Aerobic means decomposed with oxygen loving microbes. Gives off methane, CO2, etc. Better compost, more like soil. Anaerobic means composted with oxygen hating microbes. Give off hydrogen sulphides, (rotten egg odor)CO and CO2. Makes a fouls smelling, watery compost. Given enough time, it will break down to usable stuff.
Water from sources other than human waste, etc. dishes, showers, hand washing.
Black water
Human waste water, containing urine and /or fecal matter.
Composting toilets
Dry toilets that use no water. The fecal matter is collected in the toilet and composted.
Cesspools
A lined or unlined hole in the ground that water containing contaminants is run into. The solid wastes stay in the hole and the liquid leaches into the ground. The wastes eventually anaerobically compost.
Septic tanks
A septic tank is a two compartment tank. The first tank is a settling section. It has a surface baffle to keep floating things out of the main tank. The settled water exits at the far end through a pipe. Usually the effluent water is run into a drain field in the ground, called a leach field. The tank has to be periodically pumped to remove solid wastes. It is an example of anaerobic composting. The wastes do not decompose well, so they build up.
Leach fields
A leach field consists of a series of ditches or a large hole. The field is usually rather shallow, less than six feet deep maximum. Perforated pipes are laid in the field and covered with gravel. The field is backfilled. Waste water from a septic tank runs into or is pumped into the leach field and the water is leached gradually into the ground.
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