Moving forward despite the snow

I'm dealing with this down turn in the weather the same way in which I am dealing with the down turn of the economy. I'm putting my hands over my ears and saying 'I can't hear you!'. I figure if I ignore them long enough, both will end up whooshing away in a puff of smoke.

So today I ordered Winnipeg's first ever evaporating toilet. With my new expansion the city of Winnipeg Property and Planning made a public toilet a necessity for my plan. Not an easy proposition as my shop is not hooked up to the City of Winnipeg waste and water system. I have 2 underground holding tanks that I get water hauled into and used liquid hauled out of. The location of the tanks made putting a public toilet on them nearly impossible, plus they are not sized for such needs. My water system is also one of the many reasons that I don't stay open through the winter.

I had done some research on composting toilets and found in the process that it is against a new city of Winnipeg bylaw to install a composting toilet if your building is hooked up to the City of Winnipeg waste and water system. This bylaw came into being after Mountain Equipment Coop hooked up a composting toilet system. Not really understanding the process of composting human waste, the powers that be were concerned with the final product from the composting toilets being left out for the garbage crews to pick up. Thus the bylaw. Which I find interesting as Winnipeg's septic system can't meet our city's needs; the city dumps raw effluent into the river several times a year when the system can't cope with the volume. But I digress.

So after much research and pricing out, I found a toilet that unlike composting toilets needs no electricity to run, needs no PH management, and needs emptying only every 4 years. The evaporating toilet! Check out www.swsloo.com who are a distributor of the enviro loo toilets.

Once I have it installed and up and running for every one's use I'll be keeping some stats to chart its performance. You may find a clipboard in the loo this year to check off a list of inputs. Don't worry, I won't ask for names. If it performs well under my conditions, I'll know if I should recommend it to other organizations or not. It could be the ideal system for cottages, parks, camps, or other areas where water conservation and waste management is an issue.

It was very expensive, so I really want everyone to tell me how lovely it is when you see it.

Now I just need for it to warm up and stop snowing!

Think spring thoughts..

Erin