Elizabeth
I was agreeing with Hajo's proposal and his rationale to get Vermi........ more profile. 
The detail? I don't have the expertise to comment.  I do however, have a sense that you, Dean and others agree with the proposal but  want to do it correctly and effectively.
Harry

Hi Harry,

On 10 November you wrote: "Yes...  But I don't  think anyone is disagreeing." I am unsure what you were referring to? Was that a "yes" with regards to Hajo's proposal to re-arrange the sub-categories or was it a yes to Dean's statements?

Regards,
Elisabeth

Thanks, Dean... I'll send you a first draft of a Table of Contents for a Wikipedia article on Vermitechnology by email...
We have then to agree where and how we develop the article.

Since you do not express your feelings about a new 'sub-category' for 'Vermitechnology' under 'Resource Recovery' in  the Forum you leave the responsibility for Elisabeth to decide... .. 

My idea is also that we use the SuSanA forum as the discussion forum for this topic and then see which 'conclusions' from the forum can be fed into the Wikipedia article. Newcomers to the Vermitechnology Topic on SuSanA are then always referred first to read the Wikipedia Article before they join and ask questions which may have been asked before and are answered on Wikipedia.

ciao
Hajo

Vermitechnology is the overarching term, vermicomposting (and other technologies such as vermifilters) sits under this as a subset. Happy to contribute to a wikipedia article.
cheers
Dean

hi all,

there may be no discrete definition (yet) of the term 'vermitechnology' as there are also different facets of 'dry toilets' as indicated in the Wikipedia article which you refer to.

Therefore, I support your idea having a Wikipedia article for 'vermitechnology' so that we anchor the term with the public and get it into the heads of decision makers more easily. Currently you are referred to 'vermicompost' on Wikipedia when you search 'vermitechnology'. I am not sure whether I am good at it, but if Dean wants taking the lead, I can support him in writing the article on Wikipedia. You are never too old learning something new.

My proposal is not just changing sub-categories around. I want to give 'vermitechnology' the focus which it deserves by creating an own sub-category of it. Come on, Dean, let's do it, the sub-category and the Wikipedia article ...

ciao
Hajo

Ah OK. I only looked at the first one and as it contradicted what you had said, I stopped there. It seems that there is no broad consensus yet about what vermitechnology means, with some publications saying one thing, some publications saying another. 

Dean: what is your opinion on this? You also haven't yet weighed in on the question of changing around the sub-categories on this forum, as per Hajo's suggestion? If you and Hajo (and others?) agree then I won't stand in the way.

And how about creating a new Wikipedia article about vermitechnology? This would be the best way to try and "shift" how the term is used into the right direction. Just make sure you use reliable references. It might be just a short overview article, like this one:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_toilet
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sewerage 

Regards,
Elisabeth

hi Elisabeth,

I don't understand why you talk of one (1) publication which you have seen too. I have posted five (5) links.

'Vermitechnology' is not only a synonym for 'vermicomposting' but both are the overarching terms for what happens in all these processes: organic waste is fed to worms, they digest it and excrete it as worm cast (humus). And this organic waste can be kitchen waste, farm waste, cattle dung, horse droppings or human excreta. Worms don't mind and eat it all.

Therefore, in the publications which I quoted, sometimes this or that waste stream is named or not. It doesn't matter, as long as it is organic waste, it can be processed by vermitechnology. And it doesn't matter whether you feed the human excreta to them as fresh poo, as FS, septage or sewage: the vermidigester will filter through any fluids, retain the solids and offer them to the worms as food.

As said, not all publications list all waste streams which vermitechnology can process, but the following name organic solid waste and waste water:

... is known as Vermitechnology. It is a useful technique for stabilization of both industrial and domestic organic waste, organic farming and waste water treatment.  ( babrone.edu.in/blog/?p=1474 )

Vermitechnology is emerging as an environmentally sustainable, economically viable and socially acceptable technology all over the world consisting of several categories: vermi-composting (management of most organic wastes); vermi-filtration (treatment of municipal and several industrial wastewaters); (www.globalsciencebooks.info/Online/GSBOn...SDP_4(SI1)22-47o.pdf )

Please have a look at all 5 publications (and  we could possibly find more) and you will be convinced that vermitechnology is very well an overarching term for the processing of organic material by worms no matter whether the organic solids are from the kitchen or from the toilet.

ciao
Hajo

Yes, I saw that, too. That publication is talking about organic solid waste that is being treated, not wastewater. Hence my concern that vermitechnology is not a good overarching term, as it's already being used as a synonym for vermicomposting.
Of course we can try to change the use of the term but I'd say that's an uphill battle...

“Vermitechnology” is the process by which organic material is feed to a special types of worm species with the purpose of converting the organic material into increased worm biomass and ‘Bio-compost’  ( www.wastewaterevaporation.com/Vermitechnology.html )

Vermitechnology can be defined as a system used for the handling and breakdown of organic waste matter by employing the action of earthworms (Garg et al. 2006; Vivas et al. 2009). It is one of the many systems employed for organic waste disposal, but one that is internationally accepted as environment-friendly. ( proxdeveloper.com/vermitechnology/ )


books.google.de/books?id=ODwS49rFHeMC&pg...20definition&f=false
NOTE: on page 14 this publication also refers to vermitechnology for sewage treatment!

Dynamic Soil, Dynamic Plant ©2010 Global Science Books

Babrone.edu.in

Hmmm, I am not sure if it's so easy to "define" and "claim" the meaning of a term... I did a quick Google search for vermitechnology and what I saw looked to me like vermitechnology = vermicomposting in current usage. If we want to set up a new Wikipedia article on "vermitechnology" then we would have to find several reliable sources that use "vermitechnology" in the way that you have described. So far I haven't found that. But I also haven't searched for long. So please point me to the right publications?

Hi Dean, welcome back!

I like your proposal of 'vermiTechnology' as overarching term!
We have then to agree how to call the first step of the technology. As I said in a previous posting:

Thus, we could call the first stage 'vermifilter' as well, as it separates solids and fluids. We can call it 'vermidigester' as the worms
turn the solids to wormcast (humus). We can call it 'vermicomposter' as
it produces nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner.

I would reserve 'vermifilter' for the following step and call the first step 'vermidigester' which is its major process: turning the solids of the human excreta by worm digestion into worm cast (humus).

You feel that vermicomposting is not so relevant from human waste. I think this must be investigated in depth as the waste from 10,000 people will produce about 300 kg/d (10,000 * 0.3 kg/d * 0.1 reduction by digestion) of worm cast (humus). Thus, we need to know the fertilizing value of this quantity.

Further, the relation of solids and fluids depends very much on the moisture content of the input material which can be fresh excreta from a household toilet, faecal sludge from pit latrines, sewage sludge from WWTP, septage from septic tanks or sewage from sewers. Depending thereof, the focus of the vermiTechnology will be on production of humus and/or irrigation water.

The second step we may call 'vermifilter' as it removes the dissolved solids from the effluent, removes further pathogens and increases the nutrient value of the effluent by the worms' excreta making it fit as nutritious irrigation water. 

For up-scaled and commercial use of the vermiTechnology the biological safety of the products has to be researched and verified. I fully agree with you. Some basic research may have been done as presented by attached paper.

In short:
vermiTechnology is the overarching title of this technology.
The vermidigester is the first step in which the solids are separated from the fluids. The solids are digested by the worms and excreted as worm cast (humus). The vermidigester can receive fresh excreta, faecal sludge, sewage sludge, septage or sewage.
In the vermifilter the effluent from the vermidigester is further treated removing dissolved solids and pathogens by worms and microbes and adding nutrients to the effluent. The filter process can be repeated improving the quality of the effluent as (save) irrigation water.

ciao
Hajo

Yes...        But I don't  think anyone is disagreeing.
Cheers
Harry