Jane Powerson saving water in the loo
You know how it is, when someone says "For God's sake, don't mention the ex-wife/the war/the disastrous holiday"? And you don't. But it is uppermost in your mind, and oblique references keep bubbling out, try as you might to suppress them?
Well, it's a bit like that with me and composting toilets. When I started this column last year, one of my senior colleagues - who knows my fascination with all waste recycling - admonished me: "But, let's not have any composting toilets!" And we didn't. For 70 whole weeks this spot in the Magazine has been completely innocent of toilets that compost (although a few of the other kind have crept in from time to time). But now, I can contain myself no longer, and the lid on the composting loo must be lifted - if ever so gingerly.
First of all, here's a not-very-palatable statistic. According to the Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency, each of us produces 34 kilos of faeces and 490 litres of urine per year. How do we get rid of it? We use water to flush it away: 15,000 litres of it. And with water an increasingly scarce resource, you'd wonder why we continue to use purified, precious, potable stuff to whoosh away our waste. It makes no sense - except that we're too squeamish to deal with our excrement in any other way (even writing the word makes me blush). But diluting it with enormous quantities of water is the most inefficient way to get rid of it, and a tremendous waste of resources. Water is also an ideal vehicle for dispersing pathogens, which may end up in seas, waterways and lakes - oh, and back in our drinking water.
Just as gardeners value animal manure, advocates of the composting toilet are keen on "humanure", believing it "closes the fertility circle". When the toilet is properly managed, the waste is broken down by beneficial bacteria and other organisms, pathogens are killed, and the ensuing material is safe to use as fertiliser.
The simplest composting toilet is a home-made affair and (in my limited experience) only for hardy or spiritual types. Commercial units are usually better thought-out, and look more familiar. Some compost the waste right under the bowl (out of sight), using fans to keep the air sweet, and sometimes a bit of heat to aid dehydration. Others compost it remotely, in a big tank. Either way, the finished compost has to be removed every year or so. Its volume is less than 10 per cent of the original volume. And it's compost: good, clean compost. I know, I find it hard to believe too.Well, there we are. That's it for now. I wrote this as much to convince myself as you. Just testing the water - and thinking about saving it.