Emergency Sanitation

I just want to put in a plug for preparedness in an area most of us probably don't think a whole lot about. Tuesday our septic system failed. I'll just leave it at that and spare you the details. I dropped everything and started making calls to find someone to come pump the septic tank, and I soon found out that there weren't many choices because we are kind of remote. Those who did say they would come couldn't come right away.


So, what does a mother do when her husband is out of town, and she has seven children and no working toilets? Thankfully, we have very kind neighbors. However, the draining of the septic tank didn't solve the problem (there was a "blockage" the guy told us) and the condition persisted until Friday night, and we needed something to use at our house.


I have a plastic toilet seat with a lid that snaps on to a five gallon bucket. I put a garbage bag in the bucket, then put the lid on. We started with that. It's surprising how well the odor is contained if you keep the lid shut. Everyone who used it thought it wasn't nearly as bad as they were expecting, but the bucket-with-a-seat isn't a desirable situation for long. When we decided it was time to empty it, we disposed of the waste directly into the septic tank through the cleanout opening we dug up. When Russ got home, he went to the garage and got out a camping style port-a-potty that he had purchased at D.I. and we had never used, similar to those pictured below.Wow, was I glad to see that. It has a place in the top where you can put water in it and it actually "flushes." The top portion comes off and the waste is contained in the bottom half. It was very easy to empty without a mess, and I also emptied it into the septic tank in the back yard.


I thought of a few things during this ordeal that I would like to share:


1. Toilets are no good without water. I mean, really! Emergency waste disposal isn't just about broken toilets or clogged sewer lines. If you had a toilet that you knew worked, but there was no water available, what would you flush it with? So you either have to store some extra water, or have an alternate plan for waste disposal.


2. Disposal would be a problem if we didn't have the septic tank dug up. Yeah. Maybe on the very short term and if no one found out, you could double bag the stuff and put a really strong twist-tie on it and throw it in your outside garbage can. But that wouldn't work for long, say, in a three month quarantine situation. What if the garbage collectors weren't collecting? Can we just dig a hole in the ground and dump it in that, or would that affect the water supply? Hmmmm........


3. It is tempting to not drink enough water so that one doesn't have to use the bathroom as often. (This did happen at my house with one person in particular who shall remain nameless.) Then people get headaches and so forth, and it's just not a good thing to do. Hydration is really important, especially if there are sicknesses with fever, but even just for general health. We gotta be willing to live life a little harder than we usually do and not be too soft to rough it a little.


4. If you have a septic tank, do you know where the opening is? The kids and I dug for half a day and didn't find the septic tank opening. When Russ got home, it was at 2:00 in the morning and only had to dig for 15 minutes and found it. We have discussed the possibility of having a lot of people staying on our property in a disaster situation, and we thought that we could just build an outhouse right over the opening. Then we wouldn't require water for flushing, and it would be accessible for everyone without them having to come in the house. Desperate times call for desperate measures, but hopefully it won't come to that.


The only other thing I would mention is that garbage bags, rubber gloves, and disinfectant supplies are all things you might want to stock up on. It's worth thinking about emergency sanitation, because if you don't, you might find yourself in a very stinky situation!