Composting heads for long term Cruising?

[newhaul]

Anyone here built their own dry head for long term cruising? Also what do you do when offshore with a full bucket of peat and poo?

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

That's true of 'septic' systems, after all that's what the word means. But that's not what happens in municipal systems. Not ours anyway. Though bacteria (septic process) still has a place. Municipalities, especially larger city areas can't have the time, they have to process much larger quanities.

A recent Tampa Bay Times article reported that St Petersburg bypassed more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into Tampa Bay in 2 days in August. A spokesman for the city said that the city of Tampa bypassed far more than that. There was no report of any environmental damage. This happens all over the country during periods of heavy rain.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

A recent Tampa Bay Times article reported that St Petersburg bypassed more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into Tampa Bay in 2 days in August. A spokesman for the city said that the city of Tampa bypassed far more than that. There was no report of any environmental damage. This happens all over the country during periods of heavy rain.

Well, the absence of a 'report' of environmental damage in a newspaper is not really evidence of a lack of environmental damage now is it

And I'm not going to suggest I know anything about that area. Perhaps there's not much of an environment to damage. But it shouldn't take a lot of intelligence to realise that pumping more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into any bay is not 'healthy'! Either for humans or animal.

I'm a little surprised that in a progressive county like the US that they permit raw sewage to be released into the ocean 'all over the country'. Here in Australia there are fines in most places for letting that happen. Does not your country have fish farms, shell fish farms inparticular? They certainly can't operate with raw sewage being dumped on mass.

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Well, the absence of a 'report' of environmental damage in a newspaper is not really evidence of a lack of environmental damage now is it

And I'm not going to suggest I know anything about that area. Perhaps there's not much of an environment to damage. But it shouldn't take a lot of intelligence to realise that pumping more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into any bay is not 'healthy'! Either for humans or animal.

I'm a little surprised that in a progressive county like the US that they permit raw sewage to be released into the ocean 'all over the country'. Here in Australia there are fines in most places for letting that happen. Does not your country have fish farms, shell fish farms inparticular? They certainly can't operate with raw sewage being dumped on mass.

Still missing the point. E.coli is already everywhere. Nitrogen is probably the bigger environmental problem from these spills. Algae blooms & the resultant oxygen depletion would be an environmental problem. I've read that most beach closings in Florida due to high bacteria counts are actually due to large flocks of birds. When you're walking on the beach & there are big flocks of seagulls the E.coli count is normally very high. That's not an environmental disaster. It is the environment.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

Still missing the point. E.coli is already everywhere. Nitrogen is probably the bigger environmental problem from these spills. Algae blooms & the resultant oxygen depletion would be an environmental problem. I've read that most beach closings in Florida due to high bacteria counts are actually due to large flocks of birds. When you're walking on the beach & there are big flocks of seagulls the E.coli count is normally very high. That's not an environmental disaster. It is the environment.

I'm not sure what Point your trying to make then sorry, no doubt my misunderstanding.

Yes, Ecoli is everywhere

Ecoli count is normally very high not sure about that one, depends on what your calling high I guess. In the 50's it was decided that anything less than 100 000 communities is 'clean', which is where they got the idea that urine is sterile from.

I've not heard of an environmental disaster from Ecoli so I agree with you on that one.

So, what's your point your trying to make to me?

[captlloyd]

I am going to fabricate a dry head myself. An issue for some men, including me, was the sit-down requirement to use a composter to urinate. The other day I used a porta-pottie at an event and saw the simple solution. A simple piece of plastic plumbing pipe (4'' or 5'') cut on an angle and plumbed into the urine holding device makes your system stand-up for men.

[newhaul]

Don't have a picture but I will describe a sealing urinal for men to use in conjunction with a dry head use 2 two Ltr soda bottles cutting one in half connect them with a double female threaded tube place'a'ping pong ball in the top half bottle it will seal the hole when you are done doing your bussiness. ( automatically) the part to hook the bottles together is called a tornado tube Amazon.com: Tornado Tubes, assorted colors.: Toys & Games

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

I'm not sure what Point your trying to make then sorry, no doubt my misunderstanding.

Yes, Ecoli is everywhere

Ecoli count is normally very high not sure about that one, depends on what your calling high I guess. In the 50's it was decided that anything less than 100 000 communities is 'clean', which is where they got the idea that urine is sterile from.

I've not heard of an environmental disaster from Ecoli so I agree with you on that one.

So, what's your point your trying to make to me?

You stated that," it shouldn't take a lot of intelligence to realise that pumping more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into any bay is not 'healthy'! Either for humans or animal." Actually, if you include Tampa it's more than double that. My point is that if the E.coli bacteria is already there why is it unhealthy to pump more in? Actually my real point is that if bypassing more than 30 million of gallons of sewage into Tampa Bay in 2 days did not cause an environmental crisis why is 1 person in a boat pumping the contents of one toilet into the ocean a problem? And the answer is... it isn't. All of the sailors in all of the 50 states combined couldn't pump as much poop into the water as St Pete & Tampa did in 2 days.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

You stated that," it shouldn't take a lot of intelligence to realise that pumping more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into any bay is not 'healthy'! Either for humans or animal." Actually, if you include Tampa it's more than double that. My point is that if the E.coli bacteria is already there why is it unhealthy to pump more in? Actually my real point is that if bypassing more than 30 million of gallons of sewage into Tampa Bay in 2 days did not cause an environmental crisis why is 1 person in a boat pumping the contents of one toilet into the ocean a problem? And the answer is... it isn't. All of the sailors in all of the 50 states combined couldn't pump as much poop into the water as St Pete & Tampa did in 2 days.

Well to answer your first point, because Ecoli is only a danger when it reaches significant floral communities, so if you keep adding to the sewage that is already there, then yes of course its more dangerous to pump more in. It's really not that hard to understand this logic. Would you rather swim in a swimming pool with one turd floating around, or the same size swimming pool in which 100 people have dropped turnds in?

As for your real point, I agree with you, it isn't! Unless a boat is anchored over a shell fish farm, then no it's not harmful.

[weavis]

It takes 2 factors to produce a disease.

• The infecting agent
• A receptive host

YOu can have as much E coli as you like, or any infection, and as long as the organism is non receptive to it, then nothing happens.

We are surrounded by organisms. The majority of humans carry even Polio. Its only when health/immunity is diminished or the environment overwhelms, do we have a problem.

We call it susceptibility.

Some things all humans are susceptible to, for example getting hit by a double decker bus, or a strain of something outside of their normal immunity.

And yes, a huge amount of untreated concentrated sewage in the bay would cause some to get very sick. Not a clever thing to do. I find it best to not listen to authorities.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

A recent Tampa Bay Times article reported that St Petersburg bypassed more than 16 million gallons of raw sewage into Tampa Bay in 2 days in August. A spokesman for the city said that the city of Tampa bypassed far more than that. There was no report of any environmental damage. This happens all over the country during periods of heavy rain.

Hey, now I'm home I've had the time to look this up a bit. Once I realised where Tampa Bay is and there is one hell of a lot of history of 'water' pollution to do with Tampa Bay. Far from being 'no report of environmental damage', that's because there has been an environmental disaster going on in the Tampa Bay areas since the 70's. How, can you not know this if you live there? I can post some links, but hey, there not obscure links. And one of the reason there is so much nitrogen in the water IS because of the dumping of raw water in the bay, which is illegal too. It sounds to me like your Tampa Bay is like our Tamar River! Though things are starting to improve in Tampa Bay where as our River is still full of ****.

[unbusted67]

Originally Posted by zboss

Well, the thing is... outside the US everybody just pumps directly overboard. So... no need for a holding tank anyway.

This sucks man. We have a composter and it is a pain but at least you aren't just dumping tons of feces into the water every week.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by unbusted67

This sucks man. We have a composter and it is a pain but at least you aren't just dumping tons of feces into the water every week.

'tons of faeces into the water every week'

Gee you must have a big boat

[Scout 30]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

Hey, now I'm home I've had the time to look this up a bit. Once I realised where Tampa Bay is and there is one hell of a lot of history of 'water' pollution to do with Tampa Bay. Far from being 'no report of environmental damage', that's because there has been an environmental disaster going on in the Tampa Bay areas since the 70's. How, can you not know this if you live there? I can post some links, but hey, there not obscure links. And one of the reason there is so much nitrogen in the water IS because of the dumping of raw water in the bay, which is illegal too. It sounds to me like your Tampa Bay is like our Tamar River! Though things are starting to improve in Tampa Bay where as our River is still full of ****.

There's been an environmental disaster going on in the world since the 70's but Tampa Bay's actually looking pretty good these days. It appears to be pretty rare that raw sewage is bypassed into Tampa Bay by the neighboring municipalities but when the systems are overwhelmed by huge amounts of rain it can happen. This is typical of most municipal sewage systems. Nitrogen from fertilizer run off is a much bigger problem that affects not just the bay but Gulf too. Combine this with water that is getting warmer every year & the result is Red Tide outbreaks which are lethal to fish & aquatic mammals. There has been a movement to ban fertilizer sales during the summer, which would be a great move, but when corporate lobbyists control your government it's tough to get something like that passed. It would hurt profits. It's a lot easier to pass a law banning pumping your head overboard even though that would literally have no effect on the environment.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by Scout 30

There's been an environmental disaster going on in the world since the 70's but Tampa Bay's actually looking pretty good these days. It appears to be pretty rare that raw sewage is bypassed into Tampa Bay by the neighboring municipalities but when the systems are overwhelmed by huge amounts of rain it can happen. This is typical of most municipal sewage systems. Nitrogen from fertilizer run off is a much bigger problem that affects not just the bay but Gulf too. Combine this with water that is getting warmer every year & the result is Red Tide outbreaks which are lethal to fish & aquatic mammals. There has been a movement to ban fertilizer sales during the summer, which would be a great move, but when corporate lobbyists control your government it's tough to get something like that passed. It would hurt profits. It's a lot easier to pass a law banning pumping your head overboard even though that would literally have no effect on the environment.