Drinkpee: Waste = Food DIY Kit and Exhibition on Now in NYC
by Collin Dunn, Corvallis, OR, USA on 03.13.08
What role do our bodies play in larger ecosystems? That's the question asked by drinkpeedrinkpeedrinkpee, a project and installation that opens at Eyebeam in New York City today. The installation features a large scale physical diagram that shows the role our bodies play in the water cycle, and DIY kits for using your pee as plant fertilizer will be available.
That's right; in an ultimate waste = food opportunity, users of the kits can take something often responsible for algae blooms and prescription drugs in our water and turn it into a valuable nutrient; as we've mentioned before, pee might soon be too valuable to flush, so here's your ticket to saving the phosphorous and nitrogen plants need to grow and keeping it out of our waterways. There are even seeds included in the kit, so you can grow your own hydroponic plants fertilized by your pee. Here's how that works:
After testing their urine, users add an enzyme, wait for their urine to hydrolyze (the "chemical reaction or process in which a chemical compound is broken down by reaction with water," according to Wikipedia), and then add Magnesium Chloride, causing it to separate. Using a filter, the leftover liquid gets poured off, leaving the fertilizer in the jar. Just add water and seeds, and, voila: hydroponic plants will grow.
Why this project? Swiss scientists at EAWAG Aquatic Research did some research, crunched some numbers, and came up with this:
"Although urine makes up only 1% of the total volume of wastewater, it accounts for 50–80% of the nutrient content. Nutrients have to be removed by resource-intensive processes at wastewater treatment plants. In the absence of these processes, nutrient discharges pose a risk of eutrophication – threatening in particular coastal waters and fish stocks. Many problematic substances, such as residues of medicines or endocrine disrupters, also enter wastewater via urine and may subsequently be released into the environment. The Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology (EAWAG) has now shown that separate collection and treatment of urine could make significant contributions to water pollution control and nutrient recycling worldwide . . ."
"While urine accounts for less than 1% of total wastewater volume, it contains 50–80% of all the nutrients in wastewater. Many micropollutants, i.e. residues of pharmaceuticals and hormones from human metabolism, also enter wastewater via urine. On average, for all medicines and hormones ingested, 60–70% of the active ingredient is excreted in the urine.
"85-90% of the nitrogen and 50-80% of the phosphorus are concentrated in the urine. These nutrients are desirable in agriculture, but not in waterbodies."
FEEDBACK at Eyebeam is on display March 13 - April 19 at 540 W. 21st St. (between 10th and 11th) in New York City. If you've ever pondered answers to questions like: What is our medication’s future, beyond our bodies, in the sewage system and out in the waterways we swim in and eventually drink? What are the possible futures of our personal waste? What do sentient ecosystems eat and drink? -- this is for you. Get more info from the project creators at ::Submersible Design via ::Cool Hunting
Reminds me of my grandmother who used to collect her pee to water the garden.
I wish that I could remember the sources, but I've heard (on several occasions) that the amount of nutrients in one person's urine each year, is enough to fertilize and grow the amount of grains that they'll consume each year.
Sometimes, when nature calls and someone asks where I'm going, I'll casually respond "conserving nitrogen," as I stroll out the door.
The trick is to not always pee in the same spot, be sure that there's enough soil carbon for the microbes to properly process it (C/N ratio of 30:1), and don't pee on your garden after it has sprouted ;)
Sounds like the "Yes Men" and re-burgering.
I just pee on my compost. The enzymes are already there to break down the nutrients. Much cheaper and simpler.
Tom;
Yep! Compost Toilets are amazing. I've used one in the past, and am planning on using one again very soon. The only problem is having it be like an old fashioned out-house. Having to go outside to pee at night isn't my favorite thing, but a nice warm robe helps.
I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time trying not to laugh at this! :)
Sprinkling human urine around the perimeter of
your garden will warn deer and other animals
away when they come looking for your veggies.
When my grandson was potty training, I'd take his pee & pour it on mole runs. It got rid of them too.
Well that sounds about right. I was told by an older and wiser man once that if you wanted to help save the planet piss on a tree, and ya know I have been doing that for the last 18 years!! Just imagine the amount of nutrients I have given back and the amount I have saved from entering into the water cycle. I admit it is not always easy and I never use the same tree twice in a row because of obvious reasons plus it provides me with bladder control and a walk in the mornings right after I wake.
I had a have a freind that recycled every bit of waste in planters in the inner city. Yes he and his wife cycled refuse throughtout 5 planter boxes and let me tell you they never had a problem because they were careful., thoughtful and vegitarians. I definitly do not reccomend this for the ave american idiot slobs, but for those few that have enough mental capacity there are simple logical soluitons to be had around every aspect of living.
I have read a book about drinking your own pee. Everything you need for YOU is in YOUR pee...
...and before you ask, NO, I have not tried it yet! ;-)
Actually, Viola, your own pee is just the toxins and waste your body doesn't need. It'll kill you. Drinking other people's pee is no problem tho...
I mentioned this to a coworker and he told me that a branch in the armed forces would send 6 or 7 people into the desert with only so much water and they had to survive for a few weeks and they would drink each others piss till it lost all its nutrients.
I dont think i would ever do it, but its always good to know!
Diana, pee is pee. One persons is not much different from another's. The uric acid in pee is the primary ingredient causing it to not be potable. Everyones uric acid is the same. Too much of anyones pee will make you sick.
I think its interesting that for years before people started to out smart themselves, we lived without plumbing and pee would go back into the soil everyday.
So I think this makes too much sense in the fact that we are all animals, and don't need to mess with the normal ways of the world by spending so much time, energy and money into stopping natural processes from occurring.
I've been peeing outdoors for a couple years. It feels liberating and so normal now that I can't imagine how or why we ever decided to pee into clean water!?! I use only one flush/day (I usually find ways away from home as well) and I hope to be able to get off the toilet "grid" completely with a composter soon.
This will not only save our dwindling supplies of fresh water, but it will eliminate the frightening issue of exposure to pharmaceuticals peed out by medicated consumers.
Tao
We had a neighbour at my old cottage who hated us because our dog would always pee on his tree. For years and years his tree grew steadily and then the year after my dog died, his tree did too.