Rethinking the commode
Despite bureaucratic hurdles, Monona resident hopes to install a composting toilet on her property
Dianne Aldrich carefully planned a home office and studio in back of her Monona home. The walls are built of cedar wood from sustainable forests in the state of Oregon and the flooring is reclaimed wood from the Madison Civic Center. The foundation is built on posts to protect the roots of tall oak trees on the property and skylights will augment electric lighting.
All that is missing is the composting toilet -- a self-contained unit that collects and stores human waste and uses bacterial digestion to convert it into topsoil.
Aldrich, an ardent environmentalist who teaches yoga, pilates and dance, wants to install this type of toilet, which does not use water. She says composting toilets could be a solution to the sewage overflows that swamped Monona basements in June when heavy rain fell.
"There will be more and more precipitation in the future as the polar ice caps melt," Aldrich said. "That will feed into the groundwater and push already stressed sewage levels higher. More composting toilets and less sewage feeding into the system would balance that precipitation."
Others also argue that such toilets -- as well as low-water-use toilets -- are kinder to the environment since they don't waste gallons of water with every flush, as traditional toilets do.
But Monona building inspector Tony Fockler turned down Aldrich's request for a composting toilet, citing a city ordinance that prohibits outdoor toilets on properties that have public sewer services.
Aldrich, who shares her Kristi Circle home with her husband, Richard Stanek, and son, appealed the decision, arguing that the certified Sun-Mar unit she plans to use is not an outdoor toilet and would not dispose of sewage because it produces compost.
Her appeal is tentatively scheduled to be heard by the city Zoning Board of Appeals on Dec. 8, but Alds. Doug Wood and Chad Speight, who chairs the zoning board, says even if the appeal is denied, they might try to rewrite the ordinance.
Wood, nevertheless, says he understands the rationale behind the current ordinance.
"This sounds like a good idea but you have to be careful when you're in an urban area, with something that follows decades of trying to get everybody hooked up to sewer," Wood said. "It looks like these things work pretty well, but I don't know that much about them."
State and Dane County laws allow composting toilets, but municipalities have the right to adopt more restrictive rules or even to ban such toilets.
Whether Aldrich gets to install her composting toilet "would be up to Monona," confirmed Bob DuPont, director of program development for the Safety and Buildings Division of the Wisconsin Department of Commerce.
Composting toilets also must meet National Sanitation Foundation standards, and DuPont said that if a building is connected to a public sewer system, at least one flush toilet must be installed.
Fockler said Aldrich is the first Monona resident to request approval for a composting toilet. He added that he conferred with the city attorney before denying the request.
The Sun-Mar Excel toilet Aldrich plans to use is NSF-certified.
"This is the most environmentally sound way of handling on-site waste treatment," said Chris Muir, Canadian sales manager for Canada-based Sun-Mar. "Think about how much water is used for flushing toilets."
Composting is a natural biological decomposition process driven by aerobic bacterial action, he explained. Waste naturally falls into a "drum" that revolves so waste can be mixed and aerated. The material eventually drops into a finishing drawer for subsequent removal.
Muir says some of the urine is absorbed into the compost pile, which keeps it moist. Excess liquid is filtered through into an evaporating tray.
"The units are all vented to the outside above the roof, so any smell would dissipate high in the air," Muir said.
Muir says the end product would be safe for use in gardens, but John Hausbeck, environmental health services supervisor for the Madison/Dane County Department of Public Health, says U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rules require that it be taken to a landfill.
"Unless it can be shown that it is free of pathogens, it cannot be applied in areas accessible to people, such as lawns or gardens," said Hausbeck.
And whatever Monona decides about the Aldrich appeal, Madison residents considering a composting toilet option should be aware that they also would face difficulties.
Madison's building code does not allow privies or waterless toilets, although a variance could be requested, said plumbing inspector Jim Wolf, who does not recall any such requests.
"We do allow waterless urinals, but those units hook up to the regular sewer system," he said. Those urinals reduce water use, and public entities such as the Madison Area Technical College have installed them.
Mike DeVries/The Capital Times
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Dianne Aldrich would like to add a composting toilet to the other green features she's assembled for her home office and studio, still under construction in her Monona back yard.
