Urine diversion
Encyclopedia
Urine diversion
UrineUrine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
diversion refers to the separation of urine
Urine
Urine is a typically sterile liquid by-product of the body that is secreted by the kidneys through a process called urination and excreted through the urethra. Cellular metabolism generates numerous by-products, many rich in nitrogen, that require elimination from the bloodstream...
from feces
Feces
Feces, faeces, or fæces is a waste product from an animal's digestive tract expelled through the anus or cloaca during defecation.-Etymology:...
at the point source, i.e at the toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
or outhouse
Outhouse
An outhouse is a small structure separate from a main building which often contained a simple toilet and may possibly also be used for housing animals and storage.- Terminology :...
. A toilet fixture used to help facilitate the separation is called a urine diversion toilet or UDT. The bowel has two separate compartments which may or may not be flushed with water. If flushed, the toilet is usually referred to as a UD toilet or UDT. If not flushed, it is a urine diversion dry toilet or UDDT. Separated feces may be composted or dried. If dried, the overall system is called a urine diversion dehydration
Dehydration
In physiology and medicine, dehydration is defined as the excessive loss of body fluid. It is literally the removal of water from an object; however, in physiological terms, it entails a deficiency of fluid within an organism...
or dessication toilet or UDDT.
Most forms of ecological sanitation
Ecological sanitation
Ecological sanitation, also known as ecosan or eco-san, are terms coined to describe a form of sanitation that usually involves urine diversion and the recycling of water and nutrients contained within human wastes back into the local environment....
are based upon urine diversion.
Separation of urine from feces allows human waste to be treated separately and used as a potential resource. Applications are typically found where connection to a sewer
Sewer
Sewer may refer to:* Part of sewerage, the infrastructure that conveys sewage*Effluent sewer, a collection system that transports only the liquid portion of wastewater through small-diameter pipes laid at contour...
based sanitation system is not available or areas where water supplies are limited.
Principle
Separate treatment of the two is justified since urine is nearly sterile and low in pathogens provided an individual is healthy. This means that urine can be readily utilized as a fertilizerFertilizer
Fertilizer is any organic or inorganic material of natural or synthetic origin that is added to a soil to supply one or more plant nutrients essential to the growth of plants. A recent assessment found that about 40 to 60% of crop yields are attributable to commercial fertilizer use...
or discharged with less risk to community.
Feces on the other hand are high in pathogens, including up to 120 viruses and should either be compost
Compost
Compost is organic matter that has been decomposed and recycled as a fertilizer and soil amendment. Compost is a key ingredient in organic farming. At its most essential, the process of composting requires simply piling up waste outdoors and waiting for the materials to break down from anywhere...
ed for several months, or dried and burned as a biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
. When feces are used without composting, it is called night soil
Night soil
Night soil is a euphemism for human excrement collected at night from cesspools, privies, etc. and sometimes used as a fertilizer. Night soil is produced as a result of a waste management system in areas without community infrastructure such as a sewage treatment facility, or individual septic...
. Its use in some areas has been so ingrained that entire cultures will not eat any vegetables or fruits unless they are thoroughly cooked.
When composted, ash and/or sawdust are usually added to speed the process. Of the two, ash decreases microbial activity faster. Dehydration and conversion into a biofuel
Biofuel
Biofuel is a type of fuel whose energy is derived from biological carbon fixation. Biofuels include fuels derived from biomass conversion, as well as solid biomass, liquid fuels and various biogases...
is typically accomplished by exposure to dry air and/or solar heat.
Some toilets integrate composting or dessication as part of an entire system as in an installation located at an inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
in Khuvsgul National Park in Mongolia
Mongolia
Mongolia is a landlocked country in East and Central Asia. It is bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south, east and west. Although Mongolia does not share a border with Kazakhstan, its western-most point is only from Kazakhstan's eastern tip. Ulan Bator, the capital and largest...
.
Other toilets focus more on removal of urine so feces can be composted at a different location as in the floating toilet
Toilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
.
Whether the feces are handled on site or hauled to another location, the weight and volume of material is reduced by separating out urine. Additionally, treatment is simplified and faster. Some web sources cite keeping urine within the overall compost to be beneficial by adding nitrogen, however, urine is mainly water and this increases moisture content of the compost increasing composting time till this moisture is removed. Urine diversion is the main reason one manufacturer of composting toilets claims their product is less problematic then toilets that don't.
UD Toilets (UDT), and UDD Toilets (UDDT)
There are several commercially available. Many look like a conventional sit down or squat toiletToilet
A toilet is a sanitation fixture used primarily for the disposal of human excrement, often found in a small room referred to as a toilet/bathroom/lavatory...
and the bowel is divided into two sections. The front section collects urine and the rear section feces. One manufacturer of a UDDT describes their product as a "UD Dry Toilet". More elaborate versions feature separate flushing with water in each compartment. More basic versions are essentially an outhouse with a divider and one or two containers below. One container is typically used in floating toilets and urine immediately discharged to local waters.
Owing to limited water supplies, NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
started in May 2009 to utilize a UDD toilet to recycle urine into drinking water.
Examples of UDD toilets/systems around the world
- A prime driver of this type of approach to sanitation is an organization called Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF). The WECF and local partners have built more than 20 urine diverting dry toilet (UDDT) buildings for schools, as demonstration projects in different countries of the Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA) region.
- Georgia (country)Georgia (country)Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...
- First indoor UDD toilet opened in school for socially vulnerable children by WECF partner RCDA The construction was financially supported by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and UNICEF and was carried out in cooperation with Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF)
- DelftDelftDelft is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland , the Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam and The Hague....
, The Netherlands - UNESCOUNESCOThe United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations...
-IHE Institute for Water Education installs UDD toilet made in Sweden.
- MindanaoMindanaoMindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
, Philippines - The first urine-diversion dehydration toilet of Mindanao was inaugurated in November 2005, there are already 60 units completed in this southern island of the Philippines while further 60 units are presently under construction or in the planning phase, respectively.
- CambodiaCambodiaCambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
- Lien Aid has assisted with the development and implementation of floating toilets that utilize UDD in a project called “River of life”
- RwandaRwandaRwanda or , officially the Republic of Rwanda , is a country in central and eastern Africa with a population of approximately 11.4 million . Rwanda is located a few degrees south of the Equator, and is bordered by Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo...
- UDDT at a public toilet and a school near Kigali
- ChinaChinaChinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
- in 2003 reportedly had 685,000 operating UDD toilets spread out among 17 provinces
- BoatingBoatingBoating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels , focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, such as fishing or water skiing...
- Chris Melo, sailboatSailboatA sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails. The term covers a variety of boats, larger than small vessels such as sailboards and smaller than sailing ships, but distinctions in the size are not strictly defined and what constitutes a sailing ship, sailboat, or a...
resident and nautical engineer, cites 9 reasons to convert from conventional nautical toilets that store waste in black water tanks, or immediate discharge it overboard, to a UDD composting toilet Two competing manufactures for nautical use call their products Nature's Head and the Air Head Toilet.
- CampingCampingCamping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
- Leave no traceLeave No TraceLeave No Trace is both a set of principles, and an organization that promotes those principles. The principles are designed to assist outdoor enthusiasts with their decisions about how to reduce their impacts when they hike, camp, picnic, snowshoe, run, bike, hunt, paddle, ride horses, fish, ski or...
is not only a philosophyPhilosophyPhilosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. Philosophy is distinguished from other ways of addressing such problems by its critical, generally systematic approach and its reliance on rational...
but a necessity in areas where human waste left behind would not decay naturally. There are now portable UDD toilets that allow feces to be collected and packed out. Only near pathogen free urine is left behind.
See also
- Ecological sanitationEcological sanitationEcological sanitation, also known as ecosan or eco-san, are terms coined to describe a form of sanitation that usually involves urine diversion and the recycling of water and nutrients contained within human wastes back into the local environment....
- List of composting systems
- Municipal composting
- Night SoilNight soilNight soil is a euphemism for human excrement collected at night from cesspools, privies, etc. and sometimes used as a fertilizer. Night soil is produced as a result of a waste management system in areas without community infrastructure such as a sewage treatment facility, or individual septic...
- Composting
- Composting toiletComposting toiletA composting toilet is a dry toilet that using a predominantly aerobic processing system that treats excreta, typically with no water or small volumes of flush water, via composting or managed aerobic decomposition...