Forum Post: A Solution for the OWS Pee Problem
Posted 12 years ago on Nov. 3, 2011, 2:13 p.m. EST by Unger
(22)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Here is a simple solution to the pee problem at OWS sites. Men can pee into liquid laundry detergent containers, which are usually gallon size. Of course many other kinds of containers could be used. Women need containers with much larger openings. My wife has used a bucket which, after each use, could be emptied into another container more convenient for storage and transportation.
When full, the containers can be emptied into a toilet or even a sewer, and then rinsed out. Note that urine is usually sterile so that, unlike poop, it is not hazardous.
For a number of years, I have been using such a system at home. It serves several purposes. It is convenient when I get the urge at night, and can avoid leaving my bedroom. By having to flush the toilet only once a day, I save water and energy (we get our water from a well via an electric pump). Finally, urine is an excellent fertilizer. I use it in my garden.
The poop problem remains, but that usually involves only one event per day for each person.
I've got The Answer for Zucotti Occupiers. I went into the Panini shop at the SW corner of the park and got the manager to improvise gift certificates that turned Occupiers into paying customers that she promised could use the bathrooms. Now others want to buy certificates too. I just need one contact at Zucotti who will walk across the street and pick up the certificates after I buy them over the phone (I'm in Seattle). Somebody in the park make contact with me please.
LOL, you use this system at home? You poop in your bedroom?
Me shitting on all ur heads....that will be a bigger problem than pee.......when ur wearing the green apple splatters like a hat
here is what we are doing: we are taking shifts in our park. 8 hours work, 8 hours park, 8 hours home to clean up and shower and poop in toilets.
Lol
I have shit at the end of my dick
My cats pee in litter boxes.
I'm surprised that this wasn't one of the first things addressed on Sept. 17. Has anyone asked supporters (unions? churches?) for bathroom privileges? It might require paying them for security to keep their doors open 24/7 (and keep the heat on, if it's a building that normally shuts down at night). Maybe the GA can set aside some funds for that. If port-o-sans were put in the park, they'd probably be seized. If you can't get access to indoor plumbing, maybe someone (like a church) would let port-o-sans be set up on their grounds. (Again, probably requiring some security - maybe a bit easier to arrange, since they could lock their buildings, and wouldn't have to keep them heated). In theory, dumping urine into storm drains should not be a pollution issue, since I'm pretty sure lower Manhattan has combined storm and sanitary sewers. However, sewer pipes designed for sanitary waste have traps to prevent odors from coming back into the bathroom. Storm drains don't. I don't know whether there's a specific law against dumping urine into storm drains, but given the NYPD's attitude toward OWS, I doubt that they would let it happen if they see it (or smell it). One last thought. Boat basins have pumping stations for port - a - potties. (There's a yacht harbor at the World Financial Center. The yacht owners are probably part of the 1 percent, but the people who work for them aren't.) It would mean people in tents having to get camping - style port - a - potties, and some brave souls would have to volunteer to transport them to the pumping station. And I'm sure that there would be some cost involved. About the plants - fertilizers are acidic, so some acid is good, but too much acid will burn plants. That's why there are all those signs near street plantings asking people to keep their dogs away from the flowers.
Poo can be used to make hollow spheres which can then be filled with pee using a syringe. A poo-pee balloon ready to be thrown at the cops.
You can make fuel patties from your poop. Set them into the sun to dry - you could even reclaim the humidity released by the drying process like they do at at the international space station. Then burn the dry poop and use it for cooking and warmth - yummy.
This is definitely a Top 10 post on this site. Well done.
I say bring in a link belt Back Hoe to Zucotti Park. Dig up a large enough size hole to install a proper cesspool system. Run septic to all the tents. There has been enough shit draining off of Wall Street for years, that it will probably backflow for a couple of centuries, but hey, who will notice? And if anyone complains about the smell, point your finger to City Hall and say, "Smell...The only thing I smell is the sweet, sweet smell of Michael Bloomberg's money wafting it's way down here past the dirty water dogs and three day old knishes..."
I read this in Hints from Heloise: When you are at Panera, order the "Pick Two" meal with a small drink. Keep the cup for your urine and then when thirsty, sneak back into Panera to claim your free refill! Also, pocket some of those fresh lemons because they make too much profit and they owe you anyway!! Enjoy!
lol
"Honey, where's the liquid Tide??"
This is briliant.
Pee Problem...Time to schedule an appointment with your Urololigist.... or at least move the sewer closer to the source of your pee problem... or change the color of your pee. Changing the color of your pee can often change your problem entirely. If you change it to blue, you can tell everyone that it is just rain and that it is simply a warm gentle shower and that really, there is nothing to fret about (also known as a Missouri Rain Storm - When someone pisses down your back and says it is just raining) but hardly any one believes that today. Or if you want, you can tell everyone that it is a GOLDEN SHOWER! Most people today would probably welcome that, given the price of gold today! There is a happy thought!
Make it blue and make your own windhield washer fluid.
The points I made about the sterility of urine and its value as a fertilizer are easily verified by simple web research using google. See for example, the following two items: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urine http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=human-urine-is-an-effective-fertilizer
Urine is sterile in the concept of drinking your own yourself. That is still not a safe form of hydration. I am sorry that you grew up not understanding what you excrete in urine. Blood(hep A,B,C, any excess virus and or bacteria you have in Your body) There's got to be a better option than returning to pre plumbing london. Has anyone thought about port o san rental rental via sanitation donation? I am pretty sure that protesting need not involve the CDC. Plus it is a reminder to the average person how much everyone should have a way to relieve themselves without going to a restaurant.
Only people with infections somewhere in their urinary have bacteria in their urine. Blood is also not found in healthy urine. I am not sure where you got your information from. Healthy urine is in fact sterile.
That being said, this guy is crazy and disgusting.
Obviously only sick people shed enough virus or bacteria to be a major issue, and when the person who is ill has a good probability of having at least tracce blood. The problem is that when people have to restrain themselves from peeing on demand that is when UTI's Blossom! And how do you know who is sick or not? A Great majority of epidemics (a poorly over used and misunderstood word). The major ingredients for a health disaster usually involves poor or lack of sanitation, raw sewage (our ports in the sidewalk were designed to allow for dissipation of rainwater, not for people to pour untreated waste into them. They are only flushed out by nature's hoses. Sterility is lost as soon as it leaves the kidneys. I am getting my facts from my pathophysiology textbook and my extreme survival guide. Urine is highly acidic liquid that our body excretes excess crap! Drinking urine is not recommended to hydrate even in emergency as we are putting the same impurities that our body got rid of right back in, leading to dehydration. If you want to drink your urine you are a dolt! To those who want to utilize someone elses urine you are adding another spice to the disease soup that plumbing removed from our people. I just don't want to see more people injured. I support the protest in many ways but as a native NY'er trying to live in substandard houing(as many of us are) please remember that the park is no yours, its our's. I curb and pickup after my dog?????
Who is talking about drinking piss? I missed that.
Sorry I get annoyed with people who think sterile means safe and other crap literally.
Thats so gross. And urine is acidic and doesn't help anything grow.
If the urine is sterile why don't y'all just drink it?
Some people do.
haha....
If Bloomberg was really concerned about public health and safety, the city would provide porta-cans and trash services with a daily maintenance schedule.
Zuccoti park is not city property! Since Day one I wondered why the OWS don't try and get Zuccoti to put in port o sans in return for some form of volunteer clean up crew. Everyone takes turns keeping up a sanitary park and they put in port o sans. This is how every peaceful outdoor weekend music festival keeps things going and the vibe stays better. I love the little bit of free open 24/7 green space we have. You don't let your dog piss all over because it kills trees and other living things. Need I sayanymore........ Oh and rats bite.
Not Bloomberg's problem. There was no permit taken out or invitation given for OWS to illegally squat. The city is not responsible for the mess and shouldn't have to spend money for something OWS has taken on themselves. If OWS wants to stay, OWS can take care of the waste. Maybe OWS can beg for porta-potty donations just like they are begging for everything else.
The point was to make clear the disparity between Bloomberg's actions and what comes out of his mouth (i.e. "public health and safety").
As to a permit, you might want to refer to the First Amendment to the US Constitution ("the right of the people peaceably to assemble") and the recent Federal Court decision in Nashville affirming this.
I don't see squatting, camping on public property, peeing and copulating in tents & living off other's donations and public utilities as the right of the people peaceably to assemble. If you want to make a mess, fine, but don't expect others to clean it up. You make the mess, you clean it up. How about OWS being concerned about public heath and safety, why does Bloomberg need to be in charge of that. He should have removed all of you 6 weeks ago.
Again, OWS plopped themselves down where they aren't wanted, so deal with the consequences.
Once again Zuccoti park is not public property and all of the sanitation and other costly issues don't fall on the taxpayer, but on the owners of the park. If you cant figure out a solution to safe human wasre disposal how can you fix the world????
I don't want to figure out a solution for safe human waste disposal. It's already been figured out. It's called a toilet and I have four in my home. The bottom line is OWS has plopped themselves where they are not wanted, so they can figure out how to take care of the mess they are making.
Maybe not the other stuff but copulating in tents yes that is absolutely a basic human right since biblical times if not earlier.
Yes, but it part of peaceful assembly???? I guess it depends on how loud they are.
Opinions are like assholes, everybody has one.
Thanks for the classy, snappy rejoinder. You hit me right where it hurts and I am now in tears. You really put me in my place.
Are you really so dim that you don't see how my remark applies equally to both of us? LOL That explains more than a few things. Including your ignorance of the First Amendment.
I know the First Amendment. You and I will have to agree to disagree about OWS and whether camping out on Brookfield's property is peaceful assembly or squatting. Have a nice evening.
Exactly, and charge it to the occupation.
Don't make us poor 99% pay for your porta-cans
I don't see a problem with your solution if the users relieve themselves behind screens or in tents. On the matter of disposing of feces at home, you might consider an incinerating toilet: http://incinolet.com/
The women could use plastic funnels sold at auto parts stores that people usually use to put oil in their engines with. They can attach that funnel even to a gallon water jug (for overnight use) or smaller ones for intermittent day use. Urine is not sterile but rinsing their jug with alcohol and water might keep the bacteria at bay.
What an. . . I'm at a loss for words. Who pees in a bottle in their house? I'm an over the road truck driver and I don't even pee in empty bottles in my truck! There are facilities strategically placed THROUGHOUT AMERICA for sane, respectable people to utilize to relieve them self.
Seeing as poop and OWS have been in much discussion, I think this OWS occupie should attempt to poop in his water bottle. Empty or not. . .
I usually just shit in my neighbors tent when he's not there. It's totally pissing him off, but what else can I do.
Was this guy serious? If so, what a whack job.
There are a tremendous rat population down town in NYC. At night they roqm the streets. The fecal material and urine is a big attraction as is the food etc at the OWS park. I would be afraid to close my eyes to sleep at OWS.
I've been thinking about this alot. Here is a suggestion for the poo...Why not collect it and stack it up around the perimeter of the park.... Make good use of it to build a wall around the commune... If the pee is sterile like you say, why not bring in a tub and have everyone pee in it to take baths in?
Two girls one cup!
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Public urination and defecation is one of the biggest complaints from residents and business owners in the financial district in NYC. More of that isn't going to help anybody.