 05 November 2007What to do with all the poo?It's been a frustrating last month on the house building front. Progress is unbearably slow. We still haven't had the engineering input on the designs. In fact after this morning's phone call with a shockingly rude structural engineer in Whangarei, we don't have an engineer at all. I refuse to work with someone who says that listening to me whinging about the delay is not his job and that the length of time it has taken for him to call me back is not his problem. All I had asked was how much it would cost for him to do the work and whether there was any way of getting it done before Christmas as things had taken a long time to get to this stage! I've been recommended to a different engineer so hopefully this one will have some people skills included in his repetoire. So, while we've been sitting here waiting there have been other questions on our mind. We're getting the fencing done so that we can protect the huge haul of plants we got cheap at the local nursery's Labour Day sale, now they're in the ground. Fortunately it's been raining ever since we did the planting so things are looking good on that front. But the big question occupying our minds at the moment is "What to do with all the poo?". Our land is not near any sewage system so it's up to us to deal with our own waste and I don't think the current long drop arrangement will get the sign off from Council. In my younger days I lived in a house with a straightforward septic tank. It seems that things are not so simple now and that we have options...... Aerobic vs Anaerobic This refers to the bacteria that break down the poos and wees (and all the other stuff). Aerobic bacteria use oxygen and work quickly, breaking down the waste quickly and importantly with little or no odour. Apparently they're also tough little blighters and can put up with your usual household cleaners etc. The Anaerobic ones take longer to do the work, don't use oxygen and do produce smell. They're also delicate and don't like the chemicals. So ideally you'll have the aerobic bacteria working on your waste. However, that means you have to get oxygen to them which I guess means stirring - which uses power..... and we're supposed to be building a low power use house..... Ok, so what else is out there. Worms Sounds a little gross doesn't it - but it seems that the worms are happy to help with the bacterial processes. I know that these systems are available in New Zealand but can't find a local website about them so here's an Aussie website that gives you more detail on the process. Wormfarm Waste In some ways I kind of like the idea of worms chomping my poos and this system uses a lot less power than the more conventional ones - nothing if you have a hilly site so the waste flows in easily and just a little to pump it along if you are on a flat section. Whatever system you use the end product is good water for watering the garden which is fine with me. Funnily enough, I just met a guy who was wandering around the site next door and turns out he's the local wastewater system designer. How serendipitous!
posted by Copy Ant @ 2:13 PM
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