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)

1st International IWA Conference on Holistic Sludge Management

An IWA specialist conference

6-8 May 2013
Västerås, Sweden

Websites: http://www.hsm2013.se/  and http://www.iwahq.org/1qh/events/iwa-events/2013/4.html

The purpose of this conference is to provide a forum for researchers and practitioners to exchange the latest developments in sludge management.It will give possibilities to examine and discuss the different challenges connected to resource recovery through treatment and disposal of wastewater sludge.

The conference covers sludge management and anaerobic digestion with a broad holistic system perspective. It includes the recycling of nutrients such as phosphorus and nitrogen by focusing on upstream treatment to reduce harmful substances in wastewater, as well as on the production of biogas as a fuel for vehicles. The certification of treated sludge is another important condition for the possibilities to recycle sludge to farmland areas.

Conference  also want to share knowledge, practices and ideas for the future directions of process development. The sludge treatment is one of the key issues to be solved. The aim of the conference is to take a major step forward to where all aspects of sludge management are addressed.

Proposed Themes:

• Production and utilization of biogas
• Nutrient recovery processes
• Processes for hygienization of sludge
• The need for a holistic approach including i.e. environmental effects from sludge handling/management in the total performance efficiency of wastewater treatment
• Use of sludge for energy generation including combustion and supercritical gasification
• Emerging contaminants in sludge – upstream separation and optimization to decrease negative effects by detoxification
• Physical and chemical pre-treatment processes, including chemical conditioning, thickening, dewatering, drying
• Modelling of anaerobic processes
• Methane emission from sludge treatment

Contact:
Erik Dahlquist at erik.dahlquist@mdh.se and Tel. +46-21-151768
Conference Programme Committee Chairman
Monica Odlare at monica.odlare@mdh.se and Tel. +46-21-101611
Conference Programme Committee Secretary

IWA- the global network for water professionals

The International Water Association is a global reference point for water professionals, spanning the continuum between research and practice and covering all facets of the water cycle. Through its network of members and experts in research, practice, regulation, industry, consulting and manufacturing, IWA is in a better position than any other organisation to help water professionals create innovative, pragmatic and sustainable solutions to challenging global needs.

The strength of IWA lies in the professional and geographic diversity of its membership — a global mosaic of national, corporate and individual member communities. Our members are leaders in their field and represent:

• Researchers – where solutions begin
• Utilities – managing water services worldwide
• Consultants – connecting problem owners with solution providers
• Industry – creating sustainable water solutions
• Regulators – safeguarding public health
• Equipment manufacturers – translating ideas into products

The IWA network is structured to promote multi-level collaboration among its diverse membership groups, and to share the benefit of knowledge on water science and management worldwide. The Association helps make the right connections at the right time, thereby sharing cutting-edge research and practice that allows the water sector shape its future.

Links to other great IWA events

all content for this post  comes from the  IWA sites

Urine diversion toilet components – A Technology Review

This was first noted/posted  by SuSanA( EN FR ES ) and worthy of    “post duplicating”

GTZ Has published a set of technology reviews the last Quarter of 2009 dealing with “some
technologies commonly used as toilets or as treatment systems in ecosan systems.”

GTZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit translated- German Agency for Technical Cooperation) is federally owned and “…supports the German Government in achieving its development-policy objectives.” according to its about us web page Thier focus is sustainable development.  Their is site is available in English and Deutsche de

The following comes  from  http://www.gtz.de/en/themen/umwelt-infrastruktur/wasser/9397.htm and the actual documents.

Technology Review 1: Urine diversion components

• Overview of urine diversion components such as waterless urinals, urine diversion toilets, urine storage and reuse systems
  Version of 6 December 2009. Hard copies are available on request.   This was updated in 2011
• new link is giz2011-0270en-urine-diversion.pdf  
  • 2.7 mb 32 pages (English)
• gtz2009-en-technology-review-urine-diversion.pdf
  1,58 MB 32 pages (English)

• Sampling of sections: Challenges, pathogens, nutrients, micro polutants, treaetment, cost +/-, advantages and disadvantages as fertilizer, waterline urinals, odor control, urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs) & Storage tanks

• Appendix: Worldwide listing of suppliers for waterless urinals and urine diversion toilet pedestals and squatting pans
  • Draft version of 14 May 09 
  • updated in 2011  there are three parts now and they can be found at
  • http://www.susana.org/lang-%20en/library?search=appendix
    • Appendix 1  This document contains a worldwide list of suppliers for waterless urinals.
    • Appendix 2 This document contains a worldwide list of suppliers for urine diversion squatting pans.
    • Appendix  3 This document contains a worldwide list of suppliers for urine diversion pedestals/seats (for UDDTs or for UD flush toilets).
• en-urine-diversion-appendix-suppliers-lists-2009-14-May.pdf
  0,58 MB  18 pages (English)
• Sections include:
  photos  and Suppliers contact information, in alphabetical order by country
  1. waterless urinals
  2. UDD toilets – pedestals / sitting type
  3. UDD toilets – squatting pans
  4. UD flush toilets – sitting type
  5. UD flush toilets – squatting type (1 vendor)

Technology Review 2: Urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs)

• Basic description of urine diversion dehydration toilets (UDDTs)
  Draft version of 2 December 2009
  gtz2009-en-technology-review-udd-toilets.pdf,
  0,13 MB  8 pages (English)
• Overview:
  • topics  are brief, being  limited to a paragraph or two. It is a good summary but not intended  for those wanting details.

• Dehydration toilets – Construction plans – selected examples
  en-ecosan-tds-02-c1-dehydration-toilets-plans-2006.pdf
  5,89 MB 14 pages (English)
• The important note is “Note that plans presented cannot serve  as blueprints for other projects but  only provide some ideas on dimension and design of deyhdration toilets.”
• Plans cover:
  • Double-vault , Bohol, Philippines (DILG-GTZ Water Program, Municiplaitiy of Tagbilaran)
  • with movable bins, Bohol, Philippines. (DILG-GTZ Water Program, Municiplaitiy of Tagbilaran)
  • Urine diversion dyhdration toilets in Navsarjan Primary School, India (Report on Case Studies of ecosan Pilot Projects in India,
    Martin Wafler, 2006)
  • double vault  , Chile (CETAL)
  • double vault with evapotranspiration bed for anal cleansing water, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal (ENPHO)
  • that is Double vault , demonstration toilet, Kalungu Girls Secondary School, Uganda (TBL, Markus Lechner)
  • with movable container, Kalungu Girls Secondary School, Uganda (TBL, Markus Lechner)
  • with movable container, Kalungu Girls Secondary School, Uganda (TBL, Markus Lechner)
  • and shower block, Luzira, Uganda (Ministry of Water, Lands and Environment)

• Dehydration toilets – User instructions – selected examples
  en-ecosan-tds-02-c2-dehydration-toilets-user-instructions-2006.pdf
  6,42 MB  11 pages (English)

• Content includes:
  
  • colored posters in one of the common languages of the  country produced in, viewable on a stands size copy paper.

• • Philippines: ecosan – user guidelines for cleaning device
  • Philippines: ecosan – dos and don’t  when using – for men and women
  • Benin: ecosan -usage (by male) and cleaning overview
  • Nepal: Urine diversion dehydration toilets poster – do’s and don’t  when using-  for men
    (reduce in size – text is not legible )
  • South Africa: Urine diversion dehydration toilets-
    3diagrams and one Q &A sheet about use, misuses , functionality,  and care/maintenance

• Technical drawings of urine diversion dehydration toilets on SuSanA website: www.susana.org/technical-drawings
  0 MB xpages
• Web page with links to a number of plans including Constructed Wetlands, Biogas fixed dome plants, as well as UDDTs

Technology Review 3: Composting toilets

• Basic overview of composting toilets
  Version of 28 October 2009
  gtz2009-en-technology-review-composting-toilets.pdf
  0,64 MB 15 pages  (English)
• Contents includes:
  • Introduction, Overview & General recommendations for operation 6 paages
  • Single-vault composting toilets   2 page
  • Multiple-vault composting toilets 1 page
  • Mobile bucket or bin toilets followed by composting of the excreta 2  page
  • Composting toilets with mechanical devices 3 pages

• Appendix: Range of manufacturers and commercially available composting toilets
  Version of  1 December 2009
  gtz2009-technology-review-composting-toilets-appendix.pdf
  0,41 MB  7 pages  (English)
• Content includes:
  • 17 or so vendor  products with contact information
  • with bullet-ed feature list and photo
  • from America  and Europe and Australia

Technology Review 4: Biogas sanitation

• Biogas sanitation for black water or brown water, or excreta treatment and reuse in developing countries
  Draft version of 13 December 2009
  gtz2009-en-technology-review-biogas-sanitation.pdf
  0,13 MB  8 pages  (English)
• Overview:
  • A short introduction designed for people who  “….want to get an overview of biogas sanitation, their
    different designs, their application, maintenance, efficiency and technical components”

Technologie Review 5: Constructed wetlands

• Constructed wetlands for greywater and domestic wastewater treatment in developing countries
  Draft version of 16 December 2009
  gtz2009-en-technology-review-constructed-wetlands-version-2.pdf
  2,00 MB  17 pages (English)
• Partial content:
  • Introduction to constructed wetlands (CWs)
  • Design, operation and maintenance of CWs
  • Plants used in CWs
  • Subsurface flow constructed wetlands (SSF CWs) (horizontal  vertical hybrid)
  • Free water surface constructed wetlands (FWS CWs)
  • Costs and project examples

NOTES:

They, GTZ,  suggests the site  http://www.susana.org/lang-en/working-groups for in depth information.  SuSanA (Sustainable Sanitation Alliance) has formed working groups for a range topics centered on sanitation. Their admirable and hopefully achievable goal is to “…provide deliverables  that underline the problems and opportunities …” for these topics.  The working groups break  out as follows:

• • Working group 1 – capacity development
  • Working group 2 – costs and economics
  • Working group 3 – renewable energies, climate change and groundwater protection
  • Working group 4 – sanitation systems, technology options, hygiene and health
  • Working group 5 – food security and productive sanitation systems
  • Working group 6 – sustainable sanitation for cities and planning
  • Working group 7 – community, rural and school sanitation
  • Working group 8 – sustainable sanitation in emergency and reconstruction situations
  • Working group 9 – sanitation as a business
  • Working group 10 – public awareness and sanitation marketing
  • Working group 11 – operation and maintenance of sustainable sanitation
  • Working group 12 – gender aspects of sustainable sanitation