Madan Rai's Eco-San toilet and garden

10 January 2016

This was on the first day we met Madan in Nepal, after Skyping with him from NYC. His garden is gorgeous, as is the entire farm in Khotang run by his organization, KDF, and managed by the 40 students who live there. More interesting, though, is the Eco-San toilet that he and other partners have developed. He explains it in this video but is a bit hard to hear. In short, the urine and feces go into separate pipes. The urine is collected in drums and allowed to sit for 15 days to a month. During this time all of the ammonia evaporates and you are left with "liquid gold", a complete plant food with urea and all the elements and minerals that a plant needs (though admittedly not in sufficient quantities for some). You can then dilute this urine with water and apply to plants at key stages in the growing cycle. The feces just sits in an enclosed space beneath the hole for the toilet. It is left allowed to build up for about 6 months. However, there is absolutely no smell in the bathroom, because after every use the user sprinkles some ash down the hole, and this covers the feces and absorbs any moisture, thus eliminating any gasses or smells that might emanate. After the chamber fills, it is removed and put on a compost pile and covered with straw to finish the decomposing process. At this point he can even move the entire toilet over to the other hole above another chamber, but this is not necessary. This system is Madan's way of "closing the loop". We get all of our food from plants, even if we eat meat since the animals ate plants. So, why not give the food right back to the plants so they can continue to feed us? If matter can be neither created nor destroyed, then our feces must (and does) contain the very same matter that was once plant, and can be again if we just return it to the soil. Finally, in Nepal people do not use toilet paper but rather just their left hand and water. So, there is yet another small hole to squat over while doing this, which collects the gray water into a third pipe which runs directly into another collection area. This collection area is also fed by the gray water from the place where all of the dishes and clothing are washed outside, and then this water can be used for the plants as well. The beauty of his garden, its complete lack of any pests or insects (as well as the use of any chemicals), the delicious taste of everything produced there is testament to the success of this process. Now we are just figuring out how to adapt it to American standards. Contact me if you want to learn more about any of this.