As this article is being written, we are nearing the end of the summer of 2023, a season noted by near weekly weather disasters. Very little is now heard about “the climate hoax.” More people are beginning to believe some sort of response, some sort of change in lifestyle will be necessary. The consumption of fossil fuels is producing greenhouse gases that are raising the global temperature and that must be limited if an apocalyptic future is to be avoided. However, other human activities, less well known, are also endangering our future.
It could be startling to some to encounter an article by Chelsae Wald titled How Recycling Urine Could Help Save the World (Nature, Vol 602, 10 February 2022, 202-206). Wald’s version of saving the world recognizes that human urine is loaded with potassium, nitrogen, and phosphorous, the critical elements used to produce fertilizer for our crops. By using toilets capable of separating and collecting urine, the product could be converted to a form that could be used directly as fertilizer.
“According to Simha’s estimates, humans produce enough urine to replace about one-quarter of current nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizers worldwide; it also contains potassium and many micronutrients. On top of that, not flushing urine down the drain could save vast amounts of water and reduce some of the strain on ageing and overloaded sewer systems.”
“They projected that communities with urine diversion could lower their overall greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 47%, energy consumption by up to 41%, freshwater use by about half, and nutrient pollution from the wastewater by up to 64%, depending on the technologies used.”
These numbers suggest urine recycling would be a good thing, but will it “save the world?’ The critical element here is phosphorous. Other elements exist in abundance. Phosphorous does not, and life cannot exist without it. Dan Egan explained why protecting its supply was critical in his book The Devil's Element: Phosphorus and a World Out of Balance.
“Phosphorus is essential for plant growth, and that makes it essential to us, but the element is important beyond helping to grow our food. Phosphorus helps turn the meals we eat into the chemical energy that moves our muscles. Phosphorus is also crucial to our physical structure, in the biggest ways and in the smallest. Our bones and teeth are made with phosphorus. Phosphorus is also in our DNA. In fact, it is our DNA. The rails of the famous twisting helices that form the genetic blueprints that bring to life every single cell on the planet is made of phosphorus. From the corn we grow, to the animals that eat it, to the people who eat those animals, phosphorus is critical every step of the way.”
To provide the necessary fertilizer to feed the earth’s growing population we had to turn from phosphorous recycling schemes to mining geologic deposits.
“Mining industry officials maintain that there are enough reserves to last another 350 years while…some phosphorus experts contend that dangerously destabilizing shortages could come in a matter of decades. But even the rosy 350-year horizon does not buy humanity much time.”
“…we are blowing through Earth’s accessible deposits at such a pace that…some scientists now fear that we could hit ‘peak phosphorus’ in just a matter of decades, at which point we risk declining mining yields—and chronic food scarcity.”
“Florida miners are on pace to run out of available rock in as few as thirty years, at which point the United States is at risk of becoming dependent on other countries to sustain its agricultural system.”
“Whether those countries share an interest in maintaining our nutritional security is another question. Roughly 70 to 80 percent of the globe’s remaining phosphorus reserves are located in Morocco and the Western Sahara territory that Morocco has occupied—sometimes violently—since the 1970s. For one country, essentially one guy—the King of Morocco—to control so much of something every soul on the planet so desperately needs is a recipe for global instability, or worse.”
Now, recycling the bit of phosphorous that we usually disperse into our water systems with our urine should have more urgency. But this effort will require a number of other actions if we are truly to maintain a sustainable supply of the element. There are, however, other chemicals in our urine that should not be allowed into our water systems because they are not safe. This source provides this claim.
“Approximately 70% of consumed pharmaceuticals are excreted in urine, and are subsequently subject to inadequate removal during conventional wastewater treatment. As a result, pharmaceuticals and associated metabolites are discharged into the environment.”
Lest one think this is a negligible effect, consider this observation.
“Researchers took blood and tissue samples from 93 bonefish in Biscayne Bay and the Florida Keys since 2018, when the study started. They found each bonefish had an average of seven pharmaceuticals present, including blood pressure medications, antidepressants, prostate treatment medications, antibiotics and pain relievers, according to the release. One fish had a total of 17 different pharmaceuticals in its tissues.”
“The findings reflect a serious problem with ocean contamination from human wastewater, the university said.”
If the ocean is this polluted, what must our rivers and lakes be like?
Many of these pharmaceuticals are considered endocrine-disrupting chemicals which can fool a body into interacting with them as if they were a hormone thus causing unintended effects. Human development, particularly in the fetal stage, requires hormones to appear at appropriate times and concentrations. Allowing random molecules to disrupt this process is known to potentially modify development. In The Decline in Male Fertility: An Existential Threat? We discussed how exposure to levels of endocrine disrupters at existing levels in our waterways can lead to the extinction of populations of small fish due to the eventual loss of the ability to reproduce. It was also pointed out that human male sperm counts have fallen 50% in the last 40 years, a period of great growth in consumption of pharmaceutical products. There is a correlation. Is there causation?
Pharmaceuticals are not the only sources of endocrine disrupters, but they are clearly a significant contributor. And there is no end to the increase in concentration in sight as we continue to increase our consumption of these drugs. The simplest solution is to contain these chemicals at the source, which is human urine, rather than extract them at water treatment plants.
Chelsae Wald points out that urine diversion through toilet modifications is not just a university exercise. Implementation attempts are being made in various locations.
“That practice, known as urine diversion, is being studied by groups in the United States, Australia, Switzerland, Ethiopia and South Africa, among other places. The efforts reach far beyond the confines of university labs. Waterless urinals connect to basement treatment systems in offices in Oregon and the Netherlands. In Paris, there are plans to install urine-diverting toilets in a 1,000-resident eco-quarter being built in the 14th district of the city. The European Space Agency is to put 80 urine-diverting toilets into its Paris headquarters, which will begin operating later this year. According to proponents of urine diversion, it could see uses in sites from temporary military outposts to refugee encampments, rich urban centres and sprawling slums.”
Capturing human urine for reuse as a fertilizer is a good
idea, but why not add the elimination of dangerous chemicals to the process
before releasing urine into the environment?
No comments:
Post a Comment