B11F:
The Biogeochemistry of Human Sanitation: Local to Global Carbon, Nitrogen, and Phosphorus Cycling Associated with the Containment, Treatment, and Reuse of Human Sanitary Waste Posters


Submit an Abstract to this Session


Session ID#: 52493

Session Description:
Human sanitary waste accounts for significant fluxes of energy, carbon, nutrients, and water globally. Innovative models for sanitation where infrastructure is presently lacking, along with the retrofitting of conventional wastewater treatment systems for enhanced resource recovery, have the potential to re-shape global biogeochemical flows. This session will explore how sanitation technologies across the spectrum from decentralized passive systems (e.g., pit latrines; septic systems; thermophilic composting) to centralized engineered systems with and without advanced resource recovery impact global flows of nutrients and carbon. We welcome submissions utilizing experimental observations, modeling, and/or life cycle approaches to investigate biogeochemical cycling associated with human sanitation practices across scales from microbiological and/or chemical characterization of treatment processes to regional-scale biogeochemical modeling. We particularly encourage studies exploring the fate of carbon and/or nutrients, such as gaseous emissions and leaching during biological treatment processes, and characterizing recycled wastes and their impact on soil health after land application.
Primary Convener:  Gavin McNicol, Stanford Earth Sciences, Earth System Science, Stanford, CA, United States
Conveners:  Rebecca Ryals, University of California Merced, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Merced, United States and Matthew C Reid, Cornell University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ithaca, NY, United States
Primary Liaison:  Gavin McNicol, Stanford Earth Sciences, Earth System Science, Stanford, CA, United States
Chairs:  Gavin McNicol, Stanford Earth Sciences, Earth System Science, Stanford, CA, United States and Matthew C Reid, Cornell University, Civil and Environmental Engineering, Ithaca, NY, United States
OSPA Liaison:  Gavin McNicol, Stanford Earth Sciences, Earth System Science, Stanford, CA, United States

Cross-Listed:
  • GC - Global Environmental Change
Index Terms:

0414 Biogeochemical cycles, processes, and modeling [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0428 Carbon cycling [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0470 Nutrients and nutrient cycling [BIOGEOSCIENCES]
0499 New fields (not classifiable under other headings) [BIOGEOSCIENCES]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

From Human Rights to Humus: Ecological Sanitation in Haiti (Invited) (452405)
Sasha B Kramer, University of Miami, Miami, United States
Recycling Organic Waste Streams to Improve Soil and Crop Health Using Ecological-Based Sanitation (347539)
Katherine Keith Porterfield, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, United States, Steven Heisey, University of Hawaii at Mānoa, Honolulu, United States, Gavin McNicol, University of Alaska Southeast, Alaska Coastal Rainforest Center, Juneau, AK, United States; Stanford Earth Sciences, Earth System Science, Stanford, CA, United States, Sasha B Kramer, University of Miami, Miami, United States and Rebecca Ryals, University of California Merced, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Merced, United States
Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions during Thermophilic Composting to Evaluate the Climate Mitigation Potential of Ecological Sanitation (EcoSan) Systems (413450)
Gavin McNicol, Stanford Earth Sciences, Earth System Science, Stanford, CA, United States, Sasha B Kramer, University of Miami, Miami, United States, Julie Jeliazovski, Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods Haiti, Port-au-Prince, Haiti and Rebecca Ryals, University of California Merced, Department of Life and Environmental Sciences, Merced, United States

See more of: Biogeosciences