Ecological Sanitation and Agriculture
The World Bank estimates that 2.5 billion people do not have access to any form of sanitation. The truth is much worse than this as poorly conceived and managed wet sewage systems throughout the world cause environmental harm, horrific waste in the form of lost nutrients and contamination of the water table for drinking water.
The Human Excreta Index - Waste of Phosphate - By WASTE
Get more information from http://www.thehumanexcretaindex.com/
“Ecological Sanitation” , EcoSan is an alternative approach to human waste disposal based on the original works of Sir Albert Howard. It is a closed loop system where the gap between sanitation and agriculture is closed. When recovered human waste becomes a valuable asset for the community operating an integrated composting system.
There are economic benefits when EcoSan is conducted on a large or small scale, and fertilizer output has the potential to not only replace purchased chemicals, but also to improve the nutritional components of the products of cultivation, and therefore benefit the population dependant upon them. Use of these properly made fertilizers also increases crop disease resistance and reproductive viability – two things not addressed by conventional agriculture.
Human excreta has been distributed through out the developing world with shocking effects on humans and the environment alike. Consideration of the sanitation methods in current use should prompt a change in direction towards a different course of action for the future.
Wet sanitation is costly in its infrastructure and operation, it is also ineffective in sterilizing bio-solid sludges and Helminth eggs. Bacterial and viral agents all survive to infect the environment where ever water outlets are situated, or sewage sludge placed to agricultural land.
Pit Latrines fail to prevent groundwater contamination, they are wasteful of nutrient resources.
Septic Tanks always pollute and as a result, damage the environment. They too are high in cost and wasteful of both water resources and the nutrients they discard.
All authorities agree that agricultural practices are enhanced making use of animal and human wastes. The composting methods and practices employed by Sir Albert Howard have not been surpassed for producing a high powered nitrogenous fertilizer. 
The need to solve soil management problems has concerned soil scientists for many years as the commodity prices for fertilizer component commodities of Nitrogen, Phosphorous, and Potassium continues its upward trend based on resource limitation.
Our low cost solutions which are environmentally beneficial and more healthy are now available in a structured system of Dry Sanitation whose objective is to benefit agriculture. By default, this process addresses the health problems of the population using Ecological Sanitation.
- The New Directions Foundation will promote Ecological Sanitation procedures as best practice.
- The Foundations Specialist Consultants will engage with interested parties in the establishment of the Howard Higgins structured EcoSan methods and practices to improve community health and assist agricultural outputs.