Waterless Urinals: A Resource Book

This is a Wonderful 39 page  Technical document  on covering  all aspect  of Waterless Urinals and some variants that incorporates
the core ideas.

written by

• Dr V M Chariar
• S Ramesh Sakthivel

from forward

This Resource Book is a guide that seeks to assist individuals, builders, engineers, architects, and policy makers in promoting waterless urinals and the benefits of harvesting urine for reuse through waterless urinals and urine diverting toilets.

Chapters cover a wide set of Waterless Urinals details

1. Waterless Urinals
   1. 1.1  Advantages of Waterless Urinals and Reuse of Urine
   2. 1.2  Demerits of Conventional Urinals
2. Functioning of Waterless Urinals
   1. 2.1  Sealant Liquid Traps
   2. 2.2  Membrane Traps
   3. 2.3  Biological Blocks
   4. 2.4  Comparative Analysis of Popular Odour Traps
   5. 2.5  Other Types of odour Traps
   6. 2.6  Installation and Maintenance of Waterless Urinals
3. Innovative Urinal Designs
   1. 3.1  Public Urinal Kiosk 21
   2. 3.2  Green Waterless Urinal
   3. 3.3  Self Constructed Urinals
4. Urine Diverting Toilets
5. Urine Harvesting for Agriculture
   1. 5.1  Safe Application of Urine 3
   2. 5.2  Methods of Urine Application
6. Other Applications of Urine
7. Challenges and the Way Forward
8. References and Further Reading

The book has a solid collection of tables and diagrams that support the text

• Comparative analysis of popular odour traps
• Average chemical composition of fresh urine
• Recommended dose of urine for various crops
• Waterless urinals for men
• Schematic diagram showing functioning of urinals
• Sealant liquid based odour trap
• Urinals with sealant liquid based odour traps
• Flat rubber tube by Keramag and silicon membranes by Addicom
• LDPE membrane by Shital Ceramics
• Biological blocks
• Formwork used for fabrication of public urinal kiosk
• Reinforced concrete public urinal kiosk
• Drawing of public urinal kiosk established at IIT Delhi
• Green urinal established at IIT Delhi
• Plant bed of green urinal with perforated pipe
• Drawing of public urinal kiosk established at IIT Delhi
• Self constructed urinal Eco‐lily
• Squatting type urine diverting dry toilet with two chambers
• Urine diverting no mix toilet 27 Sectional view of a urine diverting dry toilet
• Deep injection of urine using soil injector
• Deep injection of urine using perforated pet bottles
• Use of fertilisation tank for applying urine through drip irrigation
• Manually operated reactor for recovery of struvite
• Schematic drawing of ammonia stripping from urine

Among many topics the Doc  weighs pros and cons of of traps to prevent odor and gases for escaping .Most of the solutions  have cost / maintenance barriers that limit feasibility to particular set of cases. India is a large county and need a variety of solutions as does the rest of the world.

We will  will  be interested to learn more about Zerodor
“An odourless trap Zerodor which does not require replaceable parts or consumables resulting in low maintenance costs has been developed at IIT Delhi. This model is in final test stage yet to be made commercially available.”    more on Zerodor…

further notes from forward

Waterless Urinals do not require water for flushing and can be promoted at homes, institutions and public places to save water, energy and to harvest urine as a resource. Reduction in infrastructure required for water supply and waste water treatment is also a spinoff arising from installing waterless urinals. The concept, founded on the principles of ecological sanitation helps in preventing environmental damage caused by conventional flush sanitation systems.

In recent years, Human Urine has been identified as a potential resource that can be beneficially used for agriculture and industrial purposes. Human urine contains significant portion of essential plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphate and potassium excreted by human beings. Urine and faeces can also be separated employing systems such as urine diverting toilets. In the light of diminishing world’s phosphate and oil reserves which determine availability as well as pricing of mineral fertilisers, harvesting urine for reuse in agriculture assumes significant importance. Akin to the movement for harvesting rain water, urine harvesting is a concept which could have huge implications for resource conservation.

Link to download  book & A deeper overview:

with excerpts can be found on the the India Water Portal site  more….

Prepared By

• Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
• Vigyan Vijay Foundation

Funded by 

• UNICEF
• SEI Stockholm Environment Institute

Related articles

• UNICEF Report Highlights India’s Water Management Woes (circleofblue.org)
• SANITATION: Urban water woes (irinnews.org)
• From Water Problems to Water Solutions (slideshare.net)
• Lack of toilets, clean water costs world $260 bln a year – Liberian president (trust.org)

Urine Diverting Toilets in Climates with Cold Winters

There was post on the yahoo group ECOSANRES asking about Cold Climate toilets -Cold weather toilets.

A reply mentioned this PDF:

Urine Diverting Toilets in Climates with Cold Winters Technical considerations and the reuse of nutrients with a focus on legal and hygienic aspects.

While  the report is several year old,  the $h1t is still good and worthy of summarizing

basic facts:

Authors and Editors:

• Anna Richert Stintzing
• VERNA, Ecological Inc., Sweden
• Dr. Håkan Jönsson
• Dr. Caroline Schönning
• Kati Hinkkanen
• Dr. Elisabeth Kvarnström
• Dr. Zsofia Ganrot
• Margriet Samwel
• Sascha Gabizon
• Annemarie Mohr
• Publisher: WECF – Women in Europe for a Common Future
• Year:2007
• Pages:42   1.35 mb
• It is formatted 3 columns / page which doe not lend itself  well to computer screens and pdf readers
• It is a fast read to those in this field
• It is a good  read for someone who knows little about this field

Chapters/ sections

1 – Summary
2 – Dry Urine Diversion
3 – EU directives relating to dry urine diversion where urine and faeces
4 – Legal aspects
5 – Cold temperature aspects
-   Freezing of urine
-   Hygiene and treatment of urine
-   Pharmaceuticals and hormones
-   Hygiene and treatment of faeces
-   Technical aspects: construction and maintenance of
-    urine diverting toilets in climates with cold winters
-   Pipes for urine
-   Storage
-   Odour control with ventilation
-   System for reuse of urine and faeces in crop production
-   Home gardens
-   Large Scale Agricultural Production
6 – Examples from pilot projects and research from the northern hemisphere
7 – Knowledge gaps and identified research needs
8 – Annex

Three key points  from the Reportssummary are:

“There are functioning examples of dry urine diversion in regions in the world with cold winter climates. The examples presented in the report show that it is possible to arrange agricultural reuse of urine and faeces in large or small scale crop production.”

“The fact that there are only short periods during the year when urine can be used as a fertiliser place demands on a storage system for the urine. There are a few alternatives; one of the most economic may be to arrange storage on a farm, in covered storage containers previously used for animal urine.”

“There are still development needs and knowledge gaps. Some of these are related to temperate and cold climates, such as the fate of microorganisms in urine at temperatures below freezing. However, this should not be considered a major constraint to the development of dry urine diversion, since the risk is relatively low, and can be handled through combination with other hygienic activities.”

The report reprints 3  basic but useful  tables from other organizations:

1: Recommended guideline storage times for urinea based on estimated pathogen contentb and recommended crop for larger systemsc (WHO, 2006).

2: Requirements on storage and allowed crops for diverted human urine that is collected from larger systems. (Swedish EPA, 2002).

3: Recommendations for storage treatment of dry excreta and faecal sludge before use at household and large-scale (municipal) levels. The treatments assume no
addition of non-sanitised material (WHO, 2006).

Again the report is a quick and easy read, providing a good  preface to a much larger  document that needs to be written on the subject.    The report  ends  nicely,  saying  we need more  research :

“There are some definite areas where there is a need of systematic research and development (R&D). Some of these, especially related to winter climate aspects, are specified in the following text.

Research needs

One of the most discussed questions regarding urine diversion is the fate of pharmaceutical residues after excretion, and how this affects choice of collection and treatment of human excreta. Research on fate of pharmaceuticals in waste water treatment plants is being undertaken in Germany and Sweden. No known field studies are taking place on fate of pharmaceutical residues when urine or sewage sludge is applied to the soil. The current recommendation to use urine as a fertiliser in agriculture rests on the analysis that the soil system is well suited to digest harmful organic substances due to microbial life in the surface layers of soil. This would be an interesting field of study that can give valuable information on design of reuse systems.

Sanitisation of faeces is another aspect that needs attention. The WHO guidelines on the reuse of human excreta in agriculture mention the alkaline treatment by adding ashes or alkaline substances with a storage time of 6 month ( > 35 °C ) as a possible way to sanitise faeces, or 1,5 – 2 years storage time. The temperature intervals given do not cater for needs in temperate or cold climates, which means that knowledge on treatment of faeces in this region should be developed. Research on more simple and robust treatment methods is needed.

Suggested applied R&D projects

-   Establishment of new pilot projects and evaluation of existing projects. Monitoring and evaluation of existing dry urine diversion projects is a costefficient way of generating knowledge. Dissemination of results, regardless of if they are positive or negative, from existing pilots is vital. The establishment of new pilot projects will also contribute to the bank of knowledge.

-   Sanitisation of faecal fraction: research on requested storage in ambient or alkaline environment in temperate and cold climates (winters with temperatures far below zero).

-   Sanitisation of faecal fraction: research on the implementation of chemical sanitisation of faeces with urea. This is an interesting method, but the practical implications need to be studied and developed.

-   Sanitisation of urine: what happens in the urine when it is frozen and what are the implications for storage intervals?

-   Pharmaceutical residues: studies of soil system when urine is used as a fertiliser. Effect on microbial community, speed of decomposition. Comparisons with sewage sludge, farmyard manure.

-   Toilet design: development of risers and squat-plates for local production. Care given to needs of different users: children, disabled, elderly, men, women. Toilets of today need development since many do not divert as much urine as possible, and are unnecessarily difficult to clean.

-   Systems analysis from an economic point of view. Comparison of investment and maintenance costs of urine diversion systems and conventional sanitation.

-   Systems analysis from an environmental point of view. How do different activities affect the sustainability of the system, for example fertilisation strategies, choice of tank, joint measures or single toilets?

-   What are the economical incentives for implementation of urine diversion? How to design the economical system with the regard to municipal responsibility and financial support/ interactions. How should the systems be organized and which are the most important drivers for the different stake holders.”

other  related links

• Inactivation of bacteria and viruses in human urine depending on temperature and dilution rate.
• The Swedish Eco-Sanitation Experience pdf
• Ecosan Sanitation Facilities resources
• Ecosan_Toilets_in_Mongolia.
• Reuse of faeces and urine – Appropedia: The sustainability wiki

• Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater. Volume 1: Policy and regulatory aspects
• Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater. Volume 2: Wastewater use in agriculture
• Guidelines for the safe use of wastwater, excreta and greywater. Volume 3: Wastewater and excreta use in aquaculture
• Guidelines for the safe use of wastwater, excreta and greywater. Volume 4: Excreta and greywater use in agriculture
• Human urine – Chemical composition and fertilizer use efficiency

• Human Urine – Decomposition Processes and Nutrient Recovery

EcoSan video focusing on Urine as Fertilizer

Here is great video showing  how the EcoSan toilet works, stressing:
1 You don’t need water to us  an EcoSan toilet, saving a precious resource
2  There is a huge benefit to use urine as a fertilizer

The video the workings of toilet itself. What I find wonderful is  that  this video  explains  & shows the full sequence of steps taken to  after urination to get the urine onto the the field as fertilizer. This is followed by a wonderful comparison of crop yields comparing side by side  fields, on fertilized with urine the other fertilized with commercial fertilizer.  The fields  fertilized with urine did better than the commercial fertilizers and at NO COST!!!! The video is in English and the location is Ethiopia. Several local experts are use to explain particular points.

Title Urine Diversion Toilets: advantages and use agriculture
a brief Ecosan Documentary by Andreas Wilkin c 2008
produced for the ROSA project
contact Franziska Meinzinger  f.meinzinger   @    tu-harburg.de
Technische Universitat Hamburg-Harburg TUHH
(Hamburg University of Technology)

WASHLink  Notes:  addition resources:

other  related YouTube videos (using following search terms)

ecosan urine	ecosan construction	ecosan watsan
ecosan design materials	ecosan fertilizer	ecosan toilet

WHO:

• Safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater

Google  Scholar search

• Urine  fertilizer  sources

Struvite from Urine in Nepal: STUN

source source http://www.eawag.ch/organisation/abteilungen/sandec/publikationen/stun
The STUN project, operated in co-operation with UN-HABITAT Nepal, examines the feasibility of converting source-separated urine into a dry fertilizer product called ‘struvite’. Struvite (often called MAP for magnesium ammonium phosphate: MgNH₄PO₄^.6H₂O) is a safe, bioavailable fertilizer which can be precipitated from urine with only the addition of magnesium.

Working in the Kathmandu Valley, with the community of Siddhipur, the STUN project has assessed the social,

see map

economic, and technical feasibility of producing struvite at the community level. By producing struvite from urine, we hope to promote improved sanitation, local food security, and nutrient independence as Nepal must import all of its fertilizer at prices which are not always affordable for subsistence farmers.

The following reports are available for download:

E Tilley, K Udert, B Etter, R Khadka, E John. (2009). Struvite Recovery in Kathamandu: A business model for increased food security
Fertilizer. (award winning poster from the Alliance for Global Sustainability 2009 Annual Meeting)

Etter, B. (2009).  Process optimization of low-cost struvite recovery. Masters thesis submitted to EPFL.

Etter, B. (2009). Struvite recovery from urine at community scale in Nepal. Intermediate report. Eawag: Swiss Federal Insitute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland. (technical optimization)

Gantenbein, B. and Khadka, R. (2009). Struvite Recovery from Urine at Community Scale in Nepal: Final Project Report Phase 1. Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Dübendorf, Switzerland. (social assessment)

Kashekya, E.J. (2009). Struvite production from source separated urine in Nepal: The reuse potential of the effluent. MSc Thesis MWI-SE 2009/01. UNESCO-IHE and Eawag, Delft, The Netherlands.

Further reading:

Tilley, E., Gantenbein, B., Khadka, R., Zurbrügg, C. and Udert, K.M. (2009). Social and economic feasibility of struvite recovery from uine at the community level in Nepal. In: International Conference on Nutrient Recovery from Wastewater Streams. K. Ashley, D. Mavinic and F. Koch (eds). IWA Publishing, London, pp 169-178.

For more information (in Switzerland) please contact struvite.nepal@eawag.ch

For more information on:

UN-Habitat

www.unhabitat.org

phosphorus depletion:

http://phosphorusfutures.net

www.phosphaterecovery.com

www.ceep-phosphates.org

Urine separation and reuse:

www.novaquatis.eawag.ch/index_EN

www.ecosanres.com