Belgian scientists make novel water-from-urine machine

BRUSSELS, July 26 (Reuters) - A team of scientists at a Belgian university say they have created a machine that turns urine into drinkable water and fertilizer using solar energy, a technique which could be applied in rural areas and developing countries.

While there are other options for treating waste water, the system applied at the University of Ghent uses a special membrane, is said to be energy-efficient and to be applicable in areas off the electricity grid.

"We're able to recover fertilizer and drinking water from urine using just a simple process and solar energy," said University of Ghent researcher Sebastiaan Derese.

The urine is collected in a big tank, heated in a solar-powered boiler before passing through the membrane where the water is recovered and nutrients such as potassium, nitrogen and phosphorus are separated.

Under the slogan #peeforscience, the team recently deployed the machine at a 10-day music and theatre festival in central Ghent, recovering 1,000 litres of water from the urine of revellers.

The aim is to install larger versions of the machine in sports venues or airports but also to take it to a rural community in the developing world where fertilisers and reliable drinking water are short in supply, Derese said.

As was the case with previous projects the research team was engaged in, the water recovered from the city festival will be used to make one of Belgium's most coveted specialties - beer.

"We call it from sewer to brewer," Derese said. (Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; editing by Philip Blenkinsop/Jermey Gaunt)

On Monday, July 25, 2016 4:53 PM, "raju g iamrsg@gmail.com [worldmalayaliclub]" <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

AND THIS TOO....Five Reasons to Pee in Your Garden

By Sarah "Steve" Mosko / Boogie Green

I confess, my husband and I both pee in our backyard garden, waiting until nightfall so as not to surprise neighbors.

We've always been comfortable relieving ourselves alongside lonely highways, even in daylight when waiting for the next bathroom seems unreasonable. But peeing in our own garden started as something of a lark, a combo of enjoying feeling a little naughty while also stealing a moment to take in the stillness of the night.

However, after a little research into the contents of urine and the ecological footprint of toilet flushing, I'm approaching my nightly garden visitations with a renewed sense of purpose, armed with sound reasons to continue the habit.

#1 Urine is a good fertilizer, organic and free
Contrary to popular belief, urine is usually germ-free unless contaminated with feces. It's also about 95 percent water. The chief dissolved nutrient is urea, a nitrogen (N)-rich waste metabolite of the liver. Consequently, urine is high in N. Synthesized urea, identical to urea in urine, is also the number one ingredient of manufactured urea fertilizers which now dominate farming industry. Furthermore, urine contains lower amounts of the other two main macronutrients needed for healthy plant growth, phosphorous (P) and potassium (K).

Poor soil conditions and the prohibitive cost of manufactured fertilizers in third world countries have inspired rigorous study of urine fertilizer as a sustainable strategy to reduce poverty and malnutrition and promote worldwide food security. As example, in an in-depth 2010 practical guide for using urine as crop fertilizer, an international research institute (Stockholm Research Institute) writes that, "Nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulphur as well as micronutrients are all found in urine in plant available forms. Urine is a well balanced nitrogen rich fertilizer which can replace and normally gives the same yields as chemical fertilizer in crop production."

Depending on water intake, humans produce roughly 1-2 liters of urine a day. With proper planning, the urine from person during one year could suffice to fertilize "300-400 m2 of crop," according to the Stockholm Environment Institute.

Urine as crop fertilizer is not just a theoretical concept, but has been put into practice successfully all over the world, including Africa, northern Europe, India, Central America, and even the United States. In fact, if you live near Brattleboro, Vermont, you can contact the Rich Earth Institute to participate as a "urine donor" in the first field studies of urine as fertilizer in the United States.

Obviously, there are important guidelines and safety procedures for farms and entire communities that rely on urine fertilizer for crop production – like special two-compartment toilets designed to collect urine free of fecal contamination – which are unnecessary for someone like me who pees directly in the garden and with more casual purpose in mind. Guidelines that do apply to everyone, however, include applying the urine to soil rather than foliage and mixing the urine in right away.

#2 Combat drought
Regions in all five continents are in the grip of sustained droughts. One-third of the contiguous United States was experiencing moderate to exceptional drought as of the end of August, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor. My home state of California is suffering record-breaking drought with no end in sight. Governor Brown recently called on Californians to reduce their water consumption by 20 percent, and peeing in the garden gives me a good head-start to meeting that goal.

On average, Americans each use 80-100 gallons of water per day, according to the U.S.Environmental Protection Agency. Seventy percent of a household's water consumption is typically for indoor uses, with toilet flushing the biggest water hog.

Although newer toilets generally use 1.6 gallons per flush, older ones use at least three gallons. So someone flushing urine 6 to 8 times per day could easily save 10 to 24 gallons of water daily by diverting all their urine to the yard. But, even if collecting urine in the daytime is out of the question – say, if you work outside the home or simply consider peeing into a receptacle and ferrying it to the yard a deal-breaker – the water savings by just peeing in the yard twice a night could easily amount to an annual water savings of between 1000 and 2000 gallons per person.

# 3 Slow groundwater depletion
Based on satellite data, NASA recently released an alarming report describing dramatic groundwater depletion in the Colorado River Basin in under a decade. The Colorado River Basin is considered the water lifeline of the western United States. NASA calculated the water loss at 53 million acre feet, nearly twice the volume of freshwater in Nevada's Lake Mead. The real shocker is that groundwater loss accounted for three-fourths of the depletion, and no one knows how much groundwater is left or when it could run out.

In California, a third of the state's water supply comes from regional groundwater. Rapidly dwindling groundwater levels, due to unregulated well drilling and extraction, is threatening the availability of water for agriculture and even human consumption, finally prompting California to enact a package of criticalgroundwater protections in Sept.

Individuals can do their part too, by peeing in the yard or, at least, adhering to the adage I grew up with, "If it's yellow, it's mellow, if it's brown, flush it down." If each of California's 12.5 million households flushed just four fewer times daily, the drain on the state's groundwater would be lessened by 25-50 million gallons annually.

#4 Bypass sewage treatment plants
Though the pathogens (germs) in household wastewater come primarily from feces, many pharmaceuticals and chemicals in personal care products (PPCPs) are excreted in the urine, producing global pollution of natural bodies of water and even drinking water because sewage treatment systems are not designed to eliminate such substances.

Everything flushed down the toilet is piped to either onsite septic tanks or more often to municipal treatment plants where the liquid undergoes a two-step process, first separation from the bulk solids through settling and then incubation with bacteria to digest disease-causing pathogens and produce an effluent safer for return to the natural environment. The treated effluent from septic tanks is allowed to seep on-site into the ground, whereas treatment plants typically release directly into rivers, lakes and oceans.

Depending on regional policies, the effluent might also undergo so-called tertiarytreatment involving chemical purification and/or microfiltration before release. Water shortages are increasingly driving reuse of tertiary-treated wastewater for landscaping, recharging groundwater aquifers and even for crop irrigation, prompting closer scrutiny of the water's purity. However, even tertiary treatment is not generally designed to remove PPCPs.

Happily, soil generally does a good job of trapping and eliminating many pollutants, offering an alternative to conventional wastewater treatment of urine. When a liquid is doused onto soil, pollutants adhere to soil particles then undergo biodegradation by the abundant fungal and bacterial flora in soil. Sunlight and the rich oxygen content of soil also foster degradation. In fact, the filtration and incubation steps in conventional wastewater treatment mimic these naturally occurring processes in soil.

In the last decade, researchers have been measuring how fast common PPCPS biodegrade in soils and typically find half-lives on the order of days or weeks.

So letting soil decontaminate your urine seems a sound idea. A word of caution is in order, however, for those of us in more developed countries where our urine is more likely contaminated with PPCPs. A recent study reported solid evidence that irrigating the soil of common field vegetables with tertiary-treated water produced low levels of PPCPs in the edible portion of the vegetables. Until we know whether such residues represent any health risk, it seems wise to deposit urine outside the home vegetable garden.

#5 Reconnect with nature
The simple act of returning my urine directly to the soil, whilst attending to the sights, sounds and smells of the night, has heightened my awareness of my place in nature. It's also confronted me with a glaring reality, that every man-made environmental ill threatening all life forms, everything from global climate change to the buildup of PPCPs and plastic waste in bodies of water and industrial chemicals in human and animal tissues, stems from an ill-conceived notion that humans are somehow exempt from the laws of nature.

Obviously, spotty progress can be made here and there applying new technologies or policies to address focused environmental issues. For example, California just became the first to institute a state-wide ban on single-use plastic bags. Though I've welcomed this legislation, I also see how limited the impact will be on the global environment: Since the dawn of the "age of plastics" in the 1950s, non-biodegradable plastics have come to pervade nearly every aspect of daily life in westernized societies, and the steep rise globally in the production of consumer plastics is projected to continue unabated into the future.

Peeing in my garden has instilled in me a sobering certitude that solving the planet's looming environmental crises will require something far more fundamental and all-encompassing than regional policy changes. A global paradigm shift is needed, both away from believing we can unthinkingly manipulate and destroy natural resources and toward humbling seeking and embracing our natural and sustainable place within this unspeakably beautiful garden that is planet earth.

On Mon, Jul 25, 2016 at 2:24 PM, raju g <iamrsg@gmail.com> wrote:

HOW ABOUT THIS?

Urinate on the compost heap to save the planet says the National Trust
Men should urinate outside on their compost heaps to help fertilise their gardens and save on flushing the lavatory, the National Trust has urged.

Peeing on a compost heap activates the composting process, helping to produce a ready supply of organic matter Photo: GETTY
By Louise Gray, Environment Correspondent

The rather unusual practice is already actively encouraged at stately homes around the country where "pee bales" have been deposited in secluded areas of National Trust gardens to allow male members of staff to relieve themselves.
The Trust, which actively campaigns on climate change, said answering the call of nature outside saves both on water and the energy used in flushing the lavatory.
Urine can also speed up the chemical process in the compost heap, making it a better fertiliser to help grow vegetables and save even more energy in reducing food miles.
Male urine is better than female urine because it is slightly less acidic.
At Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire up to 20 male staff are being encouraged to use a straw "pee bale" that is then added to the compost heap and eventually spread on the garden and fields.

Rosemary Hooper, Wimpole estate's in-house 'master composter', who provides composting advice to visitors, encouraged anyone to urinate on their compost heap.
"Most people can compost in some way in their own gardens," she said "Peeing on a compost heap activates the composting process helps to produce a ready supply of lovely organic matter to add back to the garden."
She insisted it will not make the compost heap smell any worse and could eventually make sweet-smelling flowers come up better.
"Adding a little pee just helps get it all going; it's totally safe and a bit of fun too," she added.
Tamzin Phillips, the National Trust's 'compost doctor', also urged people to urinate on the compost heap.
"An average flush of the lavatory can use anything from four and a half to nine litres of water each time, but what people may not realise is that this water is treated to the same standard as drinking water and shouldn't be wasted."
Urinating outdoors or in the shower is advocated by environmental activists, including Cameron Diaz, as a way of tacking climate change by saving water and energy.

On Sat, Jul 23, 2016 at 8:37 AM, 'Group Gmail' groupstonath@gmail.com [worldmalayaliclub] <worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com> wrote:

In my opinion it boils down to effective and efficient supervision and implementation. Naturally such mandates have to be policed by the Police Department. To the overworked and themselves subject to temptation/greed Police Dept would take this rule as yet another one among the umpteen they are asked to implement. Do you think they would give weightage to this ? Curiously I read a news item that in Rajasthan last week a police sub inspector refused to use the Loo preferring open defecation even when his superior insisted upon him!. Yes, wringing our hands in despair is not the right way and you have boldly come forward to make awareness of this foul practice is laudable.

May wiser counsel prevail among us citizens.

Ravi

From: mailto:worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Friday, July 22, 2016 10:18 AM

To: worldmalayaliclub@yahoogroups.com

Subject: [World Malayali Club] Can we make our Cities hygienically SMART by taking The Loo2 the Poo?

We have our SMART Cities coming up slowly to compete with Smart Cities of developed Countries.

But, in addition to the problems in reaching a "SMART" Tag, there are problems of open defecation in our Urban Areas that has not been addressed.

The Government of India had launched a much-needed awareness program against open defecation, after UNICEF declared that India has 595 Million people NOT using toilets, while also working alongside the Government to create awareness, and drive a Poo2Loo campaign.

In June last year, an NSSO study revealed that about half the Rural Population defecates openly, and not all of them can be converted into using Toilets, even if the Government builds Toilets for them under the Swachh Bharat Mission. But, things are changing rapidly for the better in Rural areas, what with news of demands on availability of a "Pucca" Toilet at the potential Groom's place made by brides-to-be even in predominantly Rural areas, making national headlines.

However, in Urban areas, the NSSO study of 2012 found that 8.8% of households did not own an Improved Source Latrine ( flush/pour- flush to: piped sewer system/septic tank/pit latrine', 'ventilated improved pit latrine', 'pit latrine with slab' and 'compositing toilet'). In 2015, the NSSO Survey found that 7.95 % of the Urban Population still openly defecates, creating hygiene issues facilitating the spread of diseases, aside from making the safety of Girl-Children and Women vulnerable to exploitation, and exposing them to shame. While there is no specific research done to quote from, that would reveal the category of people in Urban areas who do not use a Toilet, it is not hard to arrive at the conclusion that (migrant) Construction Workers and small-shop employees constitute the majority of this 7.95% population.

The Swachh Bharat Mission, as also Sulabh International before it, have provided for building of Public Toilets. However, it would appear that location and ubiquitous availability of Public Toilets is a real problem in Urban Areas, especially for Construction Workers who are an itinerant lot, and for whom work-hours do not extend the luxury of going in search of the nearest Public Toilet, even if one were available in the locality. Most seek out a bushy spot or a vacant property, attracting stray dogs in the process which helps in spread of disease, thanks to a problem identified as Coprophagia (Dogs ingesting Feces).

Small-shop owners would rather use space that a Toilet would occupy in their shop, for greater storage of saleable goods, and hence are not easily addressed due to economic and dispersion considerations; Construction Workers can, however, be targeted for a possible solution.

An Act was legislated in 1996 (THE BUILDING AND OTHER CONSTRUCTION WORKERS (REGULATION
OF EMPLOYMENT AND CONDITIONS OF SERVICE) ACT, 1996), to regulate the employment and conditions of service of building and other construction workers and to provide for their safety, health and welfare measure.

Section 33 of the Act is reproduced below.....

Sec. 33- Latrines and urinals.- In every place where building or other construction work is carried on,
the employer shall provide sufficient latrine and urinal accommodation of such types as may be
prescribed and they shall be so conveniently situated as may be accessible to the building workers at
all times while they are in such place:
Provided that it shall not be necessary to provide separate urinals in my place where less than
fifty persons are employed or where the latrines are connected to a water-borne sewage system.

The question to the learned Malayalee members of this group worldwide is,

Can we rid this last vestiges of Open Defecation in our Cities, and help make our Cities truly SMART in at least this small indicator of Human Development?

I was wondering if an amendment to the existing Section 33 of the aforementioned Act can

address this deficiency in existing regulations --

--------By requiring provision of adequate numbers of covered hygienic Pre-Fabricated Toilet facilities at the work site itself, by ALL Builders, Contractors and agencies responsible for any construction work in any Area?

--------By stipulating that, irrespective of the number of workers directly or indirectly employed for any aspect of the Construction Work, Pre-Fab Toilets must be provided as per a Table, that specifies the ratio of Toilets to numbers of workers?

In other words, in addition to the UNICEF Program of Poo2Loo that addresses social change in attitudes in Rural areas, can we also address the AVAILABILITY aspects -- of a conveniently located Loo nearby --- so that the phenomenon of Open Defecation disappears from our Cities, and make them truly SMART, by now addressing the requirement for Cities to take the

Loo2the Poo?

The difficulties of such a mandate would be:--

a) Which agency would oversee its implementation, in a Country that prides itself in evading/dodging/avoiding/defying Rule-of-Law?

b) Where will we dig the Pit for the septic system that would be covered up after work is over, in an Urban setting, with tiny plots probably with residences located close by?

c) Builders are yet another category where Politicians and their influence is involved...who will govern the governance-giver?

d) Where will water for flushing come from, to keep it clean?

e) Maybe, we need not concern ourselves for Construction workers, as Construction is always a finite temporary phase, and the workers would disappear anyway, after work is over. This is a problem that the Builders should solve by themselves.

f) Are we addressing the right category of defaulters at all??

If we boast of being an ancient civilization, the bed of learning for the world since early times, of teaching the world the art of holistic wellness through Yoga, can we also demonstrate our intent to overcome attitudinal challenges by addressing this anachronism of open defecation in our midst????

Can we imagine the ubiquitous availability of clean Pre-Fab Toilets in an Indian Urban setting, as existing in the developed World, without   laboriously constructing ugly Brick&Mortar ones that are costly, take time to make, are hard to keep clean?

Can we surmount attitudinal, legislative and operational difficulties?

Can we initiate a Program of Loo2Poo?

A tiny Country like Bangladesh has done it (tinyurl.com/hssxe4o),

how then can we?

Alex Thomas