Sludge Watch ==> Fighting Our Flush Fixation

[maureen.reilly at sympatico.ca]

Sludgewatch Admin


We could start with public parks...already many wilderness parks host a 
Clivus Multrum or other brand of composting toilet.  Next...City parks.   
Cottages. Country homes. Coastal and island homes.
Homes on rock.  Mobile Homes. Trailor parks.  Green subdivisions.

Lets get off the 'one big pipe' concept of waste disposal. After all we have 
only been on that kick since about 1860....with theTous a L'Egout 
(everything into the sewer) campaign.  Before that it was only stormwater in 
the Paris sewers

Lets get Flush-Free
........................................................

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/06/02/AR2006060201831_pf.html

Fighting Our Flush Fixation
Environmentalists Preach Another Kind of Toilet Training

By Elizabeth Williamson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, June 3, 2006; B01



As worries about resource conservation and global warming spur growth in 
environmentally sensitive construction, builders find that one room 
separates the greens from the traditionalists.

The restroom.

Once the most generic of features in commercial buildings, toilets loom as 
the earth-friendly builder's final frontier. Eco-friendly toilets -- 
low-flush, dual-flush or no-flush compost -- conserve water and cut 
pollution, a double benefit that few other green features can claim.

But try to find one of these toilets. As more builders earn plaudits and 
save money with geothermal heating and bicycle parking, they remain more 
likely to plant roof gardens than to install green toilets.

Plumbers say waterless urinals, which use a replaceable cartridge, are 
unsanitary because they don't wash waste away. Municipalities resist making 
the changes to plumbing systems that compost toilets require. (In a compost 
toilet, the high-tech version of an outhouse, accumulated waste decomposes 
into liquid fertilizer and organic matter.) Users complain that 
high-efficiency toilets, which use less water than traditional models, 
require two flushes to do the job.

Behind such objections stands this truth: America remains a flush-oriented 
society, and the more powerful the flush, the better.

"It was a morale issue," Anja S. Caldwell, green building chief for the 
Montgomery County public school system, said of initial resistance to the 50 
waterless urinals introduced over the past year. "People thought that by 
taking the flush away, you're taking an entitlement."

Six years after the U.S. Green Building Council established standards 
governing construction with low environmental impact, buildings certified by 
the builders' group total 6 percent of construction. The trend is growing. 
Fifteen states and 49 cities -- including Maryland, Virginia and the 
District -- have some green building legislation or incentives.

About a dozen large commercial buildings in the metro area comply with green 
standards, and "hundreds" more are being built, said Taryn Holowka, 
spokeswoman for the Washington-based council. The National Geographic 
Society headquarters in the District, several Maryland office towers and 
schools, and three Pentagon buildings in Northern Virginia meet the 
council's standards. The new Nationals baseball stadium is intended to be a 
green project.

However, most of these buildings retain traditional plumbing. "We're getting 
more questions about these [green] toilets and seeing more interest in 
them," Holowka said. But for now, "they're a little bit different."

The Montgomery County public school system had its first encounter with 
flushlessness last year, installing 18 waterless urinals at Martin Luther 
King Middle School in Germantown.

Caldwell, an architect who grew up with low-flush plumbing in her native 
Germany, surveyed users. "Two to one, they liked the flushless," she said.

Those who didn't "were uncomfortable, and understandably so, with not 
flushing," she said. "For years we've been telling our kids to flush, and 
now we're telling them not to."

The flush toilet has long been a symbol of modern society. But water 
shortages and sewage-related pollution have caused many societies to rethink 
that symbolism. In Europe, water-saving toilets have been standard for 
decades. But not until 1994 did U.S. federal law require 1.6-gallon toilets, 
cutting the water used each flush by more than half.

In a nation where flush sizes have dwindled from a World War II-era high of 
seven gallons, the law fueled a backlash. Reports soon surfaced of an 
underground trade in big-flush commodes from across the Mexican and Canadian 
borders. U.S. Rep. Joe Knollenberg (R-Mich.), backed by Americans who wanted 
government to stay out of their bathrooms, sponsored a failed effort a few 
years later to repeal the 1994 law.

The Tower Cos. of Bethesda started building green a decade ago, partner 
Jeffrey Abramson said, because workers in such buildings are "healthier, 
happier, more successful."

When the company's latest office tower, 2000 Tower Oaks Blvd. in Rockville, 
opens in 2008, it will boast full daylight views and triple-filtered air. 
Doors will be made of chopped, pressed straw. The landscaping conserves 
water.

Such innovations sailed into the plans. Then came a debate over restroom 
fixtures that culminated in what Abramson calls the "toilet summit."

In a wood-paneled conference room, 30 executives, architects and engineers 
gathered around a model of the Caroma Caravelle 305 High Performance Dual 
Flush. (Dual flush units let users choose what size flush they need.)

As they watched, the Caroma salesman tossed four tennis balls into the 
imported Australian toilet and flushed them all down, using less than a 
gallon of water. He was battling "the perception that you've got to flush 
these toilets twice to get a good flush," senior project manager David 
Borchardt said.

The flushes succeeded, but the toilet did not. Developers chose waterless 
urinals and low-flow faucets but no Caroma, which could have saved thousands 
of gallons of water a year. Abramson said the model failed because it lacked 
a hygienic, hands-free sensor.

Borchardt had another theory: "Americans just aren't used to these yet."

Chuck Foster stood in the basement of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's 
headquarters in Annapolis, next to a playhouse-size metal tank. Flipping 
open its lid, the foundation's chief of staff revealed nearly finished 
compost.

When the foundation built its headquarters five years ago, it installed 12 
Swedish compost toilets that cost $30,000 more to install than conventional 
toilets but save $2,100 a year on water and sewage. The compost enriches the 
building's natural landscaping.

"These are becoming more accepted," Foster said, "But this was a rough one 
even for us to pull off."

The toilets are white and sleek. The compost pile lies about 10 feet beneath 
a plastic chute. Near each toilet stands a pail of wood chips, with a sign 
inviting people to toss in a handful after each use.

That's not really necessary, Foster said. It's for people, he said, "who 
want to flush."

"They want some kind of closure."