Whenever potential drinking and waste water interruptions occur always consider waste management for your family, immediate neighbors, the elderly, apartment\condo complexes, and functional need individuals in your community.
Communities MUST work together and plan for the proper disposal of human and other solid waste material. Additional water, sanitation, and other equipment for the proper disposal of these materials must be considered.
For our local water and waste management utilities need\must consider adding these considerations to their press releases, and plans for notifications to the community, and just a 'boiling water' notification.
Remember always be safe, be prepared.
Charles D. Sharp
Charles D. Sharp
Chief Executive
Black Emergency Managers Association
bEMA
2027 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue. S.E.
Washington, D.C.
20020
Waste Disposal During an Emergency
In industrialized societies most of us take our
sewage disposal for granted. We simply flush the toilet and forget about it. But
the modern sewage and water treatment facilities that we take for granted today
are largely responsible for the increased life spans that we enjoy, and have
done more to prevent death and disease than all the doctors, drugs, and
hospitals in the world combined!
Throughout history, many millions of people have died from
diseases such as cholera and dysentery, acquired from water contaminated by
human waste. Even today, according to the World Health Organization,
water borne diseases are responsible for the deaths of 4,000 children every day!
Water contaminated by fecal matter is the single largest
cause of disease in the world, and is killing over 4 million people each year
with diarrhea and intestinal parasites.
We also take our garbage collection services for granted, until
our garbage collectors go on strike and in a matter of days our streets are
filled with waste. Many of the great plagues that have struck humankind
have been the result of poor sanitation. The Bubonic Plague, or Black Death,
which spread from China through Europe during the Middle Ages, was transmitted
to humans by fleas which were carried by rodents. The accumulation of garbage in
the streets, and the resulting proliferation of rats, contributed largely to the
deaths caused by the Black Death. The Black Death wiped
out one third of the population of Europe!
I hope by now you understand why this topic is important enough
to give some serious thought. What will you do when your sewage backs up
because your local municipality can no longer provide the service? What will you
do with your garbage when it begins to pile up in the street?
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the
average American disposes of 4.6 pounds of garbage every day!
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Composting Toilets
A Composting Toilet, such as the C-Head pictured on
the right, is probably the easiest, most efficient and environmentally
responsible method for "off-the-grid" disposal of both solid and liquid human
waste. See the C-Head web site for details on this amazing invention. Check
out the BoonJon
System designed for camping and "off-the-grid" living. |
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Other Methods of Sewage Disposal
What if you don't have a composting toilet? If your home
is equipped with a good septic tank you will not have to rely on the municipal
system for your sewage disposal. Consider yourself lucky. Try to keep toilet
paper use to a minimum to prevent your system from clogging up. If you run out
of toilet paper and can't buy more, you will probably be using any kind of paper
that you can find. Whether you use a septic tank or a municipal system, don't
flush it down the toilet! You will surely clog the system. I recommend that you
burn or bury your improvised toilet paper instead. This may be inconvenient, but
I assure you it will be better than having your system back up, in which case
you will be burying more than your paper!
In 1979, I was a college student on summer break hitchhiking across Europe. I
spent some time as a guest on a vegetarian commune located in a old castle in
rural Southern France. When I went to the basement to use the bathroom I saw the
familiar squat toilets that were common in France, but there was no toilet paper
to be found anywhere. There was however a convenient water spigot located next
to each toilet. When I asked for the toilet paper I was told that they didn't
use it but washed themselves with water instead. They claimed that not only was
this much better for the septic system, it was also more hygienic. So for the
two weeks that I stayed on the commune I did "as the Romans do." That was not a
practice that I continued after leaving the commune, but it did show me that
people can get along just fine without toilet paper when they have to (as long
as there is plenty of water for washing.) By the way, I don't recommend
recycling that water!
Even if your sewer system continues to work after an emergency, if your
municipal water is interrupted you will have to flush your toilet by pouring a
bucket of water down it. If water is in short supply, don't try to flush the
toilet after each use. You will want to flush it after defecation I'm sure, but
several people can urinate in the toilet before it has to be flushed. You can
recycle your "gray water" by using it to flush your toilet. As we saw earlier,
"gray water" is water that has already been used at least once for washing—the
water you just bathed with or used to wash your dishes for example. It is called
"gray water" because the residual dirt and soap give it a grayish
appearance.
What will you do if your sewer or septic system backs up? After cleaning up
the mess, you will have to bury your waste. Remember that many deadly diseases
are spread by water that has been contaminated by human waste, so make sure that
you do not contaminate any water supply. (You will probably have neighbors who
will not be as thoughtful, so you will have to be careful about the water you
drink, as we discussed in the chapter on water.) Discourage people from
defecating near any water source used by people or animals, or in fields where
crops are grown.
One way to dispose of your waste is to build an outhouse or
latrine. The familiar outhouse building with the crescent moon on the door is
for privacy and is therefore optional. The only thing that is really needed is a
deep pit in which you can dispose of your waste.
A hundred years ago it
was common for people to keep a "slop jar" with a securely fitting lid beside
their beds for nighttime use when the weather was too cold to venture outdoors.
The next morning someone would empty the slop jars into the outhouse pit. If you
prefer you too can "go" in a pot inside your house and then carry the waste to
your latrine for disposal. |
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Slop jars like this one were familiar household objects before the days of
indoor toilets. |
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A camping toilet like one of these may also be used for waste disposal. The
older type made of metal (on the left) and the newer type made of plastic both
contain removable buckets for carrying the waste to the latrine. |
Construction of a Latrine
Latrines should be situated and constructed so as to minimize
the risk of groundwater contamination.
There should be at least 50 feet
(15 meters) between your latrine and any water source, such as a well, stream or
lake. If you have a well, locate the latrine on lower ground or "downhill" from
it if possible. It should also be located where it will not be flooded by storm
water, which could contaminate any local water supply. The top of the latrine
should be raised or built up at least 6 inches (.15 meters) above ground level
to prevent rainwater from entering the pit. It should have a tight-fitting lid
so insects and animals can not enter it. Mosquitos will breed in the pit if
water accumulates at the bottom. If insects can not be kept out the excreta
should be covered with 4 inches (.1 meter) of soil every two or three days.
Your pit should be 5 feet (1.5 meters) deep. Holes for
outhouses with a superstructure over them are normally dug about 3.5 feet (1
meter) square. If your latrine is simply a hole in the ground you may not want
to make it that wide but you should try to make it deep. Keep it covered with a
board that completely covers the pit and is sturdy enough for someone to walk
on. By all means do whatever is necessary to insure that people and animals do
not fall into the pit.
When the pit fills up, simply dig another one close by and move
your latrine or outhouse to the new pit. Use the dirt from the new hole
to fill in the old one making a mound on top because it will settle as the waste
decomposes. From time to time you will need to add additional dirt as the old
pit settles. Be careful to avoid underground utility lines when digging your
latrines. (Your local utility companies will show you where they are located on
your property. All you have to do is call them and request this free
service.) |
Garbage
Remember these three "R"s of garbage
management:
1) Reduce
2) Reuse
3) Recycle
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Reduce
The most desirable option for garbage management is to reduce
the amount you produce. If you eat everything on your plate you will
obviously have less to throw out. But what about the packaging? You can't eat a
cardboard box. The problem will be partially solved by choosing foods with less
packaging. The more a food is processed the more packaging it seems to require.
Fresh and natural foods generally have little if any packaging. So not only is
it healthier for you to choose foods with minimal processing, it is healthier
for the environment as well. Choose natural, whole foods whenever possible. If
anything remains after the fresh food is consumed it can be fed to animals or
composted.
It seems like half the trash I throw out is junk mail. Hopefully, during an
emergency, when the garbage collection services are temporarily interrupted, the
junk mail will be interrupted as well. If not, we could all end up buried in
junk mail! If you want to reduce the junk mail that you receive you can contact
the Direct Marketing Association's (DMA) Mail Preference Service at their web
site at: http://www.dmachoice.org. There
is a $1 fee but I have heard that the service is very effective at reducing your
junk mail. Just consider the small fee a contribution to help protect the
environment. If you are tired of receiving credit card offers in the mail the
three national credit bureaus offer a toll-free number that you can call to
opt-out of credit offers. Call 1-888-5-OPTOUT (1-888-567-8688) for more
information.
In the section on food storage I mentioned that my favorite method for
long-term storage is canned food. If you can your own foods there will be no
problem with waste disposal, because you will reuse your glass jars. But what
about the canned foods that you buy from the store? If your community provides a
recycling service you should certainly recycle your cans rather than throw them
in the trash. But what will you do during a prolonged emergency when these types
of services are interrupted? Unfortunately I have not found a perfect solution
to this problem. If you consume store-bought canned foods you are going to
produce some garbage. I believe however that the benefits of using canned foods
for your emergency stash far outweigh this inconvenience, so canned foods remain
my preferred method of food storage. |
Reuse
What is the difference between reusing and recycling? I will answer that
question with an example: After you drink a bottle of water, if you throw the
empty bottle in the recycle bin you are obviously recycling. But a far better
option would be to refill the bottle, perhaps using water from your own water
filter. A lot of energy is required to crush and melt old bottles to convert
them into new bottles. But very little is required to reuse a plastic or glass
bottle. You simply wash it out and reuse it! |
Recycle
Recycling is the least desirable of the three R's but it is far better than
simply throwing your trash away—wasting natural resources and contributing to
land fill problems. I have already mentioned ways that we can recycle our food
waste. Many parts of the foods that we can't eat can be fed to animals to fatten
them up, providing us with a good source of protein. The plant wastes that our
animals can't consume can be composted, providing rich nutrients that are
returned to the soil, reducing our dependence on chemical
fertilizers |
What to Do with the Rest of Your
Garbage?
With no newspapers and junk mail, and with less packaging from processed
foods, you will have much less to dispose of, and you should be able to use the
three R's mentioned above to take care of most of what remains. But there will
no doubt be some small amount of garbage that you will have to get rid of. That
is where the "two B's of garbage disposal" come into play: Burn it or
Bury it! |
Some trash that can not be reused or recycled can be burned, possibly
providing energy that can be used for warmth or cooking. The use of covered
enclosures like this chimenia are preferable to burning in the open because they
reduce the risk of wildfires. Some municipalities will allow outdoor burning
only in covered enclosures like this one. Outdoor burning should be avoided when
conditions are very dry and/or windy due to the risk of wildfires. |
