Prepping For “Waste” Management
You may not realize how important your sewage system is until it stops working or you’re nowhere near a toilet when you need one.
As difficult as it is to ponder how to manage human waste in an emergency situation, there are solutions. Preppers are not the first people to have had to devise alternate sewage management processes.
Rest assured, with knowledge, skills, and supplies, you can manage your own sewage management whether there’s a temporary service interruption or if you’re bugging out in the wild.
Toilet Solutions During a Disaster Scenario
Managing waste during a survival situation may not be as easy as flushing a toilet, but it is manageable. It’s important that preppers understand that waste management is a serious situation and not doing so efficiently could cause serious issues.
If you’ve ever done some camping off the grid (I’m talking rustic camping in the middle of nowhere), you’ve already faced the waste system dilemma. However, if you’re not an outdoor enthusiast, creating a makeshift toilet out in the wild may just be the most humbling challenge you face during a disaster scenario.
To begin prepping for an emergency waste system, you need to be a bit imaginative, a bit creative, and a bit realistic. In other words, what system would you and your family feel comfortable using? Ponder your alternative toilet options, make a plan, and add the necessary supplies and equipment to your prepper supply.
Dangers of Disposing Human Waste
Did you know that each person produces nearly five gallons of human waste weekly? And besides the “odor” issue that can be generated, disposing human feces incorrectly could potentially cause illness and spread deadly diseases.
Whether navigating through the effects of a natural disaster or simply camping, you should never discard human waste on the ground. It must be buried a few feet deep within the soil and away from the possibility of contaminating water sources.
Sewage Backflow Issues
Before we discuss alternate waste management approaches, let’s discuss how a prepper could get in this situation in the first place. Many sewer systems are run by electricity so with any extended power outage, sewage backflow can be catastrophic.
You see, instead of the raw sewage being pumped away from the property, it could literally flow back into the home. The smell alone could cause you to evacuate your family, but the threat of disease is a very serious concern.
Experts suggest that you can help prevent backflowing sewage by stuffing something like foam or cloth into the drains, but that is a temporary, not foolproof, method.
Compost Toilets
When I think of compost, I do not think of human waste. However, compost toilets can provide effective alternative waste management. And yes, it’s exactly as it sounds. You can naturally turn human waste into reusable compost. In fact, a compost toilet is designed to break down human feces and urine into fertilizer without generating any odor.
Please note that buying a compost toilet can be quite expensive, and you may not be near your compost toilet in a bugout of evacuation scenario. Building your own compost toilet may be your only option. But before you “go” and dig a cat hole, trench latrine, or bucket toilet, you will need to learn more about these alternative waste management solutions and essential toileting gear to add to your prepper supply.
Digging Cat Holes For Waste
Burying waste could be a solution to waste removal. Find a location at least 200 feet from the bugout location. With a shovel or trowel, dig a round hole 8 inches deep with an 8 inch diameter. Be sure to steer clear of any water sources or habituated locations.
Relieve yourself in the cat hole and completely cover the waste and toilet paper that is now inside the cat hole with soil, grass, twigs, rocks, leaves, and any other available natural materials. You’re basically covering the area to make it look undisturbed.
Afterwards, always be sure to wash your hands with antiseptic soap or sanitizer. Staying healthy in a bugout or bug-in scenario is critical.
Digging a Trench Latrine For Waste
A trench latrine is another ideal option that can be created easily and can be used more than just one time. As with a cat hole, be sure to dig the trench latrine away from people, shelter, or water sources.
Rather than digging a circle as with the cat hole, a trench latrine would require digging a long trench that measures approximately 1 foot wide by 4 feet long by 2 to 3 feet deep. Be sure you have a good shovel or trowel to help you dig quickly and efficiently.
The trench latrine can be used multiple times. After each use, you simply cover the affected area with some soil. As you use it more often, the trench will gradually be filled with soil. When that soil fills within 12 inches of the surface, fill the entire trench with soil and select a new location. The trench starts out as deep as 36 inches so you can understand, that adding soil each time you use it, allows repeated use as opposed to a single use “cat hole” toileting system.
For longer term use, just dig the trench much deeper at the start so it can be used for a longer period of time. You can even build a makeshift trench latrine seat, one that measures much wider than the actual hole, to position above the deep hole.
How to Make a Bucket Toilet
A bucket toilet is self-explanatory, but I will point out that you should have two buckets: one for urine and one for feces. Urine is considered safe while feces can spread disease if not disposed properly.
Purchase 5-gallon buckets, the type with tight-fitting lids, two buckets for each person in your household. You can purchase a plastic toilet seat to fit above the bucket for comfortability, or you can even add a slit to a pool noodle and attach it around the bucket rim for a makeshift toilet seat.
It is suggested that you place about one inch of kitty litter, shredded paper, or sawdust-like materials, at the bottom of the bucket and then insert a large trash bag. After each use, add some more kitty litter or other material. Change the bag as often as necessary. Disposing the bags is discreet and can cut down on odors and insects. Always be sure to put the bucket cover back on after use.
Bug-in Scenarios: Turn Your Existing Toilet Into a Makeshift Port-a-Potty
If you’re able to bug-in at home, but the water is turned off and there is no working sewage system, your bathroom toilet can be turned into a temporary port-a-potty type of waste management with just a few supplies. The toilet seat and toilet bowl can be used without flushing.
Lift the toilet seat and simply line the inside of the toilet with a trash bag. (Be sure to remove any standing toilet water before beginning.) Put the toilet lid down to hold the bag in place. Use the toilet as you normally would. Then, simply remove and seal the bag very tightly, and discard the trash bag outside, preferably by burying it deep in the ground, far away from the home. If you’re concerned that a bag might have a tear and leak, place the bag inside a bucket or plastic tub to transport it from the bathroom to the outdoors.
Bedside Commodes Make an Ideal Portable Toilet
A bedside commode can be moved to any location. You can fold and transport a bedside commode to an outdoor bugout location or position it indoors for any bug in situation. Typically used for mobility challenged individuals, a bedside commode can also be lined with a bag or commode bucket liner and then emptied when necessary.
Stock Up on Toilet Paper and Other Bathroom Essentials
Add these essential waste management supplies to your current prepper supply:
:: Biodegradable toilet paper
:: Baby wipes
:: Trash bags
:: Plastic gloves
:: Disinfectant wipes
:: Deodorizer spray
:: Baking soda
:: Spray bottle of water per person for cleansing
:: Kitty litter or sawdust to line buckets/ground toilets
What NOT to Do When Devising Human Waste Solutions
This is a very important warning: Never use bleach to clean up urine or feces no matter how bad the mess or how strong the odor. Bleach mixed with urine and feces could result in toxic chemicals with devastating results. Bleach can also harm the environment.
There’s No Way Out: Prepping For Sewage Management Must Be Addressed
When you think about “needing to go” during a disaster scenario, a nervous stomach may instigate more trips to your alternative toilet. So, rather than try to avoid prepping this uncomfortable topic, the better you prepare now, the more “relieved” you’ll feel should you be faced with a non-working sewer system.
Creating an alternative sewage management system for you and your family, may make you want to create a more private toileting option. Perhaps you practice building a temporary bugout bathroom out of tarps, rope, and sticks, or you figure out a way to hang shower curtains from a tree. Depending on the level of the disaster that you’re facing, your family’s needs will determine how simple or elaborate the alternative toileting could be designed.
So, while you may have put “sewage management” far down at the end of your prepper list, plan an alternative toileting system. It is extremely important for your comfort AND your health.
