If human waste was used for watering and fertilizing drought effected crops, would you acids spoil the soil?
2007-03-20 14:24:33 · 3 answers · asked by kicking_back 5 in Environment
There are many precedents for this and they're not confined to drought affected crops.
The main precedent is the Chinese. They've been aware of the value of human waste as fertiliser for more than 5000 years. We've just cottoned on to this ancient wisdom in the last 25 years or so...
There's a huge orange and citrus orchard outside the desert town of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory of Australia which is using "sewerage" as a primary means of irrigation and fertilisation. It's been incredibly successful, but I can't offer any more info than that I'm sorry.
The other thing that I know of is the recent (in the last 2 decades or so) development of the Composting Toilet for domestic use. I've lived with one of these devices and they're incredible. The main design does not use any water (urine is filtered out of the system too) but uses microorganisms to break down the "nasties". The toilet consists of several chambers which are filled by our waste. The whole base unit is rotated once each chamber is filled; once the last chamber is full, the first chamber is emptied, usually after about a year. What comes out is non-toxic, friable compost matter which can be applied to any situation which requires fertilisation. There is another version which employs worms to affect the breakdown; this one also accepts any vegetable matter such as table scraps! They are being used by a lot of National Parks in Australia as a viable way of dealing with what used to be a pretty big headache for the management authorities of such places.
The link below should provide you with all the info that you need!!!
Hope this helps.
Love and Light,
Jarrah
2007-03-20 15:57:52 · answer #1 · answered by jarrah_fortytwo 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
if you use human waste in a "grey water" format there is not enough of a concentrated acid or nitrogens to drop the quality of soil. Grey water has had at least primary treatment (solids have been filtered and settled out).
If you were to use urine however, after a period of time the nitrogen woudl start to burn the soil (acidify it in the form of urea)
2007-03-20 22:14:16 · answer #2 · answered by salty_pearl 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i don't think so
2007-03-20 21:48:24 · answer #3 · answered by `Avenging~ghetto~bird` 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋