Modern households have been looking for sustainable ways through which they can save water while maintaining cleanliness in the home.
There are several ways that the households can achieve this.
From using timers while taking a shower to users collecting minimal water from the shower to recycling for other uses to using little water in dishwashers; the list is endless.
Identifying and utilizing waterless toilets of the future is another significant trend that is fast gaining popularity with homeowners today.
You can read in detail about the emerging waterless trends and technologies here.
Before looking at the water-saving toilet options available for cleaner homes, let’s look at a brief history of toilets.
The Evolution of Toilets
For a long time, people went on the streets to relieve themselves.
Sanitation was poor, and diseases were rampant. With time, people started using outhouses while wiping themselves with leaves.
This went on for a long time and to date, some parts of the world still use latrines to dispose of human excreta.
England’s medieval castles built toilets called garderobes that had vertical shafts and had stone seats at the top for the royals to do their business. Oops!
The garderobes were eventually improved and replaced with a flushing lavatory that had a storage tank invented in the year 1596 by Sir John Harrington.
Finally, the bathroom technology became mainstream in the 20th century and saw the widespread use of toilet-paper rolls which were previously considered luxuries and not necessities.
Previously storage tanks rested above the bowl. Today, water closets with cisterns that rest on top of the toilet bowl and flushable valves are more popular.
In recent years the waterless toilets craze has been catching up around the world. Lavatories no longer have to use copious amounts of water to dispose of human wastes.
Today’s world has seen the use of technology to eliminate water usage in waste disposal and to find new ways of utilizing excreta in other important ways such as biogas harvesting, solar-powered hydrogen generation and so on.
Despite the presence of toilets in a majority of wealthy countries, millions of underprivileged people still struggle to access hygienic toilets or adequate sanitation for that matter.
Environmentalists and non-governmental organizations are seeking to raise awareness about hygienic toilets to the billions of people around the world who live in conditions with poor sanitation.
The goal is to improve toilets in the developing world.
Why Go Green?
Industrialization and adverse human activities have led to environmental degradation with planet earth experiencing hostile consequences.
Global warming and climate change have been a growing concern among many nations worldwide.
Air pollution, logging of natural forests and contaminating water bodies with industrial and chemical wastes are some of the activities that are causing Mother Nature extreme agony.
The above concerns necessitate the need to go green. In short, eco-friendly living will save planet earth from further damage and save the human and animal life by extension.
Protecting the world’s natural resources will ensure that we leave a better universe for the generations to come.
Water-Saving Options
One of the water-saving options available for a household includes the installation and use of a clean eco-friendly toilet that either uses a little amount of water or no water at all.
Let’s look at some of these options in detail.
Non-Flush Toilets
Composting Toilet
Composting waterless toilets are designed to decompose human wastes to form compost that can be used to enrichen the soil with nutrients and put on flowerbeds, shrubs, and non-edible plants as manure.
The compost vat is installed beneath the toilet or on a remote location close to the toilet. With no septic hookup required, the compost container collects all the waste before allowing natural decomposition to occur.
Once the decomposition is complete, the container is then emptied on to non-edible gardens.
The composting toilet is one of the toilet trends that is an excellent water-saving option for cleaner homes since it contributes to environmental sustainability and conservation.
Incinerating Toilet
Another waterless toilet of the future is the incinerating toilet which works by burning waste into sterile ash that is then dumped into a trash container.
An electric exhaust pipe is installed in the toilet to transport the feces to the incinerating chamber for torching.
Despite being a waterless option and with little to no foul odor after combustion, the incinerating toilet might not be sustainable. This is because incineration requires diesel, propane and natural gas as fuel for the process.
The combustion of human feces to ash consumes huge amounts of energy necessitating the use of a lot of fuel for the combusting process.
Hydrogen-Producing Model
This water-saving toilet of the future is solar powered and though it’s not completely waterless, its upside is that it produces energy as well.
The model works by cleaning and sanitizing any wastewater the same way it would be sterilized in a treatment plant.
The water can then be reused in the household and hydrogen produced from the waste can be utilized as a source of energy.
Humanure Toilet
This toilet is more of a homemade DIY composting toilet that is simply made out of a bucket, lid and basic materials such as sawdust.
The users add sawdust to the vat each time they use the toilet and allow natural decomposition to take place before the waste is collected and emptied into a compost pit or container.
For this waterless toilet of the future, there is no need for a septic tank or plumbing works for it to function properly which makes it a cheap alternative to the traditional flush toilet.
Bill Gate’s Nano Membrane Toilet
This is one of the waterless toilet technologies that uses the process of pervaporation and nanotechnology to remove water from human waste in order to achieve dry solid refuse that is free of parasites and pathogens.
The nanofibers on the interior of the toilet chamber help in moving the water vapor from the fluid waste up a perpendicular conduit situated behind the toilet.
The water vapor from the waste is then sanitized and condensed for the households to safely use the water. On the other hand, the dry solid waste can be utilized as fuel or fertilizer.
Low Flow Toilets
There are other water-saving options that are not completely waterless. They help in ensuring that the amount of water used in the toilet is the least possible.
Some also collect grey water for treatment before it is reused in the home. The best low flow toilets are those that greatly reduce the number of gallons utilized per flush.
Conclusion
The above waterless toilets of the future do not necessarily run on electricity.
There are solar powered and battery powered models available, which makes them sustainable as water-saving options for cleaner homes.
