[Greenbuilding] Septic for high water table area

[Clarke Olsen]

What is the reason for separating toilet and kitchen compost? Wouldn't they brake down faster together?
Clarke Olsen
clarkeolsendesign.com
373 route 203
Spencertown, NY 12165 
USA
518-392-4640
colsen at taconic.net




On Jul 21, 2016, at 10:46 AM, Norbert Senf <norbert.senf at gmail.com> wrote:

> Whether composting systems are ready for prime time is certainly debatable.
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> Our own personal experience with a system that is now 35 years old has been good. Yes, it needs power for ventilation
> and needs minor active management. We have lots of land and perennials, so using the compost is no problem.
> For a two person household, it produces about 2 wheelbarrows of compost a year. We have a separate system for kitchen compost.
> For our particular household and location, it was a great alternative to having to do a megaproject, and local permissions were not an issue at the time................Norbert
> 
> On Thu, Jul 21, 2016 at 1:10 AM, John Salmen <terrain at shaw.ca> wrote:
> Being in Ontario I would recommend a waterloo biofilter especially for what sounds more like a house than a cabin - but there would be some minimal energy involved. Probably a holding tank and solar pump would work in terms of engineering if energy is a concern. I trust that product as I have worked with it.
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> I’ve designed a few composting systems when forced to - and they are essentially polluting unless its a closed system that can denitrify urine and that gets complex. For a house system they literally stink unless venting is really well developed and paid for and then even then...essentially I don’t like them as I don’t trust homeowners to make them work over time which is not a criticism – no one wants to deal with shit which is why we have municipal authorities and pay them well.
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> Composting systems still have a somewhat reduced end product that still has to find a resting place.  If you had a farm that you intended to farm for a 1000 years or so yes I could see wanting to maintain the nutrients in some well considered system though you would need to indenture your progeny for 900 and something plus years. Other than that you need a simple plan that can deal with the waste of 3 bedroom home for a generation or so.
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> Perhaps there is a local composting system you could tie into for a pump and dump. 50’s technology but ironically it puts the ‘load’ on municipal gov’t to protect environment and make the best use of the nutrients. Watersheds are critical protection areas and a lot of thought has gone into that in local gov’t these days. Perhaps you could ask them as to what the best plan might be for your area.
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