Under the Lens by Elise Hugus
| Share | Print
Posts Tagged ‘fertilizer’
Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011
Are we flushing money down the toilet?
As someone who goes to a fair share of wastewater-related meetings, I wasn’t expecting to be blown away at last weekend’s Eco-Toilet Summit.
On a conceptual level, I felt I already understood the basics of composting human waste— hey, I do it every day with food scraps.
Adding one step through my digestive system to my garden seemed to make sense… from a theoretical point of view.
But after hearing about the range of eco-toilet options available, and a variety of perspectives from regular residents, the theoretical became possible.
What stopped making sense is the way we use—and view—the bathroom.
(more…)
Tags: cape cod, composting toilets, Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, Earle Barnhart, Eco-Toilet Summit, Falmouth Climate Action Team, Falmouth MA, fertilizer, Hilde Maingay, Matt Patrick, nitrogen, packaging toilets, sustainability, The Green Center, urine diverting toilets, Wastewater
Posted in Agriculture, Alternative toilets, Sewering, sustainable solutions, Wastewater | 1 Comment »
Friday, February 11th, 2011
Wes Jackson, founder of The Land Institute, at MBL's Lillie Auditorium
In order to solve humanity’s biggest crises—hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation, and even climate change—farmers and ecologists need to get married.
That was the message Wes Jackson, founder and president of The Land Institute of Salina, Kansas, brought to Woods Hole last week.
In a room filled with local scientists and backyard farmers, one could imagine a harmonious marriage.
If only the two hadn’t gotten divorced in the first place.
(more…)
Tags: fertilizer, Marine Biological Laboratory, MBL, perennial wheat, sustainability, sustainable agriculture, Wes Jackson, Woods Hole Research Center
Posted in Agriculture, sustainable solutions | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, January 25th, 2011
A typical urine-diverting toilet collects solid and liquid waste, which could be processed into fertilizer, removing nitrogen from the waste stream
Considering that we all flush at least three times a day, it’s surprising how little we know about where our waste goes. Into a white bowl and then down a pipe— never to be seen, smelled, or thought of again.
But as many Cape Codders are beginning to realize, that’s not really the case. The by-products of our waste are seeping out of underground septic systems and into the groundwater, flowing finally into coastal ponds. The nutrients are harmless by themselves, but in concentrated form, throw off the ecological balance of sensitive estuarine systems.
Though there are many nutrients and “contaminants of concern” to be worried about, nitrogen is known as the culprit for changing pristine harbors into algae-filled swamps, devoid of marine life. Or so we fear. (more…)
Tags: aquaculture, cape cod, composting toilets, Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, contaminants of concern, David Dow, Diane Murphy, fertilizer, George Heufelder, gray water, John Ramsey, Michael Giggey, Nitrex, nitrogen, permeable membrane reactors (PRB), Rick York, Ron Zweig, Sewering, shellfish, urine diverting toilets, Wastewater, water reuse
Posted in Sewering, sustainable solutions, Wastewater | 4 Comments »
Friday, December 3rd, 2010
Most people, when they think about Cape Cod, think about seafood. But very little of the shellfish we consume actually come from local waters! After decades of decline, the local shellfish industry is woefully underdeveloped, while overfishing and over-development of waterfront housing has caused the downfall of a once-fertile industry.
Given that its now easier to find oysters from Duxbury and mussels from Prince Edward Island than it is to get locally-sourced seafood, this locovore’s dilemma begs the question: which came first? The shellfish or the septic system? The problem or the solution?
(more…)
Tags: aesthetic costs, aquaculture, commercial fisheries, composting toilets, eel grass, Falmouth estuary, fertilizer, Marine Policy Center, nitrogen, Ron Zweig, sequestration, Sewering, shellfish, TMDL, Wastewater, WHOI
Posted in fisheries, Sewering, sustainable solutions, Wastewater | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, September 21st, 2010
A Hatchville couple wants the town to consider home-based wastewater treatment options before moving forward with a multi-million dollar, centralized sewage treatment system. (more…)
Tags: Alchemy Farm, aquaculture, biogas digester, cape cod, composting toilets, Comprehensive Wastewater Management Plan, Earle Barnhart, Falmouth Climate Action Team, fertilizer, gray water, Hilde Maingay, packaging toilets, Ron Smolowitz, Ron Zweig, Sewering, shellfish, The Green Center, Todd Ecological Design, urine diverting toilets, Wastewater, water reuse
Posted in sustainable solutions, Wastewater | 4 Comments »
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Most of us have heard the reasons for consuming food with origins closer to home: fresher food tastes better, it contributes little to global warming, and supporting your local farmer keeps food dollars in the community. But Hatchville resident Earle Barnhart wants Cape Codders to go the extra mile for their produce, by “growing fresh, growing local.”
(more…)
Tags: Alchemy Farm, composting toilets, Earle Barnhart, fertilizer, global warming, Hilde Maingay, New Alchemy Institute, packaging toilets, permaculture, The Green Center, water reuse
Posted in sustainable solutions, Wastewater | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 16th, 2010
Within the next few years, coastal municipalities will be compelled to redesign their wastewater systems in order to meet state-mandated limits on nitrogen loading to sensitive marine environments. The options vary, but many towns are considering laying miles of sewer pipe to replace septic tanks, and upgrading their wastewater treatment facilities, a costly, yet effective way to meet the targets.
While it is understood that the town’s efforts will improve water quality and biological habitat, these benefits may not be realized in our lifetimes, due to the estimated 25-50 years it could take for all the contaminated groundwater to flush through the estuaries. Many residents balk at the $250-600 million price tag, which will likely be financed through betterment fees for homeowners and tax levies for all residents.
A message from Karen Schwalbe of Hatchville sums up the problem and offers a potential solution:
There is an old adage: if you take a barrel of sewage and add a teaspoon of wine, you get a barrel of sewage; if you take a barrel of wine and add a teaspoon of sewage, you get a barrel of sewage… Adding clean (and drinkable) water to human waste, then having to clean up a larger volume seems the wrong way to go. Why aren’t composting toilets or dry toilets being considered as part of the solution to our wastewater problems?
What if there was an option that residents could undertake right now that would remove their household’s contribution to the waste stream? In this blog, we’ll explore some of the innovative ways that people are turning their waste into a resource. It’s not as tricky (or stinky) as one might think… (more…)
Tags: Alchemy Farm, composting toilets, fertilizer, nitrogen, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Posted in Wastewater | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, February 16th, 2010
As coastal towns in Massachusetts work out ways to deal with their wastewater, jumping through regulatory hoops often precludes thinking outside the box.
While we have to take the issue of nitrogen (and other nutrient) pollution seriously, we also need to examine the unintended consequences of sewering the entire coast. What impact will pumping and discharging millions of gallons of water have on the aquifer, not to mention, on CO2 levels in the atmosphere? What are some ways we as residents can reduce our nitrogen output on an individual scale?
(more…)
Tags: Aqua Tex, Denis LeBlanc, discharge, Ed Clerico, Eric Davidson, Falmouth Friendly Lawns, fertilizer, gray water, meat, nitrogen, outfall pipe, Patrick Lucey, Sagamore Lens, Sewering, Todd Ecological Design, Wastewater, water reuse, Woods Hole Research Center
Posted in Climate Change, Sewering, Wastewater | 3 Comments »
