Dear Agas,

Thanks for your comments. I am not sure if Sir Albert Howard and Joseph Jenkins need to be mentioned in the Wikipedia article on ecosan, but they should be mentioned on the page for composting (I like to make a clear distinction between ecosan as a concept and composting as one technology option).

In fact, Sir Albert Howard is already mentioned here in the history section of composting (please check if you agree how it's written?):
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compost#History

And he has his own Wikipedia article:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Howard

(Joseph Jenkins doesn't have that honor yet)

If you're interested in extremely simple toilets, then maybe you'd like to help improve the new article on bucket toilet?:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bucket_toilet

Regards,
Elisabeth

It appears that the important roles of the following two people are not mentioned in the Wikipedia article. I'm not in a position to figure out how to edit this or write a suitable piece, but if there is someone who could do this it would be great:

Sir Albert Howard who wrote An Agricultural Testament, was one of the pioneers of modern composting systems and also recognised the importance of ecosan long before it was given that name:

www.zetatalk3.com/docs/Agriculture/An_Ag...l_Testament_1943.pdf

A slate roofing contractor called Joseph Jenkins coined the words 'humanure' and 'faecophobia' in his book 'Humanure Handbook' in which he popularised the concept of extremely simple composting toilets (basically a paint bucket a seat and a compost heap)

humanurehandbook.com/

Dear Elisabeth,

Thanks for giving the Wikipedia page on ecosan a once over review, with a particular focus on the section on "history of ecosan" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_sanitation#History)!

I've made some of the changes that you suggested:

You said:

A workshop on ecological sanitation was held in Balingsholm, Sweden in Aug 1997, where all the established experts, including Håkan et al., Peter Morgan, Ron Sawyer, George Anna Clark, Gunder Edström etc, participated, so that workshop preceeded the 1999 one in Mexico for sure.

--> I have added this, however it would still be good to have something to cite for the 1997 workshop?

You said:

Good you mention Sudea in Ethiopia, as far as I understand they really are the pioneers!

--> I wrote it like this but again I am wondering what reference I could cite for this?:
The term "ecosan" was first used in about the 1990s (or perhaps even late 1980s) by an NGO in Ethiopia called Sudea. They used it for urine-diverting dry toilets coupled with reuse activities.

An example of a blackwater treatment plant is shown in this video, about 10 mins into the video: Ripples on Baltic Waters.

--> Can you give me a better reference for this? I can't really cite the video.

You said:

It is said that Tanum went through with their urine diversion to save phosphorus, which I do not believe is true. To my understanding Tanum pushed for urine diversion due to their very rocky and challenging terrain initially, not to save P.

--> I have changed this now to:
For example, Tanum Municipality in Sweden has introduced urine separation toilets due to their very rocky and challenging terrain initially, and later also to recover phosphorus.

--> again, which document could be cited?

You said:

Among the good cases I think Sumaj Huasi merits a mentioning with their great work they do in El Alto and its surroundings with dry systems including greywater filters

--> I have not included it here but add it as an example on the Wikipedia UDDT page:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine-diverting_dr...ilet#Other_countries

About Hamburg and Sneek, I have not added those as that's too much detail, I think. Also the Hamburg case is only in planning, not yet implemented.

Then you also said this:

- On the P note, to my understanding the more important nutrient in human excreta actually is N, so it is unfortunate that P is always brought forward. Håkan has written some really good things on this topic but maybe so far only in Swedish. Håkan, do you have any good explanations in English why N is the more important nutrient to recycle from human excreta?

--> Here I don't know what to do about it. I have the impression that Hakan Jonsson and Arno Rosemarin disagree a bit on whether phosphorus is in danger of running out that "soon" or not?
For urine as a fertiliser, it is more of an N-rich fertiliser than a P-rich fertiliser, i.e. most people would focus more on plants that need a lot of nitrogen when they fertliser them with urine.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Note by moderator: A related there is here (History of ecosan - causes for abandoning recovery of nutrients from human excreta):
forum.susana.org/component/kunena/17-fer...ia-article-on-ecosan
++++++++++

Hi Elisabeth,

I had a look at the "history of ecosan" section of the Wikipedia page on ecosan that you and others have edited:

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ecological_sanitation#History


Few comments (regarding the Swedish perspective):

- A workshop on ecological sanitation was held in Balingsholm, Sweden in Aug 1997, where all the established experts, including Håkan et al., Peter Morgan, Ron Sawyer, George Anna Clark, Gunder Edström etc, participated, so that workshop preceeded the 1999 one in Mexico for sure.

-Good you mention Sudea in Ethiopia, as far as I understand they really are the pioneers!

- In the examples you mention Sweden and blackwater from latrines. The blackwater collected is from blackwater systems, preferably from vacuum toilets, to closed tanks, not to latrines. An example of a blackwater treatment plant is shown in this video, about 10 mins into the video: Ripples on Baltic Waters. The video is about three farmers around the Baltic doing good to save the Baltic Sea from eutrophication.

- Also, the certification did not come into place 2003, but the report from SP was published in December 2012: www.sp.se/sv/units/certification/product.../SPCR/SPCR%20178.pdf so maybe it was meant to say 2013?

- It is said that Tanum went through with their urine diversion to save phosphorus, which I do not believe is true. To my understanding Tanum pushed for urine diversion due to their very rocky and challenging terrain initially, not to save P. I have cc.ed Mats and Anna Richert to this email both who knows more than I do about the Swedish developments. Hopefully they can shed more light on the Tanum case.

- Among the good cases I think Sumaj Huasi merits a mentioning with their great work they do in El Alto and its surroundings with dry systems including greywater filters. There is a good case study from SuSanA on their experience.

- On Erdos, it may be good to clarify that many challenges have been identified for urban DRY ecosan. On urban ecosan it could be mentioned the city of Hamburg which has plans for separate collection and treatment with possible reuse of blackwater in their Jenfelder Au project, and similar plans, definitely with reuse exist for the H+ area in Helsingborg, Sweden. These projects will all generate a lot of new knowledge and show the future for urban ecosan projects. Separate collection and treatment of blackwater in urban areas but on smaller scale and without reuse, already exists e.g. in Sneek in the Netherlands.

- On the P note, to my understanding the more important nutrient in human excreta actually is N, so it is unfortunate that P is always brought forward. Håkan has written some really good things on this topic but maybe so far only in Swedish. Håkan, do you have any good explanations in English why N is the more important nutrient to recycle from human excreta?

All for now!


Kind regards

Elisabeth