After all the recent and intense focus on the sewers in the basement, I decided it was time to take a step back and look at the bigger picture.
The first thing I notice was that in the concoction of resolving technical DWV (Drain-Waste-Vent) questions, the green or sustainable aspect appeared to have fallen to the wayside.
Really, there is nothing sustainable to collecting your bathroom waste, transporting it through an elaborate sanitary sewer system with lift stations to a central location where it gets treated (to more or less ‘safe’ levels) and then dumped. The liquids get dumped into the nearest waterway, and the solids – well, most of them may end up in a landfill as landfill cover or just plain old waste. In short, this is mostly a one way waste stream with little or no recycling or reuse.
The alterative would be to process our sewage at the source. There are small onsite waste water treatment systems, if there is enough space on the property.
If there is not enough space, a large chunk of our bathroom waste could be diverted to a grey-water system and/or composting toilets.
Oops! Did I just trigger a couple of heart attacks in the Chicago and Illinois Department of Heath! Not to mention the Department of Building or Water Management.
Onsite waste water treatment would move us away from the energy hungry one way waste stream, towards an energy efficient, decentralized treatment that would allow for reuse of the end product (water and organic matter). Don’t get me wrong. I am not advocating abandoning our sanitary sewer structure. But we certainly could reduce what and how much we channel into it, even in an urban context.
Yes, there will be some challenges to overcome, such as watching what chemicals we use in our household and pour into our drains. Or accepting that the food we eat and digest one day could become the basis for growing the food we eat tomorrow.
But isn’t humanity so successful because we manage to adapt to new challenges?
At the risk of causing further casualties, let me share some links about composting toilets. Have fun sniffing around!
Tags: city of chicago, drainage, health, reuse, utilities, water
I was thinking along these lines while reading your previous post. I was thinking why you are running the rainwater into the sewer system. I think it would be a great opportunity to combine greywater and rainwater for toilet flushing. I would think you could use this reservoir to irrigate the yard too with a little more treatment.
Keep up the great work! (the blog that is;)
Rub it in Shawn, rub it in
I have so many cool ideas about greywater and rainwater reuse etc. And I know they would work great. I just have to figure out how to get this past the City. They don’t like any of it - or at least the Departments that have the last say don’t.