Human Waste Disposal; A Survival Issue

By Dolabriel Hurst

When the subject of survival is discussed some of the more important issues that come to mind is the initial food and water supply. One of the least considered dilemmas of survival is the disposal of human waste. Human waste consists of feces, urines, toilet paper, and possibly, feminine products. Human waste poses some of the most contagious threats such as bacteria that can lead to diarrhea, typhoid, cholera, and dysentery.

As a female in the United States Army, I have been through many stinky field exercises. Amazingly, during many of the excursions that I have participated in there was always a portable bathroom on hand. The only bad thing about the portable toilet is that it only gets cleaned once a week so for a platoon of thirty soldiers this luxury only last for about three days. As soldiers we are always taught to rely on our basic survival skills to eliminate any human waste related incidents. Besides the possible infections linked to human waste, it also can cause for a rather undesirable work environment. Particular importance should be paid to the location of the human waste in reference to the food and water supply. It seems easy to just run off into the woods for a tinkle, but what if that wooded area is upstream to your water supply. Human feces should be placed into the ground in one of several different types of holes. The deeper the feces is buried, the better; you wouldn’t want a hard rain to uncover that treasure.

The most recent tragedies that our Nation faced were the natural disaster of hurricanes. As I watched the commentaries on the most widely covered hurricane, Katrina, I couldn’t help but wonder about the human waste issue. Considering that this mass casualty was unexpected there were no portable toilets available during the first 48 hours. Inside of the stadium where the evacuees were held there were well over 20,000 people using about eight bathrooms. These bathrooms were probably ruined after the first four hours since diarrhea is associated with stress, coupled with the bodies’ general need to void. After this particular event a good planning tool for the future would be to improve upon the human waste management issue to eliminate the possibility of some illnesses.

A nifty survival tool that I have come across in my Army career is the human waste disposal bag. It is a bag designed to take human waste and turn it into a biodegradable gelatin substance that can be tossed without any worry or damage to the environment. This solution would be ideal in a situation that demands that the waste be removed, much like the evacuee situation.

Overall, there are many things to be considered when survival is at hand. Planning for a long occurrence can be very beneficial since we are a country at war. There was a time when survival was not an issue to be taken serious, but now we all must explore our options while we are comfortable enough to do so.

Email: hurstdg@yahoo.com