Hi Dean! The water is available and hand washing will be organized next week. We will direct the waste water to the toilet leach pit. What do you foresee as source of smell - the crib or pit?
Regards
Bogan

I will ask tenders to make the picture next week

Very charming appearance. Will it smell over time? I think so...

The soil looks like sand, would be very easy to extend the soakage and use handwashing water to keep the piles moist, worm-friendly, aerobic and smell-free. I assume that there is no water available and therefore no handwashing facility?

Can you show us a photo from above the toilet stool with the lid open?

Hello everyone!

The toilet was finished and put into action.

The first week of heavy use (around 100 visits a day) shows very good result. No smell inside the toilet, the leacheate outflow is actually quite small since evaporation from the crib is very high during hot wetaher. The leacheate entering the wood chips filled pit also evaporates very good. I see no need in any kind of artificial ventilation. The worms will be added next week although it seems it can be too dry for them.
The pucture shows the system open. Later it is covered by shade cloth and branches to prevent insects and access. The tin tray put on two sturdy planks underneath the cribs also makes a great rail to get the cribs out (we also greased the crib legs) and replace them with the new one while full crib can be lifted or moves out with the straps put underneath.

Thanks Bruce!

We will try charcoal and zeolite and compare.
Regards,
Bogdan

Thank you Ecowaters for the suggestions!

We will see how it works pretty soon.

Add some biochar (preferably made from waste biomass) to control odor and create an even better compost or soak pit. Charcoal is adsorbing instead of absorbing so won't swell up like raw biomass. Worms love biochar and so does the atmosphere (carbon sequestration).

The crates are lined with porous geotextile lining?
Don't let the crates fill too high or they will be very heavy to remove, even after composting, I know this from experience.
I suspect this system will emanate odor.
Worms do not like the ammonia (or something else) of urine, but if they can get away from it, it can work.
I imagine you'll want a more enclosed system with a leachate drain.
I would install active ventilation.
Let us know how it's working in one year.

Hi Dean!

No, this is no-flush direct drop system. We will try with worms and see how it works. I haven't try to use the worms before but I know that others succesufully used them in the dry toilets.

Directing hand-washing grey water might be a good idea if we will need to do so in terms of flushing the urine our of crates a bit . However I'd keep the total effluent volume to the minimum or put a secondary filter down below before the soil infiltration.

Hi Bo,
well looks interesting, I'd like to know more...
What are the toilets, do they flush? I don't have experience with worms in no-flush systems but have heard they don't survive because of ammonia from the urine. Low flush does work.
What hand wash facilities are there? Could the handwash water go into the crates to dilute the urine?
I suppose that if the worms don't work in the crates they can easily be removed once they fill, I'm interested to hear how it goes!
cheers
Dean