. No contact with the feces ever (until they are converted to delicious fruit on the tree). If people don't have unlimited places to dig, short-lived trees or plants may be planted (such as papaya, banana or squash). Definately try to visitt Peter Morgan, but I do agree that given the huge need, we can apply simpler, faster and more economical options. It seems a waste to burn the feces, although firewood may be really lacking ...but will people want to cook on dried feces? Also, it seems it may be hard to burn them with all the ashes or soil mixed in. One solution (if you really do want to burn them) is to sift them, burn the "petrified logs", and use the powder fraction to cover new deposits of feces. In such a dry, tropical climate, in less than a year (likely 6 months) there will be no smell and no disease risk. In any case, people should wash their hands after using the toilet. Another key technique is the Portable Ecological Urinal, made with two one-gallon plastic bottles, connected mouth to mouth (firmly, with tape and wire), the top one cut off diagonally (in the same way I make urine diverters for sitting). These can also be used in dry toilets and, after more water is added, carried to the farm where the diluted urine is> dispersed on the soil.

Please see my blog, http://inodoroseco.blogspot.com/, even if you cannot read Spanish, as there are a lot of pictures.

I also highly recommend you to join the Ecosanres Yahoogroup (see> www.ecosanres.org), where you can exchange ideas with hundreds EcoSan> promoters throughout the world ... and search all of our postings. It would> be great for you to post your advances there.

Please let me know if I can be of any help.
Best wishes,
Chris Canaday
Puyo, Ecuador

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Hi Chris,
Thanks so much for your response.
I made a short video to help explain how the urinals could work in a school or public situation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSXvY_NWvso . I am still working the design for the men's urinal which is dependant on available containers, and am also working on a urinal design for women's urinal that does not require the construction of an elevated platform. My end goal is to have a design that does not require any purchaed material, and to use things that are easily available locally. A goal is also to eliminate the raised platform of most compositng toilets, I worry that the extra time and expense in the added construction adds a barrier to adoption to the humanure systems.
For using feces as fuel, my thought is to have feces deposited into a box of ashes, with more ashes added on top after a deposit, and then to sift out the 'petrified logs' (good description) separated out when dry, almost like cleaning a cat box (US style). As you say, the ashes can be re-used for the next batch. Your point is well taken about cooking over dried feces, I think adoption might be dependent on the type of stove used. An internal combustion type stove might make the use of feces more palatable- I have seen some pretty simple ceramic/mud versions. I like your idea of the empty rice sack, it could accommodate drying quickly and eliminate the problems with contamination during handling, it sounds like this something you have used, as fertilizer or for other uses ?
Peter Morgan's ArborLoo is a good idea for dealing with the feces as fertilizer without worry about pathogen transmittal.
I have been surprised at the lack of information about urine as a fertilizer in the Permaculture community, and even in the Soil Food Web community. Yesterday I sat in on a lecture by a composting specialist, and was surprised at his lack of information on the subject.
Thank you for the suggestion to join the EcoSanRes community, I look forward to hearing what people are working on and participating. I enjoyed looking at your blog, unfortunately I don't read Spanish, but the pictures are very informative. I would love to hear more about your work in Ecuador, and how you became interested in EcoSanitation.
I look forward to hearing more. Thanks again for your questions and suggestions.
Gail

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

This came thru on my e-mail

Hi Gail,

Thanks for your answers. Just to understand the overall panorama ... are you a Peace Corps Volunteer? Or are you doing this pro-bono, while continuing with your architecture business in NYC? (Beautiful green roofs, by the way!)

I will see your video soon from an internet cafe, as neither my computer nor my connection are up to it.

Male urinals are easy. I have been wanting to work out female urinals made from disposable bottles and for the squatting position. The challenge is not to need the platform. I look forward to seeing your designs.

Without the raised platforms for the toilets, you are clearly looking at ArborLoos. Have you read both of Peter's books that are downloadable from ecosanres.org? The "ring beam" seems very practical ... and nearly impossible without buying cement, etc. Or is it?

With respect to enclosed stoves, check out the "Justa" stove with a "rocket elbow" promoted by a foundation in colorado called something like "trees forests people". It has a scavenged sheet of stainless steel grill between the fire and the pot. A lower-tech option is the Lorena, with holes in the clay where the pots fit in.

Rice bags are great. We mix the finished contents into garden soil. We also pulverize it (running it through an open plastic mesh) to use as cover material.

This is a big gap in permaculture. Esp since recycling nutrients should be top priority.

I got involved because I am a conservationist. All conservation problems are caused by us not knowing how to meet our basic needs without wreaking havoc. EcoSan is a great way to put things back together with out crawling back into the cave. It is one of the easiest ways to reduce out ecological footprint, without needing great sacrifices. There are estimates that just EcoSan, applied on a big enough scale, could straighten out Global Climate Disruption.

I look forward to seeing more of your work.

Best wishes,
Chris

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

No, not a Peace Corps worker. I am an architect who got disillusioned with the LEED rating system and its high tech systems, and headed to Australia to do a Permaculture Design Course with Bill Mollison and Geoff Lawton. I liked the regenerative possibilities and the low tech systems. I have always believed that the best design is the simplest, and and most functional. I started my career as a sculptor, so have skills with many materials, and have always built things and have been interested in how things work. Believing that one person can make a difference, I have been on a mission to figure out for myself what is happening with climate change, and which systems seem to have the most potential. I have come to the conclusion as you have, that farming is a big factor, and think that Africa has the potential to teach a much about future solutions, like Cuba did.
I feel like I have access to an audience that has the potential to make a difference. I am planning to attend the Permaculture Convergence in Malawi in November, and hope to be up to speed with the EcoSan theory and design ideas enough to get the Permaculture community on board with promoting EcoSan in Africa and in other countries that are represented at the convergence. There is quite a strong Permaculture community across Africa within the farming community, the Permaculture demonstration farms could be a great place to show local communities the advantages of urine as a fertilizer.
I am looking forward to hearing what you think.
Gail

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

this came thru e-mail

Hi Gail
Very interesting and encouraging.
I also agree that LEED to way too high-tech. I have written to a number of those people suggesting inclusion of EcoSan toilets in building that are supposedly trying to really be green ... and the response is silence. What is needed is more demonstration in up-scale, urban situations, like NYC.
Pls tell me more about Soil Food Web.
I found your AfricanRuralDirect site, when searching the web for more info on productively giving our urine to farm animals as a nutritional supplement (see my recent posting on Ecosanres ... which no one has responded to). The Ecosanres yahoogroup has a great variety of members. Am not officially connected to the Peace Corps, but have given some training sessions and have helped a number of PCVs with construction of dry toilets. We did one last year adapting to the complicated flooding in a fishing village in the mangroves. Another is currently on track for in the Andes. Dont worry about knowing ALL the theory and background of EcoSan. No one knows, or can know, all that is going on. EcoSan is (or should be)creating the right circumstances and then trusting Nature to process things safely. Laboratory testing can confirm that the product are then safe, but we are not likely to know all that is going on, nor do we need to. We can also understand things on a broader level: disease organisms are adapted to live in our gut, in water and without oxygen; in a pile of ashes, they find themselves in totally hostile conditions that they cannot withstand very long. What we need are simpler, cheaper designs (for widespread third world applications) and more promotion and demonstration. Do I have any suggestions on how to involve the EcoSanRes community in this discussion or in a presentation to the Permaculture or to the Soil Food Web community? Post your designs and ideas on Ecosanres and ask for comments and suggestions. Also propose other ways members can participate. Congrats on deciding to make a difference.
Best wishes,
Chris

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Hi Chris,
Thanks for your comments. So you know by chance if there is an existing brochure in Spanish and English that explains the use of urine in agriculture for farmers - the best times to apply, dilution for specific crops, storage, applications methods etc? The adoption rate for use as fertilizer among farmers would be greater if it was well explained.

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Recevied by e-mail

Hi Gail,
Yes, brochures and posters would be great, but there seems to be precious few out there. Sridevi finished her PhD. I think she would have great recommendations.

Properly applied, results are similar to chemical fertilizers, but as you say it would be good to look at the biological health of the soil. Also urine and dried feces for recovering damaged soils.
Chris Canaday
Puyo, Ecuador

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Hi Chris,
From our conversations, I am wondering if research and training related to agricultural could be a critical aspect of wide spread adoption of the EcoSan system. I think an easy to understand brochure is necessary which outlines storage, application techniques, dilution for individual crops etc. I looked up the PHD student you mentioned, Ms. Sridevi. I am not sure she is far along enough in her research to publish a manual for farmers, you might know better with your background, but I thought it was frowned upon by the University to publish a how-to on information and testing which as not been completed. I think we might have a long wait.

Most of the research I have found for urine in agricultural use is based plant growth, comparing the growth of plants with urine to plants grown with chemical fertilizers. The issue with this approach is that since we know chemical fertilizers made plants grow better initially, but killed off soil organisms, I am not sure this is the best comparison. I would think an interesting test would be at a microscopic level, where the bacteria, nematodes, fungi, and other organisms are monitored.
Gail

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

jrmcconville said 2 hours ago

Hi Gail,
Glad to see that you have already posted this great idea. I am a former peace corp volunteer (Mali 2004-2006) and am currently working for the EcoSanRes group in Stockholm. We have been working extensively on the research behind the ecosan concept and in capacity building around it. In addition to the website and chat group that was refered to earlier (www.ecosanres.org) we have established three knowledge nodes in west, east and south Africa with local networks work on ecosan. In west Africa in particular, CREPA has lots of experience with working with farmers to promote the use of ecosan fertilizers. They are even going to scale in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso with the support of the municipality.

Feel free to contact me if you want more information:
Jennifer McConville
jennifer.mcconville@sei.se

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Hi Jennifer,



Thanks again for your response to my post.

I am preparing a presentation to promote the idea of Eco Sanitation at the International Permaculture Convergence which will take place in Malawi in November. I am focusing on the agricultural use of humanure, concentrating on urine only as a fertilizer, as I feel Africa has too high a pathogenic population to use fecal matter as fertilizer; urine is easier to manage and apply for small-scale and subsistence farmers. I have been searching for an illustrated brochure that would be suitable to hand out to subsistence farmers who do not read, to explain the application, dilution, and storage of urine for use in particular crops. I was wondering if EcoSanRes might have produced such a brochure, or know if one exists.


Do you know if any studies have been done at the microscopic level looking at how micro-organisms in the soil respond to the application of urine in terms of growth of bacteria, nematodes, fungi and other beneficial organisms for plant growth? The research I have found so far only compares the yields of crops comparing urine as a fertilizer to chemical fertilizers. I did find one study which looked at the response of earthworms to the application of urine, worms were used as they are considered a biological indicators. The problem with this study is that it considers the reaction of the worms to the urine, instead of looking to see if there was an increase of micro-organisms created by the urine that would in turn support an increase in the earthworm population.
I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Gail Swithenbank

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Subject: SV: EcoSan on AfricanRuralConnect - agricultural use of urine
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 2009 20:43:16 +0200
From: jennifer.mcConville@sei.se
To: gailswithenbank@hotmail.com

Hi Gail,
Here are the responses I have so far:
1) For the brochure some of our partners might be in the process of making them. I will try to track them down and get back to you before November.
2) For pathogens and diseases on plants. This can be terribly difficult and resource consuming, if you want to do it really scientifically. Reason is that many plants are healthier if they are well supplied with lacking nutrients. So if we only want to compare with unfertilized in a specific place - then it might be fairly easy, but if we want to see if there is any effect apart from nutrients, then it is a different question. In all studies that we somehow are involved in, in addition to yield, we should also encourage recording of diseases though.
3) As for microbial activity, I do not know of any studies. There are studies on effect of compost and on manure and also fertilizer. My very surface impression from the ones I have heard about is that some microbial activity increases, while other decreases. E.g. when ammonium fertilizer is applied, if I remember correctly the ammonium oxidizers are favoured, while the nitrogen fixing bacteria are inhibited. When lots of organic matter is applied the substarate induced respiration increases, if I remember correctly. But then if these changes are good or bad, there the researchers normally disagree. (Example: In some countries, use of chemicals that inhibit ammonum oxidation is allowed, as it decreases nitrate leaching from the ground. In Sweden it is not allowed - we do not want to inhibit such a large part of the soil ecosystem.).
4) One good thing is that if we take an anthropocentric approach, then the net effect of diseases and of microbes in the soil are shown by the yield! Especially in long term experiments.

Sounds like the soil research will be very site specific and hard to get generalizable results, hence why there is nothing substancial yet.

Too tired to look at the project tonight, but soon...

Cheers,
Jennifer

GailSwithenbank said 1 year ago

Hi Jennifer,
Thanks so much for your quick response.
When I began researching urine as a fertilizer replacement I was convinced that designing a low-cost urine diversion system was the key to adoption of the EcoSan concept. As my research progressed, and I talked to farmers here in Mexico, I realized that easy-to-understand information on how to store, dilute and apply the liquid urine fertilizer to their crops and reinforcement through pictures that they would achieve positive results was much more important than the collection device; they were willing to use almost any container for collection if they see it as a valuable product.
If a brochure has not already been produced by one of your partners, or even if it is in process, it might make sense to make the research, design and printing of a brochure the end result of the African Rural Connect project. If you can find out if a brochure in process, if so what is the status and can they use help, and if no-one is working on one, I will begin researching and collecting information while I have time before I head back to New York.
Gail