[FLPERMACULTURE] composting toilet cont.

[Micheal Wheeler]

I don't seem to find any replies posted to this.  Did anyone get back to you?

One thing I imagine for my system when I finally get around to it is
doing the composting inside a greenhouse.  Any sort of a cover will
reduce the amount of water getting in and therefore leaching out.  And
the roof can collect water for washing buckets, controlled watering
the pile, breeding mosquitos, etc.

Why do you want to dig into the ground at all?  That doesn't make
sense to me-- it cools the pile down (at least the portion of the pile
in contact with the soil) and prevents composting. I know when we've
tried digging pits for hot beds they never heated up and just ended up
a smelly mess, but when we built them above ground with haybales for
sides they worked beautifully.

As for ground water contamination, I strongly suggest doing soil
percolation tests.  If the soil is too sandy to treat effluent from a
septic system, then I believe it is too sandy to treat effluent from
this kind of compost pile.  At least, better safe than sorry.

Mike Wheeler

On 6/15/06, Krisna Goodbody <nonremissedic2 at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Just want to add, for clarification, that the toilet is a "bucket carry
> system", and the "site" the location of the dumped buckets.
>
> Thanks again.
>
> >From: "Krisna Goodbody" <nonremissedic2 at hotmail.com>
> >Reply-To: fingerlakespermaculture at lists.mutualaid.org
> >To: fingerlakespermaculture at lists.mutualaid.org
> >Subject: [FLPERMACULTURE] composting toilet
> >Date: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 14:45:43 -0400
> >
> >Hey everybody,
> >
> >I am building a composting toilet system on a site with a well fed by an
> >underground stream, so I don't want to risk contaminating the water supply.
> >  The exact location of this stream is unknown, so caution is required.
> >I've dug the site into the ground about a foot, and have had the idea to
> >line the bottom with recycled plastic sheeting, like plywood but plastic.
> >However, this would create a barrier for the earthworms and other
> >beneficial instects to enter the pile and assist in the composting process.
> >
> >So, I would like to ask if anyone knows how deeply a large pile will seep
> >into the ground in VERY sandy soil.  I know that normally the bio barrier
> >is 18" of straw, but the owner wants to make sure that NOTHING contaminates
> >the water, and rightly so.  The site is 6 ft. x 14 ft. divided into three
> >areas and a little over a foot into the ground.  Maybe it shouldn't be dug
> >into the ground at all. I do feel, though, that it won't be a problem, I
> >just want to reaffirm my feeling with some other knowledgable folks.
> >
> >Any comments, suggestions, websites or the like would be well appreciated.
> >I have read the humanure handbook, so I know what he says about the
> >contamination pattern for an outhouse, pit-style toilet, but refresh my
> >memory if 10 ft. down by 30 ft. in the direction of water runoff isn't
> >correct.
> >
> >Thanks everybody,
> >
> >Christopher
> >
>