"lenze" <lenze_at_naturtur.dk> wrote: > Sitting here on the Danish Baltic coast I´m a little confused about all this > talk about human waste. We never consider this a issue . Just dig it down ! > Please explane what the problem is, I mean animals do it all the time Lenze, aside from what others have indicated (human waste being toxic to us, etc.), the issue in temperate climates mainly is one of popular sites experiencing too much use. (Different problems in desert zones -- well handled by others already.) In many shore environments on the west coast of North America, the usable campsites are few in number and do not have good soil in the upland, so the usual cat hole technique you describe is unwise. Too many people, not enough soil. Hence, the rule to pack it out. The ethic in some isolated locales (Queen Charlottes, for example) is to do your business in the intertidal zone (and burn or take out the paper). This _assumes_ human pathogens in the intertidal zone will be detoxified by other microbes or other organisms. I've seen too much poop on "remote" beaches, and barely escaped stepping in it enough times that I think that ethic is dying ... never mind the assumption above may not be valid. Plus, filter feeders that filter our "output" will capture bacteria and become unfit for consumption. I won't eat bivalves that live near such beaches. I did not see my earlier posting in the digest, so I will again mention the GTS system, which does fit inside a yak hatch nicely. The one I own is their Boom Box: http://www.eco-safe.net/ It avoids the use of liners and plastic bags to separate each use. Liners and other loose plastic are anathema for cleanout time, and prohibited in some areas. In contrast, an area I have paddled a lot has enormous piles of coarse sand with huge camping areas not used by very many people. There, cat holes are OK, IMHO, because the waste will be filtered before its biodegraded products hit the water. Basically, these areas provide the same treatment of waste that a septic tank and drain field provide. If these areas were crowded, I would not use the cat hole system there. -- Dave Kruger Astoria, OR *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Mon Mar 18 2002 - 20:05:37 PST
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