> Good question. In the dialog which has ensued over this, I have seen no > discussion on what "happens" to human waste if one uses the long-accepted > intertidal flush procedure: dig 30 cm deep hole in sand/gravel well below the > high tide line, deposit solid waste in it, burn your TP, then cover and tamp. > (Note: none of this is approved for freshwater use -- different biology, > maybe?) On land the "accepted" depth is less, because the bacteria needed for decomposition are close to the surface. Maybe a foot is better where the ground shifts all the time, though. > Does anybody know of any **studies** of the rate of microbial breakdown of > human waste via this method? I think you're right to suspect that procedure may have no solid basis. So many times somebody-or-other's rule gets spread around and becomes gospel, because nobody wants to bother asking questions! > Like others, I'm not interested in wading/paddling/swimming in someone's poop > (not even my own!). However, if the stuff decomposes to non-toxic materials > within a couple days, I guess I can live with that. Nobody wants to have it visibly (or olfactorily) around, but barring very unlikely circumstances, it isn't toxic. It can however contain disease bacteria not killed by salt water, e.g., marine vibrios such as cholera (for which algae blooms are the biggest environmental reservoir, incidentally). But people aren't going paddling much if they have an active cholera infection, I suspect. Re giardia, I don't know if they can survive in sea water -- anyone? If I had to guess I'd say no, but wouldn't rely on that guess. This hasn't been much help; come on you docs out there! e Elaine Harmon - eilidh_at_dc.seflin.org - eharmon_at_cs.miami.edu *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Sun Aug 29 1999 - 09:06:58 PDT
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