The Wastewater Gardener: Preserving the Planet One Flush at a Time Paperback – June 30, 2014

What makes this book particularly valuable is the fact that the author is an academic who has made his life purpose to develop and implement creative solutions to the recycling of human waste. The book is both very easy to read and quite informative about a seldom discussed subject. It provides a very good introduction to the technology involved.I would have given an extra star had the author provided some charts and/or guidelines enabling a reader to dimension a system suitable to meeting the recycling need of a given household. To his credit, the author includes a good list of recommended sources for further reading on this topic.

Just what is needed in a water poor planet

not yet all read d

When I took John Jeavons outstanding biointensive workshop in 2003 he told us that someday we would need to use human waste for fertilizer, since we were depleting finite phosphorous now by processing waste and having the treated effluent poured in the ocean and other waterways. But it has to be done carefully since human waste can spread disease.Nelson said this as well. "Human waste also contains a lot of valuable plant nutrients—nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium—which originally came from our agricultural soils. Throwing that away is extremely wasteful and unsustainable".In fact, we need to use human manure in agriculture as soon as possible. Recent estimates of peak phosphorus production are 2027 (Mohr) and 2033 (Craswell), but you can find dozens of estimates, The most optimistic estimates lead to phosphorus running out within 200 years (Cordell). Morocco has 85% of the remaining reserves (mainly in the Western Sahara). Morocco is potentially unstable, as are these five nations with another five percent of reserves: China, Algeria, Syria, Jordan, and South Africa. Also vulnerable are the nations that need to import nearly all of their phosphorus, such as Europe, Brazil, and India. The United States has about 25 years of phosphate reserves left (see energyskeptic peak phosphorus for the citations).

I was introduced to the book by a friend of the author. I read the first few pages and knew I had to get my hands on this book to read the rest. As an avid composter and gardener I really liked the message that this book delivered. Here in the U.S. we like to turn a blind eye to anything dealing with waste or dirt. But the truth is, the earth has been recycling sh*t and waste since the first single celled organisms appeared on the planet. Well, maybe since those organisms started eating each other. The Earth's ecosystem is dependent on living things eating other living or previously living things and excreting nutrient rich waste back to the soil to continue the cycle. We as humans have decided that we want to hide that waste away, and there in lies a major problem. Our crops (and ultimately ourselves) are diseased and dying from malnutrition. We SH*T in clean drinking water and flush it into the oceans. Then wonder why we are running out our of fresh water resources. The earth itself, mother nature, God, sheer luck... whatever it was, set in place a way to recycle nutrients back to the plants that need them.This book addresses and explains things in a way that make you think about what and when or how often you flush things down the toilet or pour good water down the sink. It also explains how small and large scale constructed wetlands can be implemented to treat household wastewater, and use that water to add beauty to our landscapes. Mark is funny and engaging, but he also has the background to backup his claims. I just wish there was more info on the "HOWS" of implementing a wastewater garden safely and inexpensively. I do have to say, that as a result of reading this book, I have started urine fertilization trials at my home garden. And I will be putting in a composting toilet soon.

The Wastewater Gardener is brilliant! So much fun to read and easy to follow. I highly recommend this book to anyone that wants to live a more sustainable life and be part of the solution to our current water issues.

I had no idea there were already such good solutions to waste problems and water treatment. At first, I was hesitant to invest my reading time in such a 'crappy' topic, but only a few pages in and I was sold with the author's humor and with the sense of discovery about a topic that's simply not discussed. Learning about the Biosphere II project was probably my favorite part, and I recommend this for anyone interested in ecological topics. But you're looking for something political or a moral plea, this is probably not for you. Nelson tells a personal and practical story that might inspire small projects or an understanding of big solutions- it's not a technical manual or a political agenda. It's actually light reading with a real narrative and some good pictures. Having read this, I feel a little shocked at how wasteful our sewage practices are. Maybe this will catch on and we can learn to think the way Nelson thinks and apply it to other parts of life.

Charmingly subtitled ‘preserving the planet one flush at a time’, this book recounts the author’s work in this area over the last 30 years. As agriculturalists like Sir Albert Howard have remarked, not recycling human waste is itself a terrible waste, since nature works in cycles, as composting so readily demonstrates. The author has created wastewater gardens around the world, catalysed by his experience of being enclosed in Biosphere 2 in the late 1980s. Here he proposes many ways of managing the ‘Fecesphere’ and invites readers to consider the travel itinerary of their own waste as they flush the loo. In our case, this means a septic tank in a nearby field. He makes a number of recommendations for both individuals and society, for instance separating s*** from the water cycle wherever possible, perhaps by means of composting toilets; also using wastewater to create green belts around cities and reusing s*** locally wherever possible, sending it back to the land in an economical way.

My husband loves this book. He has loads of plans for our back boggy garden and what to do with the waste water from the sinks and bath.Hope he knows he's doing the work! Excellent read.

Such a lot of good news packed into one book. What a life this environmental engineer leads, travelling to every climate in the world and helping to make disasters into delights!Dr Nelson is both a scientist and an entrepreneur, a teacher and a healer. In solving the problems of so many people, he has created a meaningful life for himself. As a person who lives in a city where the council runs a kitchen scrap to soil program, the joys of living sustainably are appreciatedkevery day