by Cody Lundin
Another option is to have a small basin of water with enough household bleach 5.25 or 6 percent in it to make the water smell strongly of chlorine, usually two and a half capfuls (one tablespoon) for every gallon of water. As the size of bleach caps vary, some folks tie a measuring spoon to the handle of the bleach bottle. Chlorine bleach dissipates into the air over time so pay attention and add more bleach often to retain the chlorine smell. Change the water frequently, depending upon use. Be aware that heat inactivates bleach and in very cold water it takes longer to work. The rule of thumb is, if your hand-washing water doesn't smell like chlorine, add more bleach! While somewhat sketchy, in the outdoors when I have no water, bleach, or hand sanitizer, I use "clean" sand, gravel, or earth to wash my hands. Vigorously rub your fingers and hands with the above for thirty seconds or more and you should be good to go in a pinch.
Optimal Hand Washing
Hand washing, especially when preparing food for yourself and others, is the single most important procedure for preventing the spread of infections and is defined as a vigorous, brief rubbing together of all surfaces of lathered hands, followed by rinsing under a stream of water as described below: Consider it to be your sacred civic duty.
1 Wash hands in soapy water, including top, bottom, sides, in between the fingers, and under the nails. (CAUTION! Soaps containing ammonia should not be used with chlorine bleach as they are a toxic combination. Check for possible warning labels on the soap to see if it's unsafe to use with bleach. As a small boy, I made the mistake of peeing into a toilet into which my mother had put chlorine bleach to clean it. I still remember the toxic gas created and gasping for breath as my parents held my head out of an open window for fresh air.)
2 Rinse the soap off.
3 Then re-rinse hands in a bleach solution.
4 Allow your hands to air dry! (by shaking, NOT wiping)
Hand-washing stations can be easily made from a gallon jug with the bottom cut out and tied upside down to a post, fence, tree, or shrub. Punch holes in the cap (the new "bottom" of the jug), and add water to the "new top" as needed so it can sprinkle out the holes like a makeshift faucet. These jugs can be anchored above an existing sink or outside in an area where drainage is not a problem. You can also use the larger, two-and-a-half-gallon-size water jugs with the built-in spigot in the front. Cut a flap in the plastic toward the top, back part of the jug, and you can refill it with water whenever it runs low. I used this method while I was living in my yurt. I elevated my two-and-a-half-gallon jug using a couple of boards screwed together and put a cheap plastic basin underneath the spigot. I used this system not only to wash my hands, but my dishes as well for several years. If used as a regular hand-washing facility, clean the spigot regularly with bleach water. If you provide bar soap at your wash station, keep it in a container with drain holes in the bottom.
Just like the family camping trip, you will want to reemphasize the importance of hand washing and keep things and people as clean as possible. When the modern conveniences that we take for granted are gone, people tend to get lazy about proper sanitation. DO NOT let your family become complacent about their sanitation practices or you will all suffer the consequences.
Safely Storing Scat
There may be times when the little man in the truck doesn't show up to take away your waste products for some while. You will be left holding the bag, so to speak, of your family's (and neighborhood's) health and safety. If you have the space or the land to dig a hole, bury your waste. Read the other sections on where and how to do so safely. Be mindful that local authorities might discourage you from burying human waste. If you don't have the space, you'll have to store it aboveground. Many people talk about burning their waste. While most of your toilet paper will burn, have you ever tried to burn a fresh turd, or even one that's a few weeks old? OK then. . .this is where having a couple of extra-large garbage cans with tight-fitting lids will come in handy. These should be lined with paper and/or plastic trash bags. Even if the lid is already a tight fit, anchor it down with ropes or bungee cords and stake the entire garbage can to the ground or tie it off to a tree or shrub so it can't be knocked over. Arizona has white-collared peccaries—wild piglike creatures—that love to push over people's trash cans and eat the contents. Roaming dogs can manage just as well, and you can imagine the result. Add a small amount of household disinfectant, a thin layer of quicklime, or wood ashes between each "deposit" from your emergency toilet until the garbage can is reasonably full. These cans can be stored if need be until the public sewage system is up and running or emptied into safe ground pits if they become available. Insecticides and deodorants can be used to control odors and bugs breeding in storage containers that can't be immediately emptied.
What about Apartment and Office Building Poopers?
Instead of using large garbage cans to store poop, apartment dwellers can use smaller covered pails or whatever sealable containers are available. As mentioned, sealable five-gallon buckets can be double-lined with garbage bags and used as an emergency potty as is. Sprinkle or spray your fresh deposit with a disinfectant before sealing up the bucket for the next user. You can also add shredded newspaper as described below between the garbage bags before putting them in the five-gallon bucket.
Waterproof paper containers, similar to barf bags on airlines, should be kept as portable, disposable potties in places where yards and conventional toilets are not an option. After spraying bleach disinfectant on the contents, seal the bags individually and store them in doubled- or tripled-up large-capacity garbage bags (if pails or other sealable containers are not available) until an opportunity to properly dispose of them arises. You're not living in ancient Rome, so don't throw these parcels out the window to help start a disease epidemic. What comes around goes around, so take responsibility for your poop and pee. You can make your own portable potty bags by putting a large grocery bag inside another with a layer of shredded newspaper or some other absorbent material between the bags. Keep a good supply of grocery bags, large-capacity trash bags, old newspapers, and a gallon of 5.25 or 6 percent household bleach around the apartment or office for just such emergencies.
No Toilet Paper? No Problem!
"I'VE LEARNED. . .THAT LIFE IS LIKE A ROLL OF TOILET PAPER. THE CLOSER IT GETS TO THE END, THE FASTER IT GOES."
—ANDY ROONEY
Toilet paper is a recent phenomenon. My own grandparents wiped their butts with corncobs and the good ol' Sears and Roebuck catalog. Some corncobs were softened in water before use and even dyed pretty colors to spiffy up the outhouse decor. Royalty of days past, believing their butts more sensitive than those of the working class, used strips of silk and goose feathers, still attached to the dead goose's skinned neck for maximum wipability.
I don't allow students to take toilet paper into the field on my survival classes. As I prepare them with this reality, I have seen many eyes go wide and faces turn white. God only knows what they're thinking. Some sit uncomfortably while others rage and protest as if their lives depended on the stuff. I have several reasons why I don't allow toilet paper during field courses, and the main one is simple. The last thing that should stress you out during a survival situation is what you're wiping your butt with. Once I instruct students how to go potty without using toilet paper, and they experiment with the information outdoors, the mystery is gone. It's no longer an "unknown variable" to place something other than Mr. Whipple's recommendation in contact with their backsides, and they are free from one more self-imposed limitation.
Cool Things to Wipe Your Butt with
Over the years my profession has led me to wipe with almost anything you can imagine that's not still moving, thorny, or has spines. In my more naïve years, I once wiped my butt with poison ivy on the third day of a month-long backpacking adventure, so I'm able to empathize with you about any non-toilet paper scenario your might find yourself facing. Below are a few of the safer items you have in your backyard, back lot, or in the garage. It's your jo
b to identify any noxious plants particular to your area or personal sensitivities you may have.
Rocks. Rocks are a favorite of mine as there seems to be a shape and size for every orifice, but watch out for the sharp parts. Note: If it's too hot to pick up, it's too hot to wipe with. Watch for critters such as scorpions or fire ants in the Southwest.
Sticks. Be careful of sharp broken ends.
Grass. I like long grass. Pull up enough grass to create, when folded over onto itself, a thickly padded spoon-shaped utensil.
Leaves. Beware of poisonous plants. Use several at a time, overlapped, or your fingers will bust through.
Snow. An invigorating "wake-up-and-smell-the-coffee" experience that wipes and cleans at the same time.
Tree branches and shrubs. You will quickly learn that some are "directional." Identify whether a plant might irritate (before using on your buttocks!) by rubbing some of the plant on your wrist or some other area less sensitive and critical to your comfort.
Rags. There are dozens of uses for rags and this is one of them. Use them sparingly due to the other choices you have.
Newspaper. Crumple it up a few times beforehand and the paper will become softer and more absorbent. It also works great for cleaning your windows; something about the printer's ink.
Magazines. While somewhat slippery and oily feeling, crumpling up the pages can improve its wiping abilities. What better way to honor yet another enlightening article about Paris Hilton?
No Toilet Paper?. . .or Anything Else?. . .
No Problem
In the event that you run out of anything to wipe your butt with after going to the bathroom, you still have an option, your hand and water. In many parts of the world, toilet paper will not be waiting for you in the outhouse. Instead you will find a water-holding container of varying design. There are a few techniques in using the water/hand combination and I'm sure you'll find which method works best for you. Some folks have tried the water/hand method and never gone back. Most people recommend that you wipe with one hand and eat with the other, use water to rinse with, and wash your hands thoroughly, but that's where the commonalities in the advice end. Below are some options worth exploring.
Techniques for Wiping Your Butt with Your Hand
(Caution! Beware of cuts or abrasions on your hand(s) that could come in contact with fecal matter.)
1 First, make sure you have some sort of container filled with water that is reserved for this purpose only. Have hand-washing supplies ready to go at the site of your defecation.
2 Go poop in some think-like-a-raindrop-approved location.
3 Using the hand that you don't eat with, try one of the following methods:
a. Slowly pour/splash water up from the water container as you use your fingers to wipe and dislodge fecal matter from your anus. . .
OR
b. Pour water from the container slowly down your lower back and into your butt crack while doing the same as above with your fingers. . .
OR
c. Have some water container that can create velocity, such as a bicyclist's squirt bottle or commercial drinking water container with the pop-up squirt top. Direct the stream of water at your anus while using the fingers as mentioned above. . .
OR
d. Entertain the family by inventing a unique method of your own.
Note: Some people prefer to wet their fingers first as they feel the poop is less likely to stick to their fingers: your call.
Regardless of which water/hand method you employ, WASH YOUR HANDS WELL after you're finished. If using this method, it will be a great advantage in comfort and cleanliness to keep your fingernails trimmed as short as you are able. Plan on using water to wash, not just waterless hand sanitizer, and have a bleach solution rinse, and maybe a fingernail brush, somewhere in your hand-washing routine.
Pertinent Potty Paraphernalia
The following are emergency sanitation supplies that will help you out when dealing with human waste. Purchase them now before the next emergency. Unlike canned corned beef, they will never go rancid, and they will always be useful for something.
Toilet paper (if the hardcore tips above didn't grab you, keep a month's supply on hand at all times)
Waterless hand sanitizer
Bleach-based spray disinfectant and/or a bottle of chlorine bleach—sodium hypochlorite 5.25 or 6 percent (Dry bleach is caustic and not safe for this type of use)
Antibacterial soap (alcohol-based)
LOTS of heavy-duty plastic trash bags with ties
Large trash can(s) with tight-fitting lid
Two or three five-gallon buckets with tight-fitting lids. Apartment owners might opt for these alone instead of the large trash can
Shovel or other digging tool(s)
Moistened towelettes or baby wipes
Quicklime or woodstove/fireplace ashes
A bunch of old newspapers (two or three weeks' worth). Use for making toilet paper or absorbent, homemade, portable potty bags, wrapping up garbage, lining large garbage cans for storing poop, and a variety of other sanitary uses
Four- to six-mil plastic sheeting. This roll of plastic has multiple uses, well beyond the realm of sanitation. If one of your tribe gets dysentery, using plastic sheeting to cover and protect his or her sleeping area will be a godsend
Making the Most of Your Meals: Composting Your Family's Poop and Pee
One of the blasphemies of modern society is the primitive way in which we deal with our waste products by using one of the most sacred elements of survival, water. The fact that your survival scenario can leave you high and dry, with no way to replenish your family's potable water supply, is not only possible, it's probable. If given a choice, using one of your most critical survival resources to stem the effects of one of your most critical sanitary needs begs the question whether you should remain in the gene pool. In the drought-stricken southwestern United States, towns and cities continue to flush millions of gallons of precious water down the toilet to whisk a turd to a place of residence where it can begin its redemption process, using yet more water, energy resources, and dangerous chemicals. There has to be a better way, and there is.
HOW to COMPOST your POOP
There are several no-water or, at least, low-water ways in which we as a society can deal with our waste and, frankly, they are not being promoted with any fervor or regularity. Sadly, America's aversion to simple and common-sense sanitation strategies dates back more than a century. Back in the late 1800s, New York City was having a problem getting rid of all the poo from its residents. After chucking it into the surrounding water proved to be a stinky situation, New York City for a time hauled its dung to New Jersey. After the Garden State proved unable to accommodate the needs of the Big Apple, New York looked to France for a solution. The French had been successfully composting human manure for a long time in a process called poudrette. Unfortunately, the composting process was voted down by an unimaginative city council, due to its inability to view composted human poop as plant fertilizer, and the ignorance largely continues. On the hopeful side, in many areas major home-building and hardware stores now carry very low- or no-water use commercial toilet systems that have all of the comforting statistics needed to convince and reassure skeptical city planners as to their efficiency and safety.
The art of composting has been around for as long as people have. Back in the days of common sense, people actively used composted waste products from themselves, animals, food scraps, and other items to enrich the earth with nutrients. The thermophylic composting process brought the various items in the compost pile up to a certain temperature for a sustained period of time in which all of the harmful pathogens were killed. The end result was a safe, rich humus material that was then added to the garden, orchard, or field. The enriched earth would in turn give back to the people in the form of greater and more nutritious yields of fruits and vegetables—a closed-loop system in which everyone benefited. While composting might seem unrelated to an
urban emergency situation, if more people would consider composting, we could deal with the cause of some of our problems instead of paying later to clean up their effect.
Just in case you're inspired to reap the harvest from your family, so to speak, see the previous illustration for how to compost your waste. For further reading and entertainment, I highly recommend The Humanure Handbook by J. C. Jenkins. J. C. lays out the facts regarding composting human waste in a scientific yet humorous way that won't bore you silly. He also addresses how to deal with the legalities of composting human waste in an urban environment full of fear and closed minds.
After a major disaster, due to destroyed infrastructure and swamped emergency response personnel, improvising proper sanitation methods will rank high on the list of your survival priorities.
Improper sanitation directly or indirectly kills hundreds of thousands of people each year.
