Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

As city officials seek solutions to the problems of an aging sewer system and stormwater runoff, they should consider reducing volume, reducing the nitrogen load, and saving money. One way to do this is by separating and recycling the nutrients in urine. 

Many towns on the Cape and Islands are exploring this urine diversion (UD) option. Falmouth has a demonstration project underway that is funded by state, town and private dollars. A town on Martha’s Vineyard is beginning a similar project. Another is planning to plumb a new housing project to make it “UD ready.” 

Members of various municipal departments, clean water groups and people who provide technical assistance are networking regularly to share their expertise, work on regulation and policy issues and support each others’ efforts. 

The Rich Earth Institute in Vermont has been successfully recycling nutrients for years. They then pasteurize and distribute this nutrient rich fertilizer to farmers. Why waste it?

Urine contributes 80% of the nitrogen in wastewater, but is only 1% of the volume that is flushed away because we add thousands of gallons (4,000 per person per year) of precious drinking water to do so. Diverting at the source is easy, cost effective and efficient. 

The NOWW group (Nutrients Out of Wareham Wastewater) has been running an educational presentation series about UD that is funded by a United Way of Greater New Bedford changemaker grant. Its next public event is on June 9 at 6 p.m. at the Wareham Public Library. 

Links to more information can be found at 

https://linktr.ee/nutrients.noww

https://www.instagram.com/nutrients.noww

https://www.facebook.com/nutrientsoutofwastewater

Email:  nutrients.noww@gmail.com

Milly Burrow and Susan Mann of Wareham are co-chairpersons of Nutrients Out of Wareham Wastewater.

More Community Voices

4 replies on “Opinion: Urine diversion could help save aging sewer systems, solve runoff issues”

  1. Will this program remove the illegal drugs present in the urine collected?

  2. What are they suggesting! Recycling pee bins curbside! I guess they’ll have a yellow lid! If they were doing it as regular waste, they’d be no reason to tell us, right!

  3. I am sure the Governor and our State Legislators could find a couple of billion dollars for a project like this.

Comments are closed.