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Dear Billy:
Your plumber is a pro on how people poop gets processed, but here's my short summary. If camp (or
your house) is far away from a city, chances are it goes straight into a septic tank right on the
property. The poop, mixed with water, flows from the toilet through a pipe into the tank. Bacteria
in the tank digest the mixture, turning most of he wastes into gases. The liquid part then flows
out into a leaching field. Here, soil bacteria break down any remaining matter.
Things get more complicated in cities, where a central wastewater treatment plant uses
chemicals, filters, and pumps to break down wastes and remove germs, parasites, and poisons. Many
people feel that these waste disposal systems waste too much water and energy. Instead, they'd
rather take your poop and let it rot-in a composting toilet! It's a special kind of toilet that
breaks down and converts human poop into nutritious fertilizer for plants. And it's not as gross as
it sounds. After all, people have always used poop from cows and, ahem, worms as plant food. When
poop gets broken down by decay bacteria from soil, air, and water, a valuable nutrient called
nitrogen is released for plants to use, and this leads to greener gardens. In fact, it's the same
natural process that takes place on forest floors with wildlife droppings. So composting toilets
may be a good idea after all. Shouldn't it be everyone's doody, errr... I mean "duty" to keep our
Earth healthy?
Signed,
Wendell
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