Sewers and Commodes

 We live in an old home. We’ve invested a good deal of money in renovating and adding on.  A number of years ago, we went to brick and mortar, removed the brick off the entire back, and added 1,000 sq. feet of space while redesigning nearly the whole interior.  Because of the age of our home, we were concerned about future plumbing problems. We knew, from experience, that all the pipes were very old deteriorating clay, and the bushes and trees in our yard had not been kind to them. Water pressure throughout our neighborhood was pretty poor.  So we decided, while we were at it, to replace water and sewer lines all the way out to the front street. Anything beyond that was the responsibility of the City.

Our Contractor, an old and dear friend, took me out into the front yard. “This is whare you shut off your sewer lines,” he told me. “Don’t fohget that.” I nodded, pretending understanding. It wasn’t until years later, in a conversation with another dear friend, that I found out why this piece of info was so important. Sewage, in our neck of the woods, flows downhill to the Waste Water Treatment Plant. If there was to be a catastrophic loss of power, the Plant would stop pumping and raw sewage will begin backing up in the pipes. Along the way, said raw sewage will build up enough pressure to begin backing up through flow valves into people’s yards and exploding out of their commodes, flooding homes WITH RAW SEWAGE! Hard to image anything more disgusting. Knowing where our shut-off valve is located means that, if we ever have a catastrophic loss of power over an extended period of time, we can shut off our valve from the street, essentially blocking sewage from coming up our sewage pipes. It will continue to move up the street until it hits the next open valve.  However, at this point, we will be unable to flush OUT our waste, also. I’m sure my sons would be fine with emptying their bladders “behind the shed”, but not my daughter and me.  

The friend who explained the sewage issue to me recommended that I stock up on heavy black plastic bags. He said, once the commodes were no longer full of water, to put a black bag in each one and stretch the edges over the toilet. The seat will hold the bag in place. Keep a bucket of sphagnum in each bathroom and, after a user is finished conducting their business, sprinkle a handful of sphagnum on top. Continue this process until the bag is full.  Then remove the bag, dump it in a hole in the yard or a special “human waste compost pile”, and dispose of bag, beginning all over again with a fresh bag. Hmm, I thought.  What exactly IS sphagnum? Well, we commonly refer to it as peat moss. Sphagnum can absorb water, from 16 - 26 TIMES as much water (depending on the specific type of peat moss) as its dry weight. In other words, a little goes a long way. And peat moss is relatively inexpensive.  For $12, I can buy a 3 cubic foot bag of it from Lowe’s. It’s also relatively easy to store. I laid down landscape fabric in the yard and began stacking bags on top. The whole pile got covered with a tarp just to keep the plastic bags from degrading in the sun. The harder issue for us is keeping decent buckets around that aren’t cracked or broken that we can use when we need buckets of peat in each bathroom. But Walmart has nice, large outdoor-type ones for $3.

At the high point of COVID, when you couldn’t get toilet paper, I began to think about a replacement for tp. What did my parents do? My grandparents, all 4, were pioneers in Canada. Both my mom and dad grew up using outhouses. The Sears catalogue was kept there for both reading and wiping. I’m sorry, but I have a pampered bottom. I’m not going to be using thick paper to scratch waste off my body. I finally realized that my mother’s family used rags for a multitude of things. Fearing COVID may require such measures, I invested in very cheap white washcloths from Walmart, about 6 dozen or so. I think they came in an 18-pack for just a few dollars. If needed, we will put a lidded container (think of an old-timey diaper pail) in each bathroom to hold the dirties and a basket of clean rags/washcloths. We may need to put some water and Oxyclean in the dirty bin to soak the soiled rags and to help with the odor, or maybe some lemon-scented cleaner. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. Then, on wash day, the dirty rags will be washed out, dried in the sun, and put back in the clean baskets. We can also cut up old towels or use old t-shirts cut into rags. The only important criteria, in my estimation, is that the rags be white so they can be bleached, if necessary.

And washing up after using the bathroom? We’ll use the method my parents used, pitchers of water and a bowl - for hand-washing as well as face and body washing in the absence of showers. Used water can be poured over plants for double duty.

Earlier in this Post, I referred to human waste composting. I have some friends who tried this for awhile. They purchased a toilet with a removable bowl. Instead of peat moss or sphagnum, they had a whole truckload of wood chips delivered to their property. They used the same process I plan to use, but with wood shavings/chips. My friend told me the wood absorbed all the odor, as well as the moisture, and they used the commode until the bowl was full, then dumped it in a designated compost pile. They had purchased a book that explained the entire process in detail. When the compost pile was full, it was dated with the last date waste had been added and left alone. A second compost pile was started. They built lovely, wooden compost piles, but I think even cinder blocks, like the ones I have around my compost pile, would be just fine. The important things are contact with the ground for good bacteria and worms to infiltrate, open air, and rain to break down the bacteria. My friend explained that this compost cannot be used for a full year from the last addition. It takes that long for the bacteria to break down and the compost to be safe for use. That’s why they date it and begin a new pile. This seems to me to be a better option that burying our waste in the yard.  Eventually, we’re going to run out of yard space. But I’m not yet entirely sure how we will proceed, if this ever becomes necessary.

In closing, make sure TODAY, RIGHT NOW that you know how to shut off your sewer valve at the street.  Do a quick inventory of your rags. Are there stained t-shirts in drawers that need throwing out? Instead, cut them into nice washcloth-size squares to have available the next time grocery stores run out of toilet paper. And pick up a bag of peat moss the next time you hit a garden store. There you have it; all your sewerage and commode issues will be easily resolved!