# Can We Get Away From Water Based Sewage Systems? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2009, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443 "2009-08-24T01:30:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/21 "2009-08-24T16:56:55Z")
[nitpick] It’s leach field. The water is leaching out into the soil. [/nitpick] Septic tank systems with leach fields don’t work well in areas with heavy, clayey soils as the permeability is too low (water won’t percolate through them). Septic tanks also aren’t supposed to be installed within flood plains (according to NFIP regulations). ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/22 "2009-08-24T17:30:14Z")
> [@NinetyWt](#): > > [nitpick] > > It’s leach field. The water is leaching out into the soil. > > [/nitpick] > > Septic tank systems with leach fields don’t work well in areas with heavy, clayey soils as the permeability is too low (water won’t percolate through them). > > Septic tanks also aren’t supposed to be installed within flood plains (according to NFIP regulations). correct on the spelling. where there is a small amount of percolating soil (high bedrock or clay soils) some places allow a mound system where the field is placed into a man made mound of good soil. i think recent designs for septic favor the outlet being shallow (still below the frost level if possible) and the liquids evaporating or used by vegetation as well as sinking. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2009, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/23 "2009-08-24T17:52:18Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > I cant think of anything we could do with our poo to make it go away but didn’t involve forcing it away via water pressure, unless you wanted to move to a pneumatic plumbing system. Like at drive-through banks. It’d still have to go somewhere, though. > > Only solution would be to have toilets that create quantum wormholes that send anything flushed to an alternate universe. Though, one day you might find a note in your toilet that says “We’re sick of putting up with your shit!” Or you discover that this “alternate” universe is just your own universe a few years in the future. ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/24 "2009-08-25T12:28:14Z")
I suppose we could build incinerators or whatnot to deal with the brown part of sewage, but what’s going to deal with the shower drains, sink drains, dishwasher drains and washing machine drains? If we’re going to eliminate sanitary sewers (and/or septic systems), we’re going to have to make a fundamental shift in our cleaning technologies. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/25 "2009-08-25T14:24:04Z")
As I understand it, the current system uses waste water to move waste solids. Seems like a pretty efficient plan; why would you get rid of it? > [@](#): > > Go back to the Elizabethan Earth closet that just covered ‘it’ with a layer of sand or something and when you give it its annual muck-out spread it on your garden Elizabethan earth closets didn’t have to handle the sort of population density we have now. Just one high-rise apartment building produces enough solid waste to cover a few acres of midden fields. ---
**Author:** ![Baracus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/2bfe46/32.png) [@Baracus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baracus)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/26 "2009-08-25T14:43:31Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > I suppose we could build incinerators or whatnot to deal with the brown part of sewage… Personally, the idea of crapping into an incinerator chaps my ass. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/27 "2009-08-25T15:51:17Z")
> [@LouisB](#): > > There are a few waste disposal plants that supposedly turn waste water into potable water; not that I would volunteer to sample it, but I’ve seen documentaries on TV that show people drinking it. > > . In Singapore, we do that. It’s called [Newater](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NEWater) (personally I refer to it as shit-water). Only some thousands of bottles were ever given out at special National events. They are mixed with normal reservoir water. ---
**Author:** ![Never\_Say\_Dice](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee59a6/32.png) [@Never\_Say\_Dice](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Never_Say_Dice)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/28 "2009-08-25T16:21:46Z")
I expect at some point dry “sewage” will happen, because it’s not that big a problem. If some government, say our own, put some money into perfecting it. The only problem with excrement is the bacteria creating stink and passing on disease. But raising the temperature for very short periods takes care of that. No need for radiation. Perhaps a system of rolling the stuff into really thin sheets and passing it through a laser or bed of sparks. Sparks created by shuffling your bunny slippers on the bathmat, there’s the ticket! ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2009, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/29 "2009-08-25T16:50:31Z")
> [@wierdaaron](#): > > I cant think of anything we could do with our poo to make it go away but didn’t involve forcing it away via water pressure, unless you wanted to move to a pneumatic plumbing system. Conveyor belts? ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [September 16, 2009, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443/30 "2009-09-16T22:20:05Z")
Wouldn’t that be a poo-matic system? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-we-get-away-from-water-based-sewage-systems/507443.md?page=1)