Septic System Basics

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All you need is a funnel, a container for collection, like a plastic gallon milk jug, and some plants or a compost pile to water. Or you can just pee into a bucket, then use the urine immediately. For vegetables, fruit trees or anything else on which you want to encourage rapid, green growth, dilute urine with water at about a 1-10 ratio and pour it around the plant roots. Dilute urine also is an excellent addition to a compost pile that is carbon-rich, but nitrogen-poor. The urea in urine helps break down lignin, accelerating the decomposition of woody materials.

Urine constitutes the bulk of human excrement and also contains most of the nutrients. The nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium found in urine are available in ideal chemical forms for plants. And urine is virtually free from the heavy metals that may be found in many commercial fertilizers.

Unlike feces, urine is commonly sterile. Pathogens that may be transmitted through urine, says Caroline Schonning of the Swedish Institute for Disease Control, are rarely sufficient to cause a significant public health problem. When urine is used in temperate climates, she says, it is not considered a health risk.

Carol Steinfeld is projects director for the Center for Ecological Pollution Prevention in Concord, Massachusetts, and co-author of The Composting Toilet Systems Book, on MOTHER's Bookshelf, Page 103. She most recently co-authored "Water-Wise Toilets," in MOTHER EARTH NEWS, June/July 2002.

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