Pee and poo

We have some lagoons along the Tennessee River that grow and amazing amount of water weeds/grass. If we could just import a few manatee and they would survive the cool water.

Bob Wilson

 

I would bet that these "reports" of "drugs" in wastewater have nothing to do with human waste. Drugs processed by the body end up a metabolites. If there are trace amounts of prescription drugs in wastewater they are probably disposed of directly into the toilet or sink.

 

With the greatly proliferating deployment of modern water-less and low-flush urinals, it ought to be getting considerably easier and cheaper to find and collect a significant supply of undiluted and lightly-diluted N, P, and K for fertilizer.

 

No matter which animal (cow, chicken or animal) gets treated by antibiotics, I doubt they survive digestion and/or the filtering power of the liver and kidney. Not sure what the comment regarding the animal-feed pathway means. I don't know of any evidence that eating the meat of antibiotic treated animals results in a getting a does of antibiotics. Otherwise, ear infections would be treated with Whoppers, Quarter Pounders or Big Macs.

 

Read up some more:

"Humans contribute too, as up to 80 percent of an antibiotic dose passes straight through the body and into waterways."
Antibiotic pollution of waterways may create superbugs of tomorrow

"Our bodies metabolize only a fraction of most drugs we swallow. Most of the remainder is excreted in urine or feces (some is sweated out) and therefore gets into wastewater. An increasing number of medications are applied as creams or lotions, and the unabsorbed portions of those medications can contribute to the pollution problem when they get washed off."
Drugs in the water - Harvard Health

 

To add to that, 50% of penicillin passes through the body, and the excreted drug is actually more effective. It was once collected from patients' urine during on war.

 

Interesting subject. Now, while reading this, I came to an amazing conclusion. Any massive mothership transporting a lot of live (human like) beings, that has hydroponic bays on board to feed its population of maybe 200 to 500 beings or more (we're talking a 2 or 3 mile long mothership here) will have to deal with recycling (human) waste to use for growing crops on board, or even synthesising vital drugs.

This may explain why some (so called) abductees, when taken aboard an extraterrestrial craft (especially a big one) describe the place as being not just slightly filthy, but with strong organic smells abounding.

Nobody ever describes it being a sterile environment like "Star Trek".

Apologies for the random inclusion, but I thought it was worth mentioning.


iPhone ?

 

I suspect it resembles life on a submarine. Perhaps @ETC(SS) might have some insights. My understanding is the pre-nuclear boats were even worse. I recommend watching Das Boot to get a clue.

Another source: PigBoats.com

Bob Wilson

 

You don't have to take my word for it.
While I was pondering an appropriate contribution to this topic as it relates to submarines, I was searching the internet for a picture of the appliance that serves as a direct interface between bio-output and the environment............the humble toilet.

This page amused me....
Submarine Life – What I Definitely Don’t Miss – Paul Amrozowicz

Ask any bubble head what they do NOT like about submarines and on any top 3 list "smell" will figure PROMINENTLY, and surprisingly....pee and poo are a minority contributor!
However.....just as it takes a very small amount of yeast to leaven a loaf, pee and poo punch above their weigh in contributing to that wonderful stew of odors that make life on a modern submarine so delightful.

Submarines....and spacecraft are a strange mix of things extremely clean and unclean.
If we have roughly 65 submarines in the US Navy, one may presume that probably 40 of them are underwater, under way right now.
We roll like that.
Boats tied to the pier aren't doing their mission, and our submarines have a high OPTEMPO.

So....that means that right now, as I type this, somebody on some boat out there is probably:
* Contemplating a scavenger hunt that will include a live insect or rodent (a surprisingly rare item.)
* Bitching about 'water hours' due to either ops in progress, or an inoperative evaporator (which precludes bathing and laundry.)
* Cooking something REALLY odoriferous, and perhaps float-testing dozens of weeks-old eggs to see if they're dangerous to use as food.
* Working out.
* .....and finally blowing sanitary tanks (which are anything BUT!)

You see...poo happens.
One of the things that keeps the hamster wheel turning is the fact that humans are designed to think that pee and poo smells *bad*.
It's part of the great circle of life, and one of the better counter-arguments for the "accidental universe" theory.
Many things in life are dedicated to keeping people away from pee and poo until they can be transmorgified into something a little less virulent.
So.....spaceships have 2 advantages that submarines do not have, besides the fact that they get to go to neat places.
1. They (presumably) don't have to be stealthy. This allows flexibility in spacecraft design.
2. Humans don't dig vacuums. Non humans presumably need pressurized atmospheres too, which means that everything inside the spacecraft wants to go outside, greatly facilitating getting the poo outside the can. Mostly it's desiccated poo, since as is the case with submarines, (fresh) water is a precious resource....not to be squandered.

Submarines have the opposite problem as spacecraft.
Everything outside the boat is always trying to get inside, which makes them really easy to destroy once you find them, since all you have to do is open up a hole to let the REAL enemy (salt water) inside the people tank.
This means that the beloved porcelain appliance that we've known and loved for centuries has to modified somewhat to serve on a military submarine and most of them do not have something very basic that humans take for granted.....
Trap (plumbing) - Wikipedia

Submarine heads (toilets) are usually some variation of this:

Contrary to the "dozen-valve" theory, operation is simplicity itself. the green handled valve on the left (all submarine valves are color coded) allows you to manually flush the bowl with seawater and the large lever on the right opens the large valve at the base of the head which gravity feeds everything into a sanitary tank, which as we've already discusses is anything BUT.
As Paul pointed out in his article.....sanitary tanks have to be regularly emptied, which means that they have to be pressurized to overcome outside sea pressure, which is why the base of the toilet (flange) and the ball valve are VERY robust.

What Paul did not mention is the fact that once you've emptied the sanitary tanks, they have to be VENTED INBOARD to equalize the pressures, resulting in the MOAF or mother of all flatulence, and the tanks themselves are fairly large, since they have to serve between 120-150 healthy, mostly young humans.
Usually......depending on hull type and mission one may expect to blow sanctuaries several times a week......usually when I'm just waking up.

This is one of the many, MANY things that they do not fully explore in most of the film documentaries about life on spacecraft or on submarines.

But.... as they say....poo happens.

 

Not brought into the discussion, yet, what happens to cadavers? Several options:

• mulched in poo fermenter
• hunger games dinner
• recycle parts as storage systems permit

At age 67, I've tempted to get two, tattoos:

1. Chest - "Organ donor" and signature
2. Back of my dominant, right hand - "No IV here"

Bob Wilson

 

.....which in our case, were built by the lowest bidder.