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permaculture - Re: [permaculture] using pee and poop

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  • From: Paul Cereghino <paul.cereghino@comcast.net>
  • To: permaculture <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [permaculture] using pee and poop
  • Date: Sun, 15 Oct 2006 11:31:56 -0700

http://orgprints.org/8477/01/njf4.pdf
Interesting site... some citiations or original research.

One person produces annually appr. 500 l urine. The urine fraction contains
98% of the nitrogen, 65% of the phosphorus, and 80% of the potassium
excreted by a human. Most of the nitrogen in human urine is in a form
suitable for plants, for example ammonia nitrogen (Kirchmann and Pettersson
1995, Claesson and Steineck 1996). The nitrogen content in stored human
urine depends on the flushing capacity of the toilet water since flushing causes
dilution (Jönsson 1997).
Pure urine is microbiologically fairly clean when passed by a healthy person.
There is, however, a risk of contamination of the urine by faecal material.
Heavy metal contents are much lower in urine than in solid waste but
higher than in rain and surface water. The N fertiliser use efficiency of urine
is lower than that of ammonium nitrate due the larger gaseous N losses from
urine (Kirchmann and Pettersson 1995).

Following the principles of the sustainable development (note the author doesn reference principles of permaculture)
recirculation of
nutrients of human beings from urban areas to agricultural land is one of the
big challenges of our time. The annual amount of toilet waste is about 520
kg/person. This amount includes altogether 7.5 kg of nitrogen, phosphorus,
and potassium, and some micro-nutrients in a form useful for plants. If the
nutrients in the faeces of one person were used for grain cultivation, it would
enable the production of the annual amount of grain consumed by one person
(250 kg). (Wolgast 1993)




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