Emergency Toilets
If the water lines are damaged or if damage is suspected, do not flush the toilet.
The water remaining in the fixture is not sufficient to flush the wastes down the sewer.
Clogging may result and your living conditions then become just that much more uncomfortable.
A latrine— a hole dug in the ground to collect human waste —
is not appropriate and illegal in urban locations because they contaminate the water table.
Untreated raw sewage can pollute fresh ground water supplies.
To create a temporary, emergency toilet for safely collecting and handling human waste:
- Locate toilets at least 100 feet away
from food preparation or eating areas and surface water bodies such as lakes, rivers, streams, and at least 100 feet downhill or away from any drinking water source (well or spring), home, apartment, or campsite.
- Provide a way to keep toilet paper clean — off the ground and protected from rain.
- Provide a place next to the emergency toilet to wash hands.
Offer soap, running water, and paper towels.
- Have nearby a deodorant/disinfectant spray such as
a solution of 1 part liquid bleach to 10 parts water.
Spray this into the container after each use and before tieing the bag.
- Have nearby a twist tie to securely close up the bag after use.
- Keep doors and covers tightly closed when the toilet is not in use.
This keeps out insects and animals and prevents injury.
- Always supervise small children when they are using the emergency toilet.
To convert a flush toilet or to make an emergency toilet from a 5 gallon pail:
- Line the inside of a toilet bowl, pail, or another appropriately sized waste container
with two heavy-duty plastic 10 gallon garbage bags.
The second bag protects from leakage.
- Place kitty litter, fireplace ashes, or sawdust into the bottom of the bags.
- At the end of each day, the bagged waste should be securely tied and removed to a
protected location such as a garage, basement, outbuilding, and so on,
until a safe disposal option is available.
- During a declared emergency, these bags may be included with the regular garbage
if a public announcement has been made that allows this method of disposal.
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Adapted from
King County Department of Public Health
"Sanitation and Hygiene In An Emergency" by the US Department of Homeland Security
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Keeping Clean (all the ways)
Wacky uses for household products, by Joey Green
The Letter from Jesus
