Urine is rich in nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus, so obviously will helps plants grow, but it does need to be diluted as human pee is too strong to be used neat on most plants.
For those with fires or log-burners, urine mixed with ash creates a super-cocktail that plants will thrive on as the ash provides calcium and magnesium.
Our uric acid levels are highest in the morning, so an early pee on the compost heap is to be encouraged for male exponents of al fresco permaculture principles in suitably secluded environments.
City councils have started to collect urine in stand-alone street containers, to try and halt the wave of ‘wild peeing’ by revellers that can leave urban areas awash with this collectable liquid.
For outside festival use by the full-of-bladder, the French have L'Uritonnoir which is no more than a collection of funnels strapped to a pile of straw bales. This will speed composting and facilitate some well-aimed relief for those who don’t mind getting their espadrilles soggy.
Female festival-goers now have the chance of an attractive and safe option in the door-less Lapee whose raised seating area and low side walls, enabling users to see over without people being able to look in, is safer than a standard festival toilet.
For country-dwellers, it’s a question of dilution with water and reaping the harvest.
One of the items on Rural Properties’ check list when buying village and countryside cottages and farms is, “where’s the septic tank?”
Many inland villages have no mains sewage connection and many old properties have no waste water systems - defecation having been very much an al fresco occupation.
If there is a sewage pipe under the nearest road, making a connection will pose no great problem. If there’s land at the back of the property, make sure there’s clear access when it comes to pumping out a closed septic tank system, something that the local Câmara may insist on depending on a variety of zoning factors. Renovations that require a project submission need to specify the wastewater system, so check out with the Câmara what is allowable before buying.
Paul Rees
www.rural-properties.com
