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Awesome stuff from our Haitian Network:

Becoming a Crop Champion - Penny Rambacher, R.D.

Human Waste

Key facts - WHO

In 2017, 45% of the global population (3.4 billion people) used a safely managed sanitation service.
31% of the global population (2.4 billion people) used private sanitation facilities connected to sewers from which wastewater was treated.
14% of the global population (1.0 billion people) used toilets or latrines where excreta were disposed of in situ.
74% of the world’s population (5.5 billion people) used at least a basic sanitation service.
2.0 billion people still do not have basic sanitation facilities such as toilets or latrines.
Of these, 673 million still defecate in the open, for example in street gutters, behind bushes or into open bodies of water.
At least 10% of the world’s population is thought to consume food irrigated by wastewater.
Cropland in peri-urban areas irrigated by mostly untreated urban wastewater is estimated to be approximately 36 million hectares (equivalent to the size of Germany)
Poor sanitation is linked to transmission of diseases such as cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio and exacerbates stunting.
Poor sanitation reduces human well-being, social and economic development due to impacts such as anxiety, risk of sexual assault, and lost educational opportunities.
Inadequate sanitation is estimated to cause 432 000 diarrhoeal deaths annually and is a major factor in several neglected tropical diseases, including intestinal worms, schistosomiasis, and trachoma. Poor sanitation also contributes to malnutrition.

FAO : Composting is the natural process of 'rotting' or decomposition of organic matter by microorganisms under controlled conditions. Raw organic materials such as crop residues, animal wastes, food garbage, some municipal wastes and suitable industrial wastes, enhance their suitability for application to the soil as a fertilizing resource, after having undergone composting. Compost is a rich source of organic matter. Soil organic matter plays an important role in sustaining soil fertility, and hence in sustainable agricultural production. In addition to being a source of plant...

Sanitation and Human Health Resources

This is a list of resources that speak especially to issues of sanitation and human health.

Vermicomposting Toilets

This site is about vermicomposting flush toilets – on-site processing of domestic sewage with worms. These aren’t the first vermicomposting sewage systems by any means, but they’re the first (to our knowledge) to be based on open source principles with non-proprietary technology and low cost...

Sustainable Sanitation for All - Experiences, challenges and innovations - Petra Bongartz, Naomi Vernon, John Fox

Great strides have been made in improving sanitation in many developing countries. Yet, 2.4 billion people worldwide still lack access to adequate sanitation facilities and the poorest and most vulnerable members of society are often not reached and their specific needs are not met. Moreover,...

To decommission a pit

To decommission a pit, it can simply be filled with soil and covered. Although there is no received benefit, the full pit poses no immediate health risk and the contents will degrade naturally over time. Alternatively, the Arborloo is a shallow pit that is filled with excreta and soil/ash and...

Characterization of urea hydrolysis in fresh human urine and inhibition by chemical addition

Abstract, Environ. Sci.: Water Res. Technol., 2017 Urea hydrolysis is a chemical reaction that occurs in soils, the human body, and in wastewater urine diversion systems. The reaction, which transforms the urea in urine into ammonia and bicarbonate, results in ammonia volatilization and...

Greywater Action - Composting Toilets

The modern-day sewer system has failed. In the United States, our clean water infrastructure was rated a D from the American Society of Civil Engineers (2013). Sewage overflows cause beach closures, spread illnesses, and contaminate the environment. And this is happening in places that actually...

Do Sewage Pathogens & Contaminants Appear in Fruits and Vegetables Grown Near Septic Drainfields?

Sewage pathogens appearing in fruits and vegetables grown near septic disposal fields: This document discusses the health hazards of consuming fruits and vegetables that may contain contaminants produced if they are grown over septic drainfields or too close to other sources of effluent from...

Innovative Sludge Management Techniques for Developing Nations

Abstract, International Journal of Waste Resources, 2018 In municipal centers of developing nations, most households are served by means of on-site public health systems like septic tanks as well unsewered toilets, besides the faecal sludges gathered from these methods are usually discarded...

Talking Crap: Exploring Ecological Sanitation for a Sustainable World - Dan Newns

An exploration of the need for a shift in the current paradigm of human "waste" and the pleasingly simple science that offers a solution; we will look at the different sanitation situations around the world, how and why they may be problematic, discuss the most appropriate ecological solutions on...

TN #47 Composting Toilets

A composting toilet is any system that converts human waste into compost through the natural breakdown of organic matter. The photo above shows a composting toilet from the late 1800’s. Composting toilets provide a sanitary method to recycle human waste while conserving water and protecting the environment. In addition, they produce a valuable fertilizer. Composting toilets can be divided into batch systems and continuous use systems. The models covered here are batch systems. Cite this article as: Forst, C. 2002. Composting Toilets . ECHO Technical Note no. 47.

Reinventing the toilet

Lack of toilets is not a problem unique to Madagascar. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 2.4 billion people lack access to basic toilet facilities, and nearly 1bn can’t even do their business in private, practising so-called ‘open defecation’, resorting to fields, street gutters...

The biochar-urine connection - Sanitation, nutrient recovery, and carbon sink - Dr. Barry Gutwein

The presentation will provide an overview of biochar production and urine diversion technologies. Particular attention will be given to recent developments and related issues. Following the overview the discussion will focus on the potential urine-related uses of biochar. Dr. Barry...

Design Examples Of Waterless Composting Toilets

Some Thoughts on Sanitation and the Environment ”The Western type of toilet system cannot solve the problem of getting rid of excreta in Third World countries. Nor, indeed, has it solved those problems in the developed world. The Western system is expensive. It uses large amounts of clean...

A Guide to Composting Human Waste - Joseph C. Jenkins

We do not recycle waste. It’s a common misuse of semantics to say that waste is, can be, or should be recycled. Resource materials are recycled, but waste is never recycled. That’s why it’s called “waste.” Waste is any material with no inherent value that is discarded and has no further use. We...