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Louisiana State University LSU Digital Commons LSU Doctoral Dissertations Graduate School 2008 Moderately-rapid assessment of alkaline desiccation environmental systems David Alan Bates Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations Part of the Engineering Science and Materials Commons Recommended Citation Bates, David Alan, "Moderately-rapid assessment of alkaline desiccation environmental systems" (2008). LSU Doctoral Dissertations. 1249. https://digitalcommons.lsu.edu/gradschool_dissertations/1249 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at LSU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in LSU Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized graduate school editor of LSU Digital Commons. For more information, please [email protected]. MODERATELY-RAPID ASSESSMENT OF ALKALINE DESICCATION ENVIRONMENTAL SYSTEMS A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate Faculty of the Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy In The Interdepartmental Program in Engineering Science By David A. Bates B.S., Louisiana State University, 1983 M.S., Louisiana State University, 1999 May 2008 0 © Copyright 2008 David A. Bates All rights reserved ii This work is first and foremost dedicated to my Dad and Mom for their unwavering support. My father and mother supported the field phase from 1983 to 1989 when we first started in the Yucatan then later in Central Mexico. I remember when they visited us in Mexico, and then again when they met us at the border in Nuevo Laredo, and helped us haul our Mexican trinkets back home. That was really special. I also, remember receiving letters from Dad while I was in the Yucatan that gave me a good emotional boost. My mom has always been a beautiful example of kindness, compassion, and dedication to others, as seen by her work in the Church and in her daily life. She set the example that motivated me to work as a developmental worker for all these years. It was my Dad’s work ethic and long-time dedication to his job that exemplified professionalism and instilled in me the work ethic that enabled me to meet the intellectual and rigorous work schedule to accomplish this 27-year project. Thank you to that Ole Miss Rebel who teamed up with an LSU Tiger. I feel honored to have had you and Archie to be my Saints. You were right about the historic game between our two Alma Maters, after hearing your story time and time again. I do accept that the referee probably cheated in withholding the stop clock allowing the Tigers to unrightfully win that game with two plays in five seconds—an impossible task. So the cat is out the bag, or should I say, the Tiger has been sacked! Go Rebels. The Rival Alma Mater’s of the Sponsor of the Work and the Author: father and son. ` iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to thank and acknowledge my committee for their assistance. My sincerest gratitude to: my major professor Dr. Richard L Bengtson, Dr. Steven G Hall, Dr. Miles E Richardson, Dr. Kelly Ann Rusch, and Dr. John C Flake. I would also like to thank Deanna Hambleton, my computer aide and typist, and Roxy Hambleton, my editor and friend for all they did. The hundreds of hours they volunteered really made the difference in supporting me, both physically and emotionally, to get through this rigorous task. Also thanks to Joelle and Joshua Geiger for their great help with graphics. Christopher, my oldest son, I thank you for helping me in getting all those figures and tables together, to John Patrick for helping clean up, and to Cameron for helping with the Table of Contents, and to all three for sacrificed time away from Dad in my Masters work then again in my PhD work. Thanks to Colin, Scott, and David Roberge for solving some file and computer issues. I also sincerely thank Roxanne for supporting me for all those years while I focused on my non-profit and academic works. This work would not have been possible without her. To the Kafkalides family, many thanks for hosting me on my many trips to Baton Rouge. I would like to thank the Mexican investigation team, especially Armando Galvez, my original partner is this work. Many thanks also to Cesar Anorve, local architect and innovator of the desiccation toilet. Also, special thanks to the community of Sonacala, especially Don Benito, the village leader and local technician, for opening up their community to us and sharing their experiences and perspectives. Finally, thanks to Israel Monroy for his help in the final period without Armando, and Joel for his help in the final two-week investigation. I would like to acknowledge the organization of Camp, Dresser, and McKee Consulting Engineers for their assistance since 1984 by providing documents from their international on-site library related to their Water and Sanitation for Health(WASH) and Environmental Health Project(EHP) Libraries as part of their U.S. Agency for International Development World Bank Project. I would specifically like to recognize David Donaldson, Dan Campbell, May Yacoob, Eduardo Perez, and other staff members that assisted me. Also, I would like to recognize Eric Evans from Woods End Research Laboratory, the manufacturer of the Solvita kits. The WASH, EHP and Solvita information from these two sources were both used extensively. This acknowledgement serves as a general recognition of the many documents from these two sources that I may have referred to in this report yet not specifically cited. Last but not least this work is written in memory of Dr. Dipak Roy. As my undergraduate civil engineering professor he started me along this path with my first paper on this work. He also accompanied me as part of the American Delegation to the 1984 Venezuela conference that showed me that the Latin American people wanted this research and eagerly received that first humble work. That was the catalyst that got this research going and my non-profit work. iv Any omissions or misinterpretations of any cited material was unintentional and solely the responsibility of the author. In my enthusiasm at conveying this material to the reader, I may have taken some grammatical license and I thank the reader in advance for understanding. ` v FORWARD Truly sustainable development is an elusive goal, but what David Bates presents here is an encouraging step toward such a future. His interest in addressing multiple objectives, while attempting to give full attention to each, is indeed a noble sentiment. He has addressed an important topic most of us wish to avoid, that of managing human waste. This topic in itself intersects with ecological and human health issues; water and resource management; and social and cultural perceptions and practices. Finally, Bates has addressed all this within a rural Mexican village, with the limited resources and unique social circumstances of a developing area. Each of these are critical issues to the sustainability of our planet and both the human species and ultimately the other creatures with which we share the Earth. Water management has become a critical resource issue not only in developing but in developed countries, and contributions such as low water toilets are needed. Human health is also critical as increasing population densities invite epidemics. Hence, addressing such issues on a local, and I might add, low cost, basis is similarly important. Reducing human impact on fragile ecosystems is even more necessary at this juncture where humans threaten to cause irreversible extinctions across the globe. The compost toilet, or more accurately in most of these cases, the alkaline low-water toilet is a practical and useful contribution to these causes. But what makes this work truly unique is the consideration of social and anthropological factors, resulting in a truly synergistic work which addresses not only the technical success but also the social context and sustainability of such efforts. As a biological and ecological engineer, I have spent much of my career sharing the importance of working with, not against, biological and ecological systems as we design and build. Bates addresses not only the biological but the social context without which the long term success of such projects is doubtful. Despite his work of more than a decade, this is really only the beginning of efforts to move toward culturally appropriate, resource efficient, ecologically friendly, and technically sound approaches to development and to human life in all societies. However, his attempts to address the social as well as technological aspects of this work are really a call to action for those already at work in these and related fields, and a call to a new generation to join in the good work that is needed to ensure a sustainable future for all who call Earth their home. Steven G. Hall, Ph.D., P.E. (on sabbatical in Yucatan and Baja California, Mexico) March 2008 This study is an important contribution to the sanitation sector in that it investigates the social as well as technical aspects of a compost toilet system in a Latin American setting. I have followed the sanitation literature for years and nearly all such studies focus on the technical aspects and ignore the social and anthropological aspects which are essential to understand if a sanitation system is to be sustainable. Dan Campbell, Web Manager Environmental Health at United States Agency for International Development vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS..............................................................................................................iv FORWARD…………………………………………………...…………..…………..…………vi LIST OF TABLES …………………………………………………………...…………….……xii LIST OF FIGURES …………………………………………………………..………..………xiii ABSTRACT…………………………………………………………………….………………xv CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………...………………1 CHAPTER 2. OBJECTIVES...........................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 3.

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