The Owner Built Home & Homestead
(Page 20 of 23)
World Health Organization publications present a compelling
argument against handling excreta in an anaerobic (sewage
and septic tank) manner. As a result of not having oxygen
in a putrifactive action, no heat build-up occurs and
therefore certain pathogens and parasites are not fully
destroyed. It has been found that contaminated material in
liquid suspension (anaerobic digestion) can remain viable
for as long as six months. For one thing, there are far
more species of bacteria involved in aerobic decomposition
than in anaerobic putrification.
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Other problems are associated with the disposal of
water-borne waste. Sewage necessarily containing large
quantities of water (necessary for the transport of the
excreta) is difficult to treat. Water does have a certain
ability for self-purification. But this requires oxidation
and usually the volume of water is too small in proportion
to sewage to supply the required quantity of oxygen.
Consequently the receiving water becomes foul and normal
fauna (especially fish which require oxygen to live) are
destroyed. The receiving water also becomes contaminated
with pathogenic bacteria, protozoa, and with the eggs and
larvae of harmful helminths (liver flukes).
Our society not only legalizes pollutive unsanitary
disposal methods, it also outlaws an improved
nutrition—an essential factor in prevention of
disease—which is obtained when excreta wastes are
returned to agricultural lands as plant nutrients.
The only really practical way to reclaim these wastes is
through aerobic composting. Pathogenic bacteria and worm
eggs can survive no longer than 30 minutes to 1 hour in a
compost situation. Compost temperatures rise to 160 degrees
F. High temperatures, however, are only partly responsible
for this bacteria destruction; competing bacterial flora
and predatory protozoa contribute as well. Aerobic
composting is achieved by a wide succession of bacterial
and fungal populations—each suited to its own
environment and its own relative duration: The activities
of one group compliment the other.
Humus is the end-product of properly composted organic
materials. Humus contributes to increased nitrogen-fixation
in the soil from nitrogen in the air. Also, as the gradual
decomposition of insoluble organic matter takes place,
nitrogen is liberated (as ammonia) and then oxidized to
nitrates. Plants can utilize this nitrogen only in the form
of nitrates. So when raw (not composted) wastes are spread
on the land—as is commonly done in the
Orient—nitrogen evaporates into the air instead of
being used by plants.
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