Design Your Garden To Make The Most Of Your Composting Toilet

You can turn your treated sewage into valuable garden irrigation if you design your garden well from the outset. Wet composting toilets ensure effective greywater recycling – with the extra water and nutrients enabling your garden to flourish. This is very different to septic tanks that just send the wastewater into trenches, where they can become a health and environmental hazard. These trenches mean the treated sewage becomes a waste product, rather than a valuable resource.



Whether you are designing your garden from scratch, or redesigning an existing one, design to make the most of your greywater recycling.



The irrigation for a wet compost toilet is sub-surface irrigation, which means that it is below ground. This is great for the garden as it means there is less evaporation and children and pets are not exposed to any potential pathogens. However this does mean that you can't move it around - it is there for good.



From a gardener’s perspective, the earlier the composting toilet and its irrigation system go in the better – then it is easier to create your garden around it. So if you are building - even if you put the irrigation lines in before the compost toilet it is fine. There is nothing worse than having your garden in and then having to come in with a digger to build the trenches.



Parallel to and about 1 metre to the low side of the irrigation lines, plant trees that thrive on a lot of water. Make sure they are species without aggressive roots. If the trees also need good drainage, then plant them in raised beds. It’s best not to waste this valuable space with native trees that are adapted to drier conditions.



Enjoy making the most of the treated composting toilet wastewater – a valuable resource.



Resource



This article is written b y Jenny Allen, author of the coffee table book "Smart Permaculture Design" has appeared on many gardening shows, including ABC Gardening Australia. Jenny also works for Biolytix Water, for more information please visit: http://www.biolytix.com.au