Lets take Sewage for example. Talk to most folks and they see it as a liability. A problem, a danger to our soils and our water supply. Go to any third world country and you’ll understand what I mean. Even our civilized centers in the Western World have a sewage system that is gradually falling apart. The replacement cost is probably in the trillions. Part of the problem is people just don’t want to deal with it. They want it flushed away as quick as possible never to be seen again. Frankly I don’t blame them. The problem is it becomes part of our sewer system which is supposed to end up at the sewage plant. What most don’t realize is if there is a flood, as in heavy rain, that sewage ends up in our rivers and streams. Some cities in the United States flood rivers with sewage more then 50 times a year. Guess who gets that water downstream? Right. You do. Thus the water has to go through processing and cleansing and chlorination so that it becomes drinkable. Just because you want the problem of sewage flushed away as quickly as possible.

So is there a solution? You bet. There are a multitude of solutions but a lot of them follow the same old principle of flushing away the problem. I think part of the problem today is that there are so many ideas that most of us just give up in frustration and stick with what we know best. Or we come up with oppositions to change simply because what we have works. But you see that is part of the problem. Change doesn’t come until we start to take a serious look at the flaws in the system. And change doesn’t come until we realize how expensive it is to replace aging systems. There are so many stories of people who refuse to think ahead and only think of todays budget and how much the city can afford. So cheap systems are built and leave it to the children of tomorrow to deal with the problems that are sure to come.

But there are better methods but first we must stop looking at sewage as a liability and see it as a benefit. For example there are systems in place to burn animal sewage which can then provide electricity. I believe this can also be done with human sewage. But imagine something better. That not only could you burn sewage to provide electricity but the emissions could then be turned into fuel for vehicles or powering other machinery?

Raw sewage or even mixed sewage may be beneficial to crops but the smell of it is something that few want spread out over their land. And frankly no matter how beneficial it is I tend to agree with them. So what else can we do with it? The answer is in natural wetlands. This may sound like a crazy idea but nature has the ability to reuse and recycle using natural methods that we just can’t reproduce artificially. This is not an original idea but it is an important one which can change the way we dispose of our waste. I do know that if done properly there is no smell issue and plants, algae and so forth cleanse the water so the water that comes out is nature clean. Is that better then spending billions on treatment plants? I realize there is still a need to dispose of sewage. The last thing we want is open canals filled with garbage, old tires, and crawling with effluent. But a system where each home is required to use low-flush toilets and no flush urinals would reduce what goes into the system. Sludge collection centers where the solids are collected, burned and turned into clean electricity would mean we all contribute. These sites could also be vehicle filling up stations using the gaseous by products. There are companies such as EFTI which are already using this technology. It is not a joke or a pretentious idea. It just requires money and a way of rethinking the way we use and recycle.

All of us have choices and all of us must decide what kind of future we want to live in. Sewage doesn’t have to be a problem but can become part of the solution. We just need to see things in a new way so that our children will have clean water and enough electricity and fuel to provide them with health and happiness.