Where to put the poo if the toilets don't flush

Cold weather often sets the stage for broken pipes, and when pipes don't work, you may have an extended interruption of sewage service. This scenario happened recently to Trish Reading, one of our volunteers. She set up her handy two-bucket emergency toilet system in her bathroom to get some immediate relief. Then she got to thinking, what do I doo with the poo? Lincoln Thomas, our Cedar Hills Ready! Newsletter editor, searched for answers. 

Why two buckets? 
The two-bucket emergency toilet system provides a way to separate pee and poo during an emergency. Separating poo and pee reduces the odors, so your environment is much more pleasant. More importantly, keeping pee and poo separate makes disposal easier. Most of the volume of your waste is in urine, and urine is not toxic, at least not right away, so it is easier to safely dispose of pee into the environment. On the other hand, poo contains microorganisms that can cause dysentery, cholera and a whole host of dangerous diseases. For that reason, you need to keep poo separate and dispose of it carefully.

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Disposing of Pee
Disposing of the pee is easy, because it can be diluted and thrown into the garden. You can dilute pee one-to-one and pour it on the ground, in your garden, or on your compost, or somewhere away from your living area.  It won’t breed bacteria there, and it won’t smell a lot.  And that takes care of most of your volume challenge.  There are differing instructions on diluting pee before disposing of it; some say 4 to 1 water; it shouldn’t be less than 1 to 1.
​Disposing of Poo
Disposing of Poo is more challenging because its a biohazard. Cedar Hills Ready! newsletter editor, Lincoln Thomas, asked Washington County's Emergency Management Office, Adrienne Donner, for her advice on safely disposing of poo. ​

For a full-scale disaster scenario, Donner said, "We and other Portland Metro counties recommend the use of the twin-bucket system to reduce the bulk of the waste as safely store it until it can be removed."
Where do you store it? For those answers, she referenced the Emergency Toilet Guidebook, prepared by Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization (RDPO). Consider downloading it and printing it for your emergency toilet kit as a handy guidebook. Having a printed copy is a good idea, given you likely won't have the ability to access the internet during a disaster. 

Click to download the Emergency Toilet Guidebook, created by the Regional Disaster Preparedness Organization

What do you do with the poo, if it's just a localized emergency, as in Trish's situation, where the sewage service has been interrupted? Donner reached out to her partners in solid waste and recycling for the answer to that question. "Your friend should triple bag it [the poo], and put it into the garbage. If they need to make it more 'solid,' add some kitty litter to it. It should be in a 'solid' form before going into the garbage." 
Good to know.
​Thank you Adrienne Donner and Lincoln Thomas for finding the answers. Thank you, Trish Reading, for telling us about your challenging situation!

Authors

Karen Ronning-Hall, Cedar Hills Ready! co-founder. 
Lincoln Thomas, Cedar Hills Ready! Newsletter editor. 
Trish Reading, Cedar Hills Ready! volunteer speaker and emergency preparedness enthusiast