Urine and greywater filtration

Hello,

I am working with a team in Monteverde, Costa Rica to implement a water filtration and management system to deal with urine from a composting toilet that is under construction at the moment. We are harvesting rainwater from the roof that will be used to dilute the urine and water from the hand-washing sink, but were wondering about BMPs. We are hoping to divert this water into a series of lined rain gardens to filter the water which would then could be considered ‘safe’ runoff?

Are there any regulations surrounding mixing greywater and urine/ what is the best way to do this? Are there any other factors we should consider when implementing a rain garden?

Urine diversion and use

Jonna Rosenthal asked 10 months ago

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Answers (1)

Hi,

This sounds like an interesting project.

Regulations vary place to place and I’m not familiar with Costa Rica. You could ask a local regulator and/or move forward with best management practices. The Sustainable Sanitation Network has a forum with many members working all over the world. I’d check there too!

In general, if you’re trying to safely dispose of urine you’ll be managing to prevent the nutrients in urine from getting into water ways or groundwater. Because of that you probably don’t want much rainwater mixed in, otherwise there will be too much volume. A lined soak-away planter, like an impermeable rain garden, can be a good option.

This thread on the susana forum will point you in the right direction:

https://forum.susana.org/175-urine-reuse-or-infiltration/14244-experiences-with-soak-pits-for-urine-management