Backcountry Sanitation Manual Science Knows Now That the Most Fertile and Effective Manure Is the Human Manure
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APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONFERENCE Backcountry Sanitation Manual Science knows now that the most fertile and effective manure is the human manure. Do you know what these piles of manure are, those carts of mud caried off at night from the streets, the frighful barrels of the nightman, and the fetid streams of subterranean mud which the pavement conceals from you? All of this is a flowering, it is green grass, it is the mint and thyme and sage, it is game, it is cattle, it is the satisfied lowing of heavy kine, it is the perfumed hay, it is gilded wheat, it is bread on your table, it is warm blood in your veins. —Victor Hugo, Les Miserables Contents Preface .............................................................................................................................................................. 5 What This Manual is About ................................................................................................................... 5 Never Apologize, Just Explain............................................................................................................... 7 Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................................... 9 Part 1—Background of Sanitation Management ......................................................................................... 13 1—A Brief History of Northeastern Backcountry Use and Backcountry Sanitation Management ....... 15 2—The Importance of Backcountry Sanitation Management.............................................................. 17 3—The Decomposition and Composting Process .............................................................................. 22 4—Health and Safety Issues............................................................................................................... 29 Part 2 — Regulatory and Aesthetic Issues .................................................................................................. 35 5—Integrating Backcountry Sanitation and Local Management Planning .......................................... 36 6—Introduction to the Regulatory Process ......................................................................................... 37 7—The Aesthetics of Backcountry Sanitation Systems ...................................................................... 42 Part 3—Descriptions of Systems.................................................................................................................. 45 8—The Moldering Privy....................................................................................................................... 46 9—Batch-Bin Composting ................................................................................................................... 63 10—Liquid Separation in Composting Systems .................................................................................. 90 Part 4 — Installations..................................................................................................................................... 97 11—Case Studies ............................................................................................................................... 98 11.1 Moldering Privy on the A.T. at Little Rock Pond, Vermont ............................................. 98 11.2 Moldering Privy on the A.T. in Massachusetts ............................................................... 99 11.3 Appalachian Mountain Club Clivus Multrum Composting Toilet .................................. 101 11.4 Randolph Mountain Club Bio-Sun Composting Toilet.................................................. 102 11.5 At Home with the Clivus Multrum Composting Toilet ................................................... 108 11.6 Airlift Haul-Out Systems .............................................................................................. 112 11.7 Flush Toilets with Leach Field at High Mountain Huts ................................................. 112 11.8 Prototype Wood-Fired Compost Incinerator ................................................................ 115 12—The Decision Making Process ................................................................................................... 117 13—Gray Water Management in the Backcountry ............................................................................ 128 Contents, continued Appendices ................................................................................................................................................... 133 A—Glossary of Terms ....................................................................................................................... 134 B—Troubleshooting and General Composting Tips .......................................................................... 137 C—About the Organizations behind this Manual .............................................................................. 145 D—Contact List ................................................................................................................................. 149 E—Bibliography ................................................................................................................................ 159 F—Examples of Stewardship Signs .................................................................................................. 162 G—Sources of Materials for a Batch-Bin System ............................................................................. 172 H—Lightweight Outhouse Plans ....................................................................................................... 174 I—Plans for a Double-Chambered Moldering Privy .......................................................................... 181 J—Plans for a Drying Rack ............................................................................................................... 186 K—Diagram of a Washpit .................................................................................................................. 188 L—Backcountry Sanitation: A Review of Literature and Related Information ................................... 189 M—The Application of a Solar Hot Box to Pasteurize Toilet Compost in Yosemite National Park .... 198 N—Examples of Regulatory Correspondence .................................................................................. 202 O—Article from ATC Newsletter, The Register ................................................................................. 207 P—Owner-Built Continuous Composters .......................................................................................... 211 Q—Plans for a Wooden Packboard .................................................................................................. 213 PREFACE—5 Preface What This Manual is About Pete Ketcham, Field Supervisor, Green Mountain Club The ATC Backcountry Sanitation Manual addresses the management of human waste in the backcountry. Proper management of human waste protects hikers, the environment and trail maintainers. Resolving problems of backcountry sanitation is a continuous challenge for Trail clubs and land managers. This manual was created in the belief that all remote recreation areas will benefit from an expanded discussion of backcountry sanita- tion. The Appalachian Trail Conference (ATC) hopes it will offer a step up for those who operate composting systems, as well as for those Appalachian Trail (A.T.) clubs and land managers who have reached a crossroads in backcountry sanitation decisions. This manual introduces a new, simpler and often safer method of composting hu- See: Section 8, “The Moldering man waste in the backcountry—the moldering privy. It is a design that saves money Privy” in Part 3—Descriptions of and—even more importantly—labor. Whether volunteer or paid, labor has always Systems. been in short supply on the A.T. The moldering privy is suitable for the majority of sites that need better waste management than pit privies or catholes, and it is cheaper and easier to implement than other alternatives. The approaches recommended here are distilled from the experiences of several hundred people operating composting toilets and other systems that have success- fully resolved human waste problems at backcountry sites along the A.T. Primary emphasis has been placed on composting systems, because they have been the most successful in the majority of backcountry situations. However, other systems receive some attention, especially to provide comparisons with composting systems. The Green Mountain Club and the Appalachian Mountain Club began using composting systems in the late 1970s, and their systems have undergone continual evolution and improvement. Several other A.T. clubs and land managers have used different composting systems with varying success. The most successful systems are presented in this manual. 6—APPALACHIAN TRAIL CONFERENCE —BACKCOUNTRY SANITATION MANUAL If you read this manual through, you will discover a lot of repetition. This is inten- tional, because the manual is being posted on the Web, where readers may down- load only the chapters that interest them. Therefore, each chapter must be self- contained, with as much relevant information as possible. Inevitably, this leads to repetition, although we have tried to minimize it by the use of cross-references to other chapters where appropriate. The first four sections provide background for sanitation management. Section 1 covers the history of