Sanitation, Part 1

"In an emergency situation, the most pressing concern will be to have proper clothing and shelter against any extremes in heat and cold, followed by having sufficient water (at least a gallon per day per person). If the emergency situation should last any time longer than a few days and water supplies (including sewer capabilities) should be stopped, the level of preparing for the situation will profoundly go up. Somewhere between the need for sufficient water and having sufficient food will be the need for having proper sanitation.

In any major disaster situation, such as the tsunami in Indonesia, where tens of thousands of people may die, many times more people will die in the weeks following such an event. The primary reason for this is the lack of proper sanitation. Disease takes its toll on those who succumb to disease from bad water and bad hygiene conditions. You will be much more in danger from disease than from the possibility of starving if sanitary conditions break down.

I would like to share with you some things to consider as a part of your emergency preparedness planning in being prepared for any sanitation concerns you may have for you and your family. The usual waste produced by Americans, including waste water, exceeds 200 pounds per person per day. In an emergency situation, where waste removal may not be in service for garbage and waste water, we will need to be very careful in how we dispose of and remove waste. Flies, rodents, rats and other pests will be attracted to waste and can become carriers of disease if they get into our homes and yards. Wastes can be put into three general categories: human waste, liquid waste (washing, kitchen and bath), and solid and semi-solid waste (food waste, paper, glass and other general “garbage” items).

Human waste (both solid and liquid) in even very small quantities can become sources of disease-producing germs if it is not properly dealt with. Diseases can come from what can be called the five “F’s”: feces, fingers, flies, food and fluids. Improperly handled food or water that has been contaminated by improper sanitation or contact with vermin can quickly spread diseases such as dysentery, cholera and typhoid. Keeping everyone’s hands washed clean and watching where fingers “go” will be important. Clothing and especially underclothing will need to be kept clean in an environment where there may be a shortage of water to do washing. Eating utensils, dishware and cookware will need to be kept clean of old food to keep the next meal from possibly becoming contaminated. A good disinfectant solution is to add one teaspoon of liquid bleach to a quart of water to sanitize your utensils. If there is a disruption of culinary water and sewer services, it may become very important to have a portable emergency toilet.

If there is a disruption of your home’s water supply, it will not be a very good idea to try to use your toilets without a supply of water to flush the waste away. If you have stored water, you will want to use it for much more important uses to keep you and your family alive. A portable toilet will become very important. It will be easier to use and put to use rather than trying to dig a proper sanitary latrine in your back yard. A “cat hole” is not a good answer to long term sanitary needs for it will contribute to disease. You may have a portable chemical toilet, but it will still need some amount of water to be useable and you will still need to have an effective means of disposing the waste water, where it will not come into contact with your environment or be accessible to vermin.

An effective and low cost solution is to get an emergency portable toilet that you can get at sporting goods outlets which consists of a six gallon plastic bucket and a “pop-on” toilet seat cover. Use heavy duty plastic bags as liners that will not leak upon removal. You will want to have a fairly deep hole in your back yard (three or four feet deep) or else a tight fitting lidded container that won’t leak. When in use, it may be a good idea to use items like saw dust or some other liquid absorbent filler to keep the liquid sloshing down. Having a bit of lye or some kind of household disinfectant or soil to cover or suppress the odors will help. When the plastic bag is filled to a point where you can carefully dispose of it, you will want a tight-fitting leak-proof container you can put the filled bags where insects and vermin cannot get at, or you may want to have a fairly deep hole (at least three to four feet deep) in your back yard where you can safely dispose of the bag, cover with a few inches of soil at each disposal and have a cover to keep vermin out and people from falling in. Of course, it goes without saying that it would be good to have a good supply of toilet paper on hand and hand soaps or sanitizers.

The material for this information comes from a very good book on preparedness: The Sense of Survival, by J. Allan South, c. 1990 by Timpanogos Publishers."
(Source: R. Hatch, Ward Preparedness Specialist)

Sanitation, Part 2

"...we took a look at the great need for personal sanitation of our body waste to prevent the spread of disease. I would like to continue the look at the need for sanitation in other aspects of our life in an emergency situation.

It will be quite important to have a variety of different kinds of soap to maintain the cleanliness of ourselves, our clothing and the items we cook and eat with. Such things as hand soap, mild shampoo, dish soap and laundry soap will be very important to keep a good supply of that will at least match your year’s food supply. It may not be a bad idea to look at recipes for making different kinds of soap by hand. These recipes can be found in preparedness manuals and on the internet. Sanitizers such as cleaning agents and bleach should also be kept to sanitize and sterilize items as needed.

Should there be a long period of time without having a reliable supply of water and power, you may want to look at creating kits that will give you the means to clean clothing and yourself using a minimal amount of water. ...

Another piece of equipment that you may want to create is a hand powered clothes washer. An easy way to do this is to use a 6 gallon bucket with a small hole in the center of the lid cut out to allow for the handle of an unused toilet plunger. The plunger can be used as an agitator to work dirt out of your clothing inside the bucket. This is a simple idea that you can put together yourself. ... Another option you may want to look at are wash boards and hand-powered wringers from such places as Lehman’s, which can be found on the internet.

There is another area of concern that you should look at and plan for if there is a long term situation where there is a reduced supply of water and the use of the sewer system. When washing and cooking, there will be some amount of liquid water that will have soap, grease, food and other items in it that will need to be properly disposed of. Digging a small soakage pit will give you the ability to more safely dispose of such waste materials. Dig the pit and replace the dirt from the hole with fairly large rocks for the liquids to drop into and be absorbed by the surrounding soil. You may want to recover any kitchen fat and grease to be used in making homemade soap. If not, you may still want to recover it with some screen material, which can then be removed and then buried with other solid wastes. Food scrapes will also need to be separated and then put into solid burial to keep vermin and insects away from it. You may want to have a pit to burn any trash items to keep the amount of buried items to a more manageable size. When the waste items come to about one foot’s depth to the surface, it is then time to finish burying it and then mounded over with about another foot in height of soil.

The material for this information comes from a very good book on preparedness: The Sense of Survival, by J. Allan South, c. 1990 by Timpanogos Publishers."
(Source: R. Hatch, Ward Preparedness Specialist)