Camping, Survival, and Emergency Sanitation

Dealing with human waste is usually not a topic for polite company, but it is essential to know what to do when camping, in a survival situation, or during an emergency at home.  Most people have no idea that cholera, is one of the leading causes of death in refugee camps worldwide, or that it is mostly caused by poor sanitation.   Many other diseases are also fomented by poor sanitation, especially when you are dealing with groups of people.  The larger the group, the greater the hazard!  Disease kills more people in a large scale disaster than all other causes combined.

If you're staying in campgrounds with toilet facilities when camping your needs are pretty much taken care of, as long as you take advantage of the facilities and exercise a reasonable amount of healthy precaution, such as thoroughly washing your hands or using hand sanitizer after using the toilet.  That doesn't mean just a quick rinse, but at lease 15-20 seconds of vigorous scrubbing or rubbing with soap and (preferably hot) water.  The primitive pit toilets in some remote campgrounds don't have water, so bring along some hand sanitizer.

If you're dry camping in an RV, you should be in pretty good shape as long  as you don't run out of water or overflow your holding tanks.  You will want to ration your water usage and filling of our holding tanks to ensure you can make it through the outing.  Be sure to use the right holding tank chemicals in the right amounts.  Then you must properly empty and flush your holding tanks at an approved facility.  Sloppy dumping can create a bio-hazard that could affect you directly and is likely to impact many subsequent users of the facility.  Make sure to flush any spillage in the dump basin into the drain.  Always do your best to avoid any spillage outside of the dump basin and should some occur, clean it up as quickly and thoroughly as possible.

When you're tent camping  in a remote location or in survival mode, you'll be dependent on more primitive methods.  You will want to locate or designate an area downwind and downhill from your camp site as the latrine area.  For short term camping you will probably just dig your own individual latrine pit for each need.  If you're staying in the same place for several days or have a large group of people you may want to dig a larger, multi-use latrine for convenience.  Either way, it must be at least 200' from any source of water (stream, well, spring, lake).  You will want to dig a deep enough pit so you can cover your deposits to prevent people from stepping in them and to discourage animals from digging them up.  Tent campers may take advantage of portable potty chairs for added convenience.  The are usually similar to folding camp stools or camp chairs that can be fitted with plastic bags to collect the waste for proper disposal.  What can you do if you don't have soap and water to wash with?   Bring along some hand sanitizer if you can.  It is inexpensive and comes in various sizes, including "travel" sizes that are suitable for pack, purse, or pocket.  I also suggest you explore the options that may be available in nature, especially to prepare for a survival situation.  For example, sagebrush has anti-bacterial properties.  Rub your hands with sage brush leaves or "wash" them in smoke from a sagebrush fire or boil some sagebrush leaves in water to make an effective cleaning solution.  Be sure to let it cool a bit before using it.  Dry sagebrush or sagebrush smoke won't remove dirt and grime but it will kill bacteria.  Some plants may make a suitable substitute for toilet paper, especially mullen, which is sometimes called "Desert Charmin".  Test any plants you plan to use on your arm and wait about an hour to check the results before using it on more sensitive parts of your body.

During a disaster or emergency situation at home normal utilities may be out for several days or more.  It may be possible to continue to use your residential toilet (as long as the sewer system is still in tact), even if your water is off, by manually filling the toilet tank.  You don't need potable water to fill the toilet tank.  Save that for drinking!  Even muddy or contaminated water from streams or lakes or even puddles will do.  By the way, this only works for gravity feed toilets.  You need good water pressure to operate below-grade toilets you find in some basements.  Lacking sufficient water to operate your toilet,  you'll have to make other arrangements like you might use for tent camping or in survival mode.  Some home survival kits include a toilet seat that fits on a 5 gallon bucket fitted with a plastic bag to create a fairly comfortable and reasonably sanitary toilet.  Just make sure to tightly seal and properly stow or dispose of the plastic bags after using them.  This is probably a more desirable solution than trying to dig a latrine in your back yard.   If you live in a rural area where you have plenty of raw land available, a pit latrine may be an option, but I wouldn't recommend it for an urban or suburban environment.  There is a product called "Wag Bags" that are designed for safe disposal of human waste.  These tough plastic bags have zip closures and are said to be puncture resistant.  They come with chemicals that convert the waste to a gel to minimize spillage and control odors.  You can buy a dozen for about $40 as places like REI, Camping World, and even Amazon.com.  In a pinch you can use ordinary heavy duty trash bags in a 5-gallon bucket as a makeshift toilet.  Be sure to tie them off tightly when you are done and be careful when moving them.

With a little knowledge, care, and planning, you should be able to manage human wastes without creating an unreasonable bio-hazard, whether you're camping for recreation, in a survival situation, or weathering out a disaster at home.

No crap!