Today's Sign That We Are Headed Into The Crapper

The NY Times belabors us with the future of toilets, and the technological advances associated therewith (Just wait - the big breakthroughs are happening in Sweden!).  Their story ought to come with a NSFB warning (Not Safe for Breakfast), and probably is not the ideal topic for cocktail party banter.  However, we are remorselessly committed to being up to speed on the latest in the greening of America, so let's unload:

In the industrialized world, most of us (except those who have septic tanks) rely on wastewater-treatment plants to remove our excrement from the drinking-water supply, in great volumes. (Toilets can use up to 30 percent of a household’s water supply.) This paradigm is rarely questioned, and I understand why: flush toilets, sewers and wastewater-treatment plants do a fine job of separating us from our potentially toxic waste, and eliminating cholera and other waterborne diseases. Without them, cities wouldn’t work.

But the paradigm is flawed. For a start, cleaning sewage guzzles energy. Sewage treatment in Britain uses a quarter of the energy generated by the country’s largest coal-fired power station.

Then there is the nutrient problem: Human excrement is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, which is why it has been a good fertilizer for millenniums and until surprisingly recently. (A 19th-century “sewage farm” in Pasadena, Calif., was renowned for its tasty walnuts.) But when sewage is dumped in the seas in great quantity, these nutrients can unbalance and sometimes suffocate life, contributing to dead zones (405 worldwide and counting, according to a recent study). Sewage, according to the United Nations Environment Program, is the biggest marine pollutant there is. Wastewater-treatment plants work to extract the nutrients before discharging sewage into water courses, but they can’t remove them all.

And there’s also the urine problem. Urine, like any liquid, is a headache for wastewater managers, because most sewer systems take water from street drains along with the toilet, shower and kitchen kind. Population growth is already taxing sewers. (London’s great network was built in the late 19th century with 25 percent extra capacity, but a system designed for three million people must now serve more than twice as many.) When a rainstorm suddenly sends millions of gallons of water into an already overloaded system, the extra must be stored or — if storage is lacking — discharged, untreated, into the nearest river or harbor. Each week, New York City sends about 800 Olympic-size swimming pools’ worth of sewage-polluted water into nearby waters because there’s nowhere else for it to go.

Be chill; the solution is worth the wait:

IN the far reaches of Shaanxi Province in northern China, in an apple-producing village named Ganquanfang, I recently visited a house belonging to two cheery primary-school teachers, Zhang Min Shu and his wife, Wu Zhaoxian. Their house wasn’t exceptional — a spacious yard, several rooms — except for the bathroom. There, up a few steps on a tiled platform, sat a toilet unlike any I’d seen. Its pan was divided in two: solid waste went in the back, and the front compartment collected urine. The liquids and solids can, after a decent period of storage and composting, be applied to the fields as pathogen-free, expense-free fertilizer.

From being unsure of wanting a toilet near the house in the first place — which is why the bathroom is at the far end of their courtyard — the couple had become so delighted with it that they regretted not putting it next to the kitchen after all.

What does this have to do with you? Mr. Zhang and Ms. Wu’s weird toilet — known as a “urine diversion,” or NoMix (after a Swedish brand), toilet — may have things to teach us all.

This is real breakthrough stuff:

Urine might be one way forward. Before engineers scoff into their breakfast, consider that since at least 135,000 urine-diversion toilets are in use in Sweden and that a Swiss aquatic institute did a six-year study of urine separation that found in its favor. In Sweden, some of the collected urine — which contains 80 percent of the nutrients in excrement — is given to farmers, with little objection. “If they can use urine and it’s cheap, they’ll use it,” said Petter Jenssen, a professor at the Agricultural University of Norway.

...

The rest of Sweden’s collected urine goes to municipal wastewater plants, but in much smaller volume so it’s easier to deal with. Research by Jac Wilsenach, now a civil engineer in South Africa, found that removing even half of the nutrient-rich urine enables the bacteria in the aeration tanks to munch all the nitrogen and phosphate matter in solid waste in a single day rather than the usual 30. Urine diversion also makes for richer sludge and produces more methane, which can be turned into gas or electricity, Mr. Wilsenach said. In short, separating urine turns a guzzler of energy into a net producer.

...

Then there’s the sitting problem: in most urine-diversion toilets, a man must empty his bladder sitting down. This wouldn’t be a problem in some countries — Germany recently introduced a toilet-seat alarm that admonishes standers to sit — but it has been in others. Professor Jenssen was flummoxed by one participant at a training workshop in Cuba who said firmly, “If a man sits, he is homosexual.”

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

For my money, stories like this make me think that maybe the global apocalypse is the preferred path.  Hmm, suddenly I am flashing on Waterworld...

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Comments

[clarice]

Piss on that.

[Old Dad]

As mothers everywhere know full well, no force in the universe can compel males to pee sitting down. Lifting the seat is a major triumph. Most must be satisfied if 90% makes it into the bowl.

[Thomas Collins]

Well, in the last few TM posts we've had food, sex, houses and now, ahem, excretion and evacuation. Make your next post on clothing, TM, and you will have covered all the bare essentials!

[boris]

Politely request (last time) adding #comments to the end of your Thread Ender links.

[PeterUK]

"Most must be satisfied if 90% makes it into the bowl."

With modern targeting systems and sat nave we can do better than that.

Germany lost more than just the war.Will Sweden still be doing this when they are part of the Caliphate? Can anyone think of a better means of recruiting for the Jihad?

[clarice]

Greenies also want us to use the reusable butt wipe.
http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/bottom_reached#49803>Another reason to avoid eco freaks

[Spiny Norman]

Then there’s the sitting problem: in most urine-diversion toilets, a man must empty his bladder sitting down. This wouldn’t be a problem in some countries — Germany recently introduced a toilet-seat alarm that admonishes standers to sit — but it has been in others.

Heh.

Future Newsweak cover:

We Are All Sitzpinklers Now

[TCO]

If you pipe it to deep ocean (400 feet or so, as in California with a steep dropoff) it is not that big a deal. Combined sewers are not the norm. It's older locations that have that. That's just a choice they made/make and that they live with when it rains. But modern systems are split (storm and sanitary).

[Sue]

A toilet seat alarm to remind men to sit down to tinkle? Dear Gussie!

[MikeS]

...in most urine-diversion toilets, a man must empty his bladder sitting down.

I've been working on this problem from a different angle. I'm looking for a urinal that would be "comfortable for females."

[PeterUK]

It would seem that the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by Obama has also gone down the Crapper of invention. Democrats are displeased.

[Forbes]

Human solid waste as a fertilizer for food for human consumption?

They're joking, right?

And you thought organic farming was unsanitary as it is--laden with bacteria.

Of course, according to the NYTimes, any use of energy guzzles energy: "Sewage treatment in Britain uses a quarter of the energy generated by the country’s largest coal-fired power station."

Hey, sewage treatment uses 1/4 of one power station!!! I can't wait for the NYTimes to discover for what the other 3/4 is used--surely something else as equally unworthy as sewage treatment.

[DrJ]

Combined sewers are not the norm. It's older locations that have that.

My God, TCO cites a fact, and is actually right! We must be in the end times...

[clarice]

I used to think it remarkable to learn of scientific marvels invented thousands of years ago and then forgotten only to be rediscovered more recently. Watching the eco-freaks destroy our civilization I know understand fully how such things happen.

Do you suppose a thousand years from now when the boobs are dying of cold, cholera, measles and starvation someone will rediscover nuclear energy, toilet paper, mechanized farming and vaccinations?

[PeterUK]

Clarice,
The barbarians who farmed in the ruins of the Roman ampitheatre wondered why the crops grown in the soil of the arena was so abundant.

[mel]

PUK-

Don't forget!

There are TWO valid uses for a snowball.

[mel]

And only one is fun.

[Thomas Collins]

So, clarice and narciso, how is CPAC? I just spoke to my son, who said that Wayne Lapierre gave a great speech. He also attended a gathering for college activists, at which gathering Karl Rove gave a presentation. He saw Cornyn and Romney speak, but didn't see Gingrich's talk.

So that this post won't be totally off topic, are the room, er, facilities eco friendly? :-))

[Jane]

I'd like an update on CPAC too TC. I wish I was there (cause I'd be having drinks with Clarice right about now.)

[berlin]

Gut!

[Ann]

I was just going to ask if anyone had heard from Jane? ...And there you are. :) You Okay?

[Toby Petzold]

“If a man sits, he is homosexual.”

A-ha! Now that's science!

[berlin]

Gut!

[clarice]

I didn't go to CPAC. I met narciso and his mother--took them out for a nice lunch. He says that's his mother, but she's way too young and good looking for me to believe that.

Tomorrow if his schedule permits, I hope to meet up with Steve Gilbert, his wife Felicity and possibly Anne Coulter who's traveling with them. Just a guest hospitality thing.

I am not one for conventions and meetings. Hate them.

Jane, I emailed you an article on Mass and welfare that would be a wonderful item for next week's show.

[Ann]

Once upon a time cow burps and farts (Methane) were causing more global warming than pollution from cars ...now we hear methane can be turned into gas or electricity. What is that called "Brown" energy?

All I know is the next time I spend Christmas in VA and the electricity goes out on the farm, I am telling the brothers to get cracking at making the coffee pot work. :)

[Ignatz Ratzkywatzky]

For all you folks worried that Barry is screwing up the mortgage market Iowahawk has some words of reassurance and a warning to all you irresponsible people who make your payments.

[Jane]

Clarice,

Can you email it again? I've had server complaints all day, and I just checked and it's not there. Unless of course you just mailed it, and then I'll wait awhile.

Ann, I'm fine, thanks for asking. Since I missed 2 days of work I've been trying to catch up. And sometimes what is going on is too unbearable to watch.

[Chris]

Is this what they call "surrounding" the story? Human waste? Eighth Avenue? I see the connection now.

[Ann]

Clarice, I am so envious and green right now.
Give Gilbert and Coulter smooches from all of us.

Jane, It is unbearable to watch, listen to and read and on top of all that...TIGER. :(

[Jane]

Oh I know Ann. But at least he is back! We need Elliott to go out there and give him a lesson!

[Charlie (Colorado)]

Sigh.

This too shall pass.

[clarice]

Jane, I just forwarded the original message to you again.I originally sent it hours ago--just in case you want to track down the server problem.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

BTW, Norman, I'm almost positive that Stern used exactly that -- "Wir sind alle Sitzpinklers jetzt" -- as the title of the story when that recommendation came out. Can't find a link to it though.

[Matt]

obviously, they are full of ****!

[bad]

Krugman, New York Times:

And even if fundamental health care reform brings costs under control, I at least find it hard to see how the federal government can meet its long-term obligations without some tax increases on the middle class. Whatever politicians may say now, there’s probably a value-added tax in our future.
--------------------------------------
Krugman doesn't say how far into the future before taxes have to rise on the middle class.

But he does see a VAT in our future.

And that sucks for everybody.

[hit and run]

Jane:
I wish I was there (cause I'd be having drinks with Clarice right about now.)

See, I am sooooo selfish, I'm glad you're not there.

I was going to go to DC this weekend for the DC tea party. But I just couldn't swing a Friday noon protest gathering storm the castle event. So we stayed home.

If I had made that decision and you were there . . . I would be kicking myself in the rear right now.

Kidding. I would be on I-90 right now.

But still.

[Jane]

Hit you are such a suck-up.

It really is a wonderful quality.

[Jane]

My computer won't update, unless I try about a dozen times. Is anyone else having that problem?

[clarice]

Isn't it, though?

[centralcal]

What a boring life I have!

Clarice meets Narciso and his mom.

She may also wine, dine, meet with Steve Gilbert and Anne Colter.

Geez, and all I did was go to work today to pay for Obama's grand national bankruptcy.

No, friggin fair!

[clarice]

Follow your money, cc--come to D.C.America's Brussels.

[kim]

Yes, Jane, the Typepad Goddess is crankier than usual, and that's saying something.
==================================

[bad]

Frugman's not the only POS to discuss on the crapper thread.

Powerline on Freeman. LUN

[liebe]

Sie haben eine schöne Seite!

[glenda]

CC: I'm with you, green with envy--uh oh, I think I gave that up for lent...no, It was gluttony!!

I'm so glad Narciso met up with you, Clarice. It was probably the high point of his trip..ok..I'm good at sucking-up, like
Hit..it's good to be like Hit, right?

Jane, glad, glad, you're better!

DrJ: This thread giving you any hints on your next grant project? I hope we have those good new?? Japanese?? potties on St.Janes!

[kim]

Freeman makes me wonder if the Chinese aren't Obama's string pullers. Clinton sure had a hawser or two attached to them.
====================================

[clarice]

narciso and his mom are very sweet. It was certainly nice to meet up with them.

[bad]

More carpy ideas:

Home values drop so property tax rates go up. But don't worry, you'll hardly notice.

This story is from Fairfax county, but we'll see the same thing everywhere.

LUN

[kim]

And furthermore, appointing Freeman is the act of a Taqiya actor. Freeman is a desperate anti-semite, and swallower of Muslim Kool-Aid. And he's the filter for intellligence? God help us all.
==========================================

[DrJ]

This thread giving you any hints on your next grant project?

Ugh. I spent almost the first decade of my career in the environmental business, and I struggled hard to leave it. No way I am going back to anything like that.

[hit and run]

Jane:
It really is a wonderful quality.

It may very well be. But it's nothing compared with my smile.

[centralcal]

And, then, there is Dr. J who may also get to be hosted (hostess-ed?) by Clarice one of these days.

Gotta do it, Dr. J! I would, if I had the same opportunity.

[centralcal]

Clarice, about Narciso, I have only one question . . .

is he enjoying himself? I so hope that he is. I know - Sarah isn't there, but he went anyway and I hope that he is having a ball.

[clarice]

narciso, seems to be having a good time, but I wouldn't dream of speaking for him. I'm sure when he can he'll tell us all about it.

[Jane]

Reading that article about Freeman makes me think of the Samantha Power approach to Foreign policy - which is extending understanding so the enemy can kill you more quickly - or something like that.

[Ann]

CC,

Have you noticed that only smart, honorable, funny and good looking men get invited to Clarice's web.

Soylent, make a note for the title of our cookbook. :)

[BR]

Yes, Kim, about Freeman. I just read this:
"Obama Intel Chief Works for Chinese Government" at HCF Blog.

When I think of all the myriad Chinese handlers (Trie, etc.), bagmen (Riadys, etc.) of the Clintons, including Sanford Berger, a lobbyist for China before his NSC post and here we have Charles Freeman, currently on the board of a Chinese state-owned company, it seems the takeover has already occurred.

[jorod]

Most modern subdivisions separate the sanitary from the storm sewers.

[Pofarmer]

O.K.

A 3.6 Trillion dollar budget and the title on the Whitehouse page is

"A new era of Responsiblity, the 2010 budget."

WTF? Did the Onion write that???

Anybody got the numbers to compare 09 to the proposed 10 budget to see where the "Cuts" are?

[BR]

Further re Freeman and China - makes me wonder about Mao. Does anyone know who influenced him to become a Communist? Was it the same British and European banking aristocracy who underwrote Marx?

[DrJ]

Gotta do it, Dr. J!

I will, CC! My trips usually are for NSF or NIH review panels, and the next one is in Palo Alto, of all places. So it will be a bit yet.

[bad]

More vetting problems for the Obama administration.

Hint: It's the vetter. LUN

[liebe]

Sie haben eine schöne Seite!

[bad]

Byron York: Michelle's High Fashion in Hard Times

It didn't make most of the papers or the TV newscasts, but Desiree Rogers, the new White House social secretary, caused a bit of a stir recently when she appeared at New York's Fashion Week shows, sitting next to Vogue Editor Anna Wintour as she took in the latest from designers Carolina Herrera and Donna Karan.

A social secretary as personal shopper. I guess multi-tasking is good..

[berlin]

Gut!

[berlin]

Gut!

[Bryan Frymire]

"Sitzpinkler" - That's funny. I try and use "Sitzpinkler" in conversation whenever possible. It's tough to work it in there though. Mostly it's "Don't be such a sitzpinkler!" and then I have to explain it. Sorta loses its "Oomph" that way. Guess I'm not much of a conversationalist. So sue me.

[berlin]

Gut!

[berlin]

Gut!

[berlin]

Gut!

[Extraneus]

Excellent post by John Hinderaker, cataloguing NYT hypocrisy re: deficit spending. (In case bad needs any of it for Tapper's, or Jane for Dick.)

That Was Then, This Is Now

[Nilreb]

Tug!

[kim]

Cool, BR; I remember seeing Curtis's bereted troops at the train stations.

I'll bet Joe Wilson regrets throwing in with Clinton. He'd be a natcheral for this ugly crew.
=========================================

[berlin]

Gut!

[Jane]

Thanks Ex -

What's your problem Berlin?

[Renmellib]

Zer Gut, PUK

[BR]

Hee, Kim, I'm going to decipher your first line, but, yah, re Wilson - same as Freeman, at the Middle East Policy Council, where his Rock Creek connection was listed. My first post at JOM, July '05.
Late Night Delight :)

[BR]

Ohh, Sliwa.

[glasater]

BR~

Don't know if you found the information on Mao or not--but your question brought to mind a book I read years ago. Am a little hazy on whether this book--The Soong Dynasty would satisfy your quest but I found it pretty good background history of modern China.

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[bad]

Thanks Ex, unfortunately, the lefty Tapper crowd that comments is probably too stupid to get it.

[berlin]

Gut!

[john]

Um.
But if guys tinkle in urinals and poop in toilets already, why do we need a divided toilet? cant they just harvest our pee from the urinals. filtering out the tasty urinal cakes first, of course.

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[stadtplan berlin]

Gut!

[matt]

was ist den los mit ihn, stadtplan? ist alles gut?

[BR]

Thanks, Glasater, for the book ref. Interesting that Mao's mother was Buddhist. What an abomination he turned out to be making life hell on earth for so many millions with his torture, famine, suppressive economical/agricultural/political actions, killing intellectuals and even his own supporters. So much more. Poor China.

[glasater]

BR~

So glad you checked back on this thread and you are welcome:-)

The book tells a compelling story that paints a broader picture I had only very small glimpses from history studies in school.
Poor China indeed.

[BR]

Hi again, Glasater. As I said at 11:03, the Chinese takeover of the US has already occurred starting with Clinton. So, let's free the people of China if they want to play the game of "Go."

[daddy]

Speaking of Mao, about a year ago I was at my favorite Shanghai Pub reading "Mao: The Unknown Story", by Chang and Halliday (2006). I asked my good Irish bar-owner what his many barmaids/waitresses thought about Mao, and he answered feel free to ask them but you'll be wasting your time as they won't answer. He explained that they are still cognizant of relatives or relations who suffered horrendous repercussions over the last 30 years for expressing political opinions, and because of that sort of omni-present consciousness, they are plenty savvy enough to keep all such political opinions to themselves, or at least not to be foolish enough to share them with customers like me. He was right. I asked, they politely changed the subject, and now I simply pick other topics to discuss with them, such as goofy math problems or the Soong Dynasty or Yao Ming.

[BR]

Hm, velly intelesting. And I was just remembering the invasion of Tibet.

[BR]

Remember the Koran in the toilet?
This must be the Little Red Book in the crapper thread.

[Pagar]

Finally, worked my way back to this thread and found that everyone else had been over here discussing the things I posted about yesterday, the day before,

Oh well, just to show I'm on subject here, Obama's stimulus plan sends a lot of money to Iowa to study whether hogs smell.

[eaglewingz08]

Why doesn't superior Sweeden take the next logical step and bottle human urine drinks like the Indians bottle cow urine? Recycling and Global Warming all vanquished by self righteous urine drinking libtards. What a concept.