Cob: Re: Please Help, listers please read this

[Sojourner]

Well, there are always going to be people out there who just can't wrap
their minds around the facts as opposed to the party-line, in this case
as pertains to the handling of human waste.

I strongly recommend "The Humanure Handbook".

I know many people who use only outhouses and sawdust composting
toilets.  None of us have ever gotten sick from it.  You have to put
diseased material IN before you get disease-riddled material OUT, and
you have to handle it improperly to boot.

I've got a newsflash, people lived for thousands of years without
running water and flush toilets (the biggest waste of water in a modern
home, and a terrible pollution problem recquiring all sorts of expensive
processing for which you PAY in the form of higher taxes and bigger
water bills - check out which portion of your water bill is actually for
sewage treatment).

Improper handling of human waste in large cities caused many health
problems, but proper handling in the country never did.  My grandmother
didn't have running water until sometime in the '60s.  We never got sick
going to her house.

Sign on to the homestead list and repost your cry for help.  You'll get
a much more sympathetic ear, and useful advice to boot, from them.

Here's the URL for instructions for how to sign on to the list:

http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/4095/hslist.html

That's my webpage, btw, feel free to look around while you're in there. 
I have plans posted under the Resource section for building a masonry
stove, among other things.

There will always be somebody out there set to run (and most likely
wreck) your life "for your own good".  If you have coding authorities to
deal with, I'm afraid I myself don't have a lot of useful advice for
you.  You may just have to bite the bullet and get a cistern and septic
system put in as quickly as you can.  It's much cheaper if you do it
yourself, so hopefully that will help some.

There are others on the homestead list who have gone through what you
are going through.  I didn't have running water at my place until just a
few weeks ago, and there were 3 of us living up here - in a tent at
first, then in a 14' camper - since last September.  Still don't have an
outhouse, but am in the process of putting in a sawdust composting
toilet.  See this URL for info on a sawdust toilet:

http://www.rdrop.com/users/krishna/index.html

I picked my land carefully.  I don't have to deal with moronic building
codes or any sort of interference re septic systems - in Missouri as
long as you have more than 5 or 10 acres (I forget off hand, I have way
more though) you don't have to worry about county inspectors.

If you can't get a septic system in for some reason - say, prohibitively
expensive county inspection fees - consider a "mechanical" composting
toilet.  (That's one someone builds and markets as opposed to one you
make yourself out of a 5 gallon bucket, a box, a toilet seat, some
piping to vent to the outside, and a small fan to get positive airflow
on your vent).

Lehman's non-electric sells one that is guaranteed to meet code
everywhere in the US (I didn't catch where you are precisely).  It's not
cheap, though - somewhere in the neighborhood of $1000 as I recall.  But
might be cheaper than a septic system, if you have to do something SOON
to get the code Nazis off your back.

http://www.lehmans.com

You may still have an issue of what to do about your greywater, though.

"Camping" on your land might not be possible now that you've caught the
county code Nazi's eye.  They may come out there doing inspections,
trying to "catch you in the act".  Your lawyer (which, btw, is
undoubtedly going to run you some bucks as well) would probably be able
to advise you about different end-run scenarios.

Here's a bunch of links about composting toilets:

Turtle Island
http://www.tortuga.com/earth/agua/system.html

The Humanure Forum
http://www.oldgrowth.org/compost/forum_humanure/

Composting Toilet World
http://www.nwnet.co.uk/earthwise

Clivus-Multrum
http://www.clivusmultrum.com

EcoDesign Build-It-Yourself
http://www.powerup.com.au/~edesign/page2.html

EcoDesign HowTo
http://www.powerup.com.au/~edesign/compost.html

The Water Treatment Home Page
http://www.siouxlan.com/water/


URLS on Greywater treatment

The Water Treatment FAQ
http://www.siouxlan.com/water/faq.html

Small community wastewater treatment
http://www.ext.vt.edu/pubs/waterquality/448-404/448-404.html#L2

Greywater Guidelines
http://www.greenbuilder.com/sourcebook/GreyGuidelines.html

Living Technologies
http://www.livingmachines.com/

Greywater Treatment Marsh
http://www.humboldt.edu/~ccat/sub/greyw.htm


Potable water links

Piping safe to use with potable water
http://www.mif.org/potableplastic.html

Making a cistern
http://www.waltonfeed.com/old/cistern.html


As you can see by all this, you are NOT ALONE.  There are a lot of
intelligent, educated people out there who are right with you in trying
to live a more sustainable lifestyle.

Holly ;-D