Life Cycle: Shit Happens

Life Cycle is a series of posts on the extraordinary journeys of everyday things.

After the coffee, paper and cig, our morning ritual continues in the loo.

What you may not realize, cherie, is that whatever you flush down comes back around. Our waste fertilizes our fields and is pumped back into the waterways that are our major sources of drinking water. Let's take the journey from toilet to tap, shall we? Oui oui. (We're affecting French here for a touch of sophistication in a post centering on fecal matter.)

Americans use about 70 gallons of water indoors, every day. About three-quarters of that is used in the toilette--shower, bath, sink, crapper--and over one-quarter is used whisking away our waste. You can cut this water usage by making sure your toilet isn't leaking, using a composting or low-flow toilet or even displacing the water in the tank with a brick or container filled with sand. Your toilet is not a trashcan, so save cigarette butts, tissues and used condoms for the basket, not the bowl.

We don't want to bum you out, but cutting water usage means a lot in an era when more than a billion people lack access to safe drinking water. According to Claudia McMurray, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, "On any given day, approximately 50% of the world's hospital beds are filled with patients suffering from water and sanitation related diseases. Each year 1.8 million children in developing countries die from diarrheal disease--the second leading cause of death after pneumonia."

When aiming for more equitable water usage, hippie wisdom comes in handy: If it's brown flush it down; if it's yellow, let it mellow. S'il vous plait. (Our hippie is French.)

After the solid and liquid waste leave the bowl, they're routed through your house pipes to what's called a sanitary sewer. This is where the magic happens. Your precious cargo arrives at the treatment plant and passes through a series of mechanical screens. The solids get sent to a landfill, while the smaller bits get separated into sludge and liquid waste.

During secondary treatment, the sludge is pumped into concrete digesters where oxygen-hungry bacteria chomp on our crap and break organic sewage into simpler inorganic compounds. This concoction is drained, and the dehydrated "bio-solids" are sent to farmers to use as fertilizer on our fields. Unfortunately, these refined poo pellets contain heavy metals, dioxins, PCBs, pesticides and hundreds of other toxic chemicals. They pollute surface water and cause rashes and infections in farmers and livestock. Not surprising, the use of fecal fertilizer is causing shitstorms all over the place. Some green groups maintain that with better safeguards, sludge might be one of the best ways to handle our waste, but until there's better oversight, you may want to seek out certified organic produce grown without bio-solids.

Back in the sewage treatment plant, the remaining water is disinfected chemically and discharged into a stream, river, lagoon or wetland or used for irrigation on golf courses or highway medians. Despite being chemically treated, that water is still rife with birth-control, anti-depressants and other pharmaceuticals we once ingested and wee-weed out. Sources of drinking water like the Puget Sound and the Potomac River harbor trace amounts of caffeine, heart medication, estrogen and more.

What are we to do? Don't flush your drugs, for starters. And rejoice in the fact that scientists have now developed a way to turn pee into electricity, sprinkling a few drops onto copper chloride paper and generating about 1.5 volts of energy.

One more suggestion that will lighten the load: Get yourself a bidet (those French!) or use recycled toilet paper. Recycled, mon ami, not reused. The average American uses over 100 rolls a year, most of which is made from a combination of softwood and hardwood trees--Southern pines and Douglas firs make the paper strong, while maples and oaks make the paper soft. Zut alors! Oak trees have been felled to give our asses a little more comfort! And to ease our eyes, the paper is brightened with chlorine bleach which results in dioxin contamination. T.P. made from recycled paper uses colored and white stock (with staples and pins removed, natch) and is usually whitened with hydrogen peroxide.

C'est bon.

Next: La douche! (As in French for "the shower," not your mom's Summer's Eve.)

This post was written by Simran Sethi and Sarah Smarsh. Thanks to the University of Kansas School of Journalism and Lacey Johnston for research assistance. Photo courtesy of Gothelina.

Comments

[carol58]

Well, shit. I went right out yesterday and bought recycled toilet paper. I had no idea. I have for many years, though, been letting my yellow mellow. My friends and I called it something else-- "two pees to a pot."

[Simran Sethi - Huffpost Blogger]

Carol!
Our work is done. Sarah, Simran and the trees thank you.
And I will definitely co-opt "two pees to a pot."
Am I gross for stretching it to a couple more?
TMI.

[number13001]

nice post... wondering what you know about septic systems and their accompanying lateral fields? the house we just bought has a septic tank and the (huge) garden is built a top the lateral field. it's likely in put there bc it's the only large sun-exposed area in an otherwise thickly wooded piece of property.

the septic inspector told us that "technically" the FDA recommends not planting any food plants near or on the lateral field. but he proceeded to tell us that most people in this area do exactly that.

seems to me that the relatively shallow roots of our garden veggies -- esp in the raised beds -- would be getting more surface moisture than the (presumably deeper residing) waste overflow.

also seems to me that -- based on the way septic tanks work -- that the waste in the lateral fields would be fairly well "mellowed" ... ie broken down by the natural bacteria and processes in the tank. that's the ol' "common sense" reasoning that often doesn't apply to such things though...

[Simran Sethi - Huffpost Blogger]

13001, I am not sure if I should be flattered or horrified that you consider me some sort of fecal contamination expert. Here's what I learned through my psychic travels through waste: septic tanks can leak resulting in septic failures ("stuff" backing up into your house or yard, for example). A septic system failure can result in untreated wastewater seeping into the soil and ending up back in our food and water. There isn't regulation around these failures so your inspector's warning should be heeded. I suggest you also check your drainfield regularly because leaks often go undetected.

[alicel]

I'm pooped just from reading about how shit happens, and vice versa. It makes me think of my cat, Bruce, the little poophead. He insists on the litter that is flushable, not the clumping litter. In fact, he refuses to put his refuse in the clumping litter box. I'm going to have to have a talk with him. I'm sure he will excrete a very loud meow.

[Sarah Smarsh - Huffpost Blogger]

Alice, I once actually potty-trained my cat for both environmental and money-saving motives. If Bruce is spry, I highly recommend it! Magic the Cat is now 16 and, while she doesn't look a day over 12, is back to the litter with her old bones.

[Simran Sethi - Huffpost Blogger]

Dear Bruce,

I am sure you are as cute as a button. Please make sure Alicel scoops your poop and flushes it or (much less preferable) puts it in a baggie and throws it away. Pet poop that's left on lawns or sidewalks (to get stepped on) gets washed away by rainwater and ends up in our waterways. This waste can contaminate our waterways with greater frequency and intensity because storm sewers/ drains don't get the same kind of treatment as sanitary sewers.

Regards,
Simran-the­-cat-lover

[Checquoline]

I can't handle the truth.....­..........­....