Post by Lexica on Aug 20, 2018 8:11:23 GMT
We humans can be such annoying and destructive people with our bodily waste. I just read this article on CNN about the amount of human feces that is left on the Mt. Everest by tourists. I was shocked to read that over 28,000 pounds of poop was removed from base camp this season. 28,000 pounds of human waste! And unfortunately, their current system is for the sherpas to haul the poop down the mountain to Gorak Shep, a frozen lakebed, and dumped into open pits to dehydrate. Due to the extreme cold, it doesn’t really dehydrate. Pretty disgusting system.
There is a risk that it will leak into a river and contaminate the water supply system. A retired mountaineer and engineer from Washington state is working on a solution. He and a fellow hiker are working on a biogas digester to be installed (there is no sewage treatment plant in the area) to turn the poop into methane gas and fertilizer. Biogas digesters are used all over the world, but the issue in Everest is the subzero temperatures that would prevent the live bacteria necessary to break it down. The methane could be used for cooking or lighting and the fertilizer for crops.
They are planning to use solar to heat the poop and a battery array being charged to continue the heat process overnight. They are now running tests to make sure the effluent will be safe for the Nepali people to use as fertilizer. They plan an underground septic system to filter out contaminants if the effluent contains dangerous microorganisms.
First, I think it is awesome of this engineer to be working toward a sustainable solution for the Nepali people, but what really surprised me was the volume of poop! They refer to the weight, 28,000 pounds, as equal to the weight of two fully-grown elephants! I would never have guessed that there would be this much of a problem up,there. And this is just from base camp where they place a portapotty of sorts. Once a climber leaves base camp, they are given plastic bags and expected to bring the waste back down the mountain with them. I would love to believe that every hiker would comply. I never knew this was such a big issue. And I feel so much compassion for the poor sherpas that must haul this poop to the current drop area. I hope this biogas system is the solution they need. Now they need to tackle the trash left at base camp and on the mountain.
CNN article
There is a risk that it will leak into a river and contaminate the water supply system. A retired mountaineer and engineer from Washington state is working on a solution. He and a fellow hiker are working on a biogas digester to be installed (there is no sewage treatment plant in the area) to turn the poop into methane gas and fertilizer. Biogas digesters are used all over the world, but the issue in Everest is the subzero temperatures that would prevent the live bacteria necessary to break it down. The methane could be used for cooking or lighting and the fertilizer for crops.
They are planning to use solar to heat the poop and a battery array being charged to continue the heat process overnight. They are now running tests to make sure the effluent will be safe for the Nepali people to use as fertilizer. They plan an underground septic system to filter out contaminants if the effluent contains dangerous microorganisms.
First, I think it is awesome of this engineer to be working toward a sustainable solution for the Nepali people, but what really surprised me was the volume of poop! They refer to the weight, 28,000 pounds, as equal to the weight of two fully-grown elephants! I would never have guessed that there would be this much of a problem up,there. And this is just from base camp where they place a portapotty of sorts. Once a climber leaves base camp, they are given plastic bags and expected to bring the waste back down the mountain with them. I would love to believe that every hiker would comply. I never knew this was such a big issue. And I feel so much compassion for the poor sherpas that must haul this poop to the current drop area. I hope this biogas system is the solution they need. Now they need to tackle the trash left at base camp and on the mountain.
CNN article
