This is the second part of a short series on sanitation when public services fail. The first covers handwashing and the third covers garbage. Human waste sits in the middle because it is the fastest route from a power cut to a disease outbreak. Cholera, dysentery, hepatitis A and a long list of diarrheal infections all travel from feces to mouth, and they spread quickly when toilets stop working and nobody has a plan.
What happened in Auckland
In February 1998 the four main cables feeding central Auckland, New Zealand, failed one after another. The business district went without normal power for about five weeks. Office towers and apartment blocks rely on electric pumps to lift water to the upper floors and move sewage out, so many buildings lost water and toilets along with lights and air conditioning.
A contemporary account posted online by a resident described office blocks left with no power, water or sewerage, and the grim conditions that followed once the lack of sanitation met the summer heat without air conditioning. A later account, attributed to someone who said they had researched the outage’s effects for an official report, went further: that people kept flushing toilets that no longer refilled, then used the bowls, tanks, bathtubs, showers and sinks, and finally corners, boxes and bags, and that most people abandoned their buildings within about three days. That second account was posted to a preparedness forum and cannot be checked against any report, so treat its details with caution. The basic sequence, though, follows from the plumbing: a toilet with no water supply can be used once, and after that people improvise.
If you have a septic system
A household on its own septic tank is better placed than one on a city sewer. The tank and drain field work by gravity, so as long as there is water to flush with, the toilet works. Stored water, bathwater, rainwater or other gray water is fine for flushing.
Check one thing first: some septic systems, including mound systems and those uphill of the house, use an electric pump to move effluent to the drain field. Without power, the pump tank fills, and a few days of normal use can back it up. If yours has a pump, cut water use to the minimum and use the non-water methods below.
How to flush without running water
- Fill the tank behind the toilet up to the level of the float, then press the lever as normal. Or:
- Pour a bucket of water, at least 2 gallons, quickly and in one go into the bowl. The sudden rush starts the siphon and the toilet flushes itself.
Flush only solids. Urine can wait for the next solid flush, which roughly halves the water used.
If you are on a town or city sewer
The first job is to make sure the sewer main is working. Sewage in many towns flows through pumping stations that need power, and if those fail, the lines fill. Flushing into a failed sewer pushes waste back up into the lowest drains in the house, and not only the toilets: sinks, showers and floor drains in basements are usually first. Listen to the local utility or emergency broadcasts. If officials say the sewer is down, or you see drains gurgling or backing up, stop flushing entirely.
If you know the sewer is working and only the water supply has failed, flush with a bucket as described above. Keep enough stored water back for drinking, cooking and washing hands, which matter more.
Methods that need no water
Wherever feces end up, three things must not reach them: flies, rodents and pets. A fly that lands on waste and then on a plate carries germs straight to the next meal. Every method below comes down to keeping waste covered and well away from anything people eat or drink.
In the country: the cat hole
For a short emergency with open land nearby, a cat hole is all that is needed. With a trowel, small shovel or post-hole digger, dig a hole about 6 to 8 inches deep and 4 to 6 inches across. Use it, drop the toilet paper in, and fill the hole with the soil that came out of it.
The rules that make it safe:
- Keep every cat hole at least 200 feet from any water, the distance used in Leave No Trace guidance.
- Stay out of places where water runs after rain, such as gullies, ditches and low spots.
- Spread holes over a wide area rather than reusing one patch.
- Pick sunny spots where possible; warmth speeds decomposition.
- Think about groundwater as well as surface water. A shallow well, a spring or a high water table can be contaminated from above.
In the country: the trench latrine
For weeks rather than days, dig a trench latrine, which is a cat hole made long enough to take many uses. The same siting rules apply, except that it concentrates waste in one place. A small trench about 1 foot deep, 1.5 feet wide and 2 feet long is enough for a family for a few days. For longer use, the military field standard is a straddle trench 1 foot wide, 2.5 feet deep and 4 feet long, filled in and replaced once the waste comes within a foot of the surface.
After every use, cover the waste with a few inches of soil from the dig, or with wood ash or garden lime. Quicklime also works, but it is caustic, so wear gloves and eye protection and keep it dry and away from children. Put up a privacy screen of stakes with tarps, sheets or blankets stretched between them; a crisis is stressful enough without an audience. Set up a handwashing station with soap and water beside it.
In the city
Town dwellers usually have no ground to dig in, and the volume adds up quickly. An adult produces around 3 pints of urine a day and, on measured averages, roughly a quarter to half a pound of feces; older survival texts often say a pound. Multiply that by a family and a few weeks. Two containment methods work in an apartment or suburban house.
Use the existing toilet as a bag toilet
- Bail or sponge out as much water from the bowl as possible.
- Line the bowl with a heavy-duty trash bag, doubled, and tape or trap its edges under the seat so the bag fills the bowl.
- Keep a pail of sawdust, cat litter, wood ash or garden lime beside it. After each use, sprinkle a generous layer over the waste to soak up liquid and hold down the smell.
- When the bag is about two-thirds full, add a disinfectant. A solution of 1 part household liquid bleach to 10 parts water, poured over the contents, is the usual emergency advice. Do not use dry or powdered bleach, which is caustic, and never mix bleach with ammonia or other cleaners.
- Tie the bag tightly and put it into a sealable container, such as a lidded 5-gallon bucket or a trash can with a tight lid, until it can be disposed of as local officials direct.
If there is no bleach, soil dampened with a little chlorine solution will do.
Use a 5-gallon bucket
A bucket toilet works the same way. Line it with two heavy-duty trash bags and use the same cover material after each use. For a seat, sit on the rim, set an ordinary toilet seat on top, lay two lengths of 2x4 across it, or buy one of the snap-on toilet seat lids made for 5-gallon buckets. Bags sized for bucket toilets and odor-control chemicals for portable toilets are sold in camping stores.
Many households use two buckets, one for urine and one for feces. Keeping the two apart cuts the smell considerably and means far fewer bags. Urine from healthy people can be diluted and poured on the ground away from water and food crops, or down a drain if the sewer is known to be working.
For a longer-term option, non-electric composting toilets need no water or power and turn waste into compost when managed properly. They cost several hundred dollars or more, need regular attention, and are regulated by local health codes, so check before installing one as anything more than an emergency backup.
What to stock now
Everything above is far easier with supplies laid in before they are needed. For a household of four, a sensible sanitation kit fits in two lidded 5-gallon buckets:
- A box of heavy-duty contractor trash bags and a roll of duct tape
- A snap-on toilet seat for a bucket
- A large bag of sawdust, peat or unscented clumping cat litter
- A gallon of unscented household bleach, rotated yearly because it weakens in storage
- Disposable gloves, toilet paper and wet wipes
- A garden trowel or folding shovel
- Bar soap and a jug with a spigot for handwashing
Keep hands clean
None of this works if people do not wash their hands. Keep soap, water and a basin, or a jug with a spigot, right next to whatever toilet the household is using, and make handwashing after every use and before every meal a rule for everyone.