What most people cherish as modern-day sanitation has come a long way: from wooden stools with holes poked in the middle to latrines, and even the modern-day defecator, which comes with a box and a lid.

But where did it all begin?

The Evolution of Modern Toilets 

In 1596, Sir John Harrington invented a raised water container with a small pipe through which water would flush down upon release by a valve.

And in 1775, Alexander Cummings from Scotland designed and patented a plumbing system that allowed standing water to capture and trap sewer gases. It came to be popularly known as the S-trap. 

This was later on improved to the device popularly used today; the modern flush toilet.

The Imperfections of The Modern Toilet 

Although this toilet technology is widely used worldwide, the modern flush toilet uses up to 6600 gallons of water per user in a year. 

This makes you cringe, right?

Such a waste!

On the one hand, approximately 1.8 billion people worldwide don’t have access to clean and safe drinking water. 

And on the other, 2.3 billion people worldwide are facing diseases and severe health hazards due to a lack of safe sanitation. In short, the wastewater and underground sewer systems are not elaborately connected to treatment plants.

Imagine the number of children who lose their lives annually due to poor sanitation and lack of safe drinking water. The numbers are worse than tuberculosis, HIV, and measles combined!

That’s what should run through your mind each time you make that 6600-gallons worth of flush when you visit the bathroom.

Something needs to be done. Fast.

Which begs the question, can this situation be helped?

Absolutely. 

Waterless toilet technologies are evolving fast and could fix the world’s water problems. 

Connecting the underground sewer systems to wastewater treatment plants seems like a logical solution.

Perhaps even helping more households gain access to modern sanitary systems, but it’s not enough. Not with the water-hogging toilet systems that are commonplace in most modern households.

The Groundbreaking Nanotechnology: Reinventing The Modern Toilet 

The inability to access water and the unsanitary conditions surrounding nearly 40% of the world’s population necessitated the need for a waterless system with the potential to turn the situation around.

This is how the Waterless NanoTechnology Toilet design came into play with the help of researchers at Cranfield University.

Bill and Melinda Gates were so impressed by this design when it caught their attention that they awarded a whopping $710,000 for its development.

The trial phase was set to take off in Africa, and as the developers at Cranfield University started the lab prototype development, it attracted an additional grant to support the emerging technology.

The Nano Membrane toilet design is lauded as a revolutionary waterless plumbing technology that is set to change the lives of more than 2.4 billion people worldwide who face imminent danger as a result of inaccessibility to clean running water and poor sanitary conditions.

Since the technology is so promising, it is believed that with the additional grant, which is way higher than prior funding made towards the project, the easy to use Nanotechnology toilet will largely impact the lives of its users.

This waterless plumbing design is set to improve poor urban dwellers’ lives since it is developed to accommodate areas that are easily accessible for maintenance technicians.

Should the technology viability prove worthwhile in the cities, the developing team will venture into other remote areas where proper sanitation is a major nightmare due to several factors.

How Does The Nano Membrane Toilet Work?

Despite its complex design, the Bill Gates Nanotechnology toilet is lauded for its ease of use and its nature as a promising future sanitary solution for modern households.

Since it runs on batteries, this waterless plumbing facility is suitable for off-grid applications. It will be of huge benefit to remote households since the end products from the wastes can be utilized to generate energy.

The Bill Gates Nano Membrane toilet is built with a rotating toilet bowl with a vat underneath. As a user answers to their call of nature, on completing their business, they are expected to close the lid of the toilet bowl, which then rotates at a 270 degrees angle pouring the poop into the container beneath.

A scraper tool is provided to be used in scrapping off any remaining poop from the toilet bowl, pushing the solids to the bottom of the vat while the liquid rises to the top.

Located within the vat chamber are numerous extremely thin fibers commonly referred to as nanofibers, whose key purpose is pee harvesting.

They collect the water vapor in the pee or any liquid waste and assist in transporting it up the vertical tube built-in at the rear end of the toilet.

The extremely thin fibers are bundled together in the chamber for ease of condensing the vapor into the water and allowing it to flow back downwards through a tube into a tank situated at the front side of the Nano toilet.

The battery-powered system enables the waterless plumbing toilet to lift the solid waste that remains in the vat into a separate holding chamber.

A scent-suppressing wax is applied to mask any foul smells in the holding chamber before it is left to dry out.

Upon complete separation of the water and the solid waste, the water can then be treated and used by households for cooking, cleaning their homes, tending to plants, watering edible gardens, and bathing.

The solid waste, which is the end product, can be transported to a thermos-processing plant for conversion into energy for domestic use by the community.

A local maintenance technician is put on standby for weekly visits around the community, ensuring the replacement of toilet batteries is done when necessary. They also help in the removal of solid waste and water.

The Upside of the Nano Membrane Toilet

• For proper installation and maintenance of the Nano toilets, a good number of people need to be identified and trained to safely and effectively maintain the toilets. This will create numerous job opportunities despite the rigorous training and the length of time required to understand the system designs fully. 

The Limitations

However, the developers are back to the drawing board, hoping to devise a better way of disposing of used toilet paper in the future.

Consideration is being made to burn the waste paper after use, an act that might not be the most environmentally friendly disposal method, after all.

On the positive side, though, burning could leave a much smaller footprint on the environment while adding more years to the lives of the people. Think win-win.

Other Waterless Toilet Technologies

As more people embrace green living, the waterless toilet is fast gaining popularity among modern households.

With so much information available on the internet about new toilet systems and how you can maximize their benefits, it can get pretty confusing if you are just starting out.

To gain some insight into the tips, tricks, and trends of waterless toilets, this article is a good place to begin.

Meanwhile, here are other waterless toilet technologies that are on the lips of green living enthusiasts.

1. Composting technology

This waterless sanitary system involves the breakdown of human wastes through a process known as decomposition. This process uses natural bacteria to turn the wastes into end products that can be used on the soil to enrich it with nutrients. If well sterilized, it can be used to grow edible plants.

Fear of foul smells has been a major impediment in the uptake of composting toilets among modern households. However, if well installed and maintained, then composting toilets can be as clean and smell as fresh as the conventional flush toilet. Quit living in Fear Ville.

How It Works

The composting toilet has a compost container installed beneath the toilet bowl. It can also be a separate remote location near the home. The waste collects and empties into the underneath compost box for natural decomposition to occur every time the toilet is used.

The toilet’s affordability and use of basic materials make it possible for homeowners to use sash and sawdust to remove any foul smell from the toilet and to help in the decomposition process. The waste is left to completely break down and decompose before it is transferred to the non-edible gardens for soil enrichment.

Interested in composting toilets? Here are the 7 Best Composting Waterless Toilet Dry Flush Systems and How They Work.

2. Incineration technology

The revolution in sanitary technologies has seen another emerging waterless technology which works by combustion. The wastes are burnt till they form sterile ash through a process known as incineration. The ash is then dumped in a waste container for safe disposal.

How It Works

The incinerator is a system built to run on fuel such as natural gas, diesel, or propane for use in the torching process. An exhaust pipe on the incineration chamber transports the feces and other waste through to the combustion chamber. For human waste to burn to sterile ash, it takes an enormous amount of energy to accomplish. This makes its need for fuel to be off the roof. Another downside of this toilet technology is that poop seriously stinks during incineration though the stench is short-lived.

3. Poop vaporization technology

Thanks to the innovation of WATER Labs, a toilet company, poop can be vaporized to dispose of human waste and ensure proper sanitation.

The toilet technology works by vaporizing the 75% water present in human excretion to convert the poop into very minute dried turds.

The plumbing technology is lauded as a potential sanitary breakthrough for its ability to function well for a long time without immediate maintenance.

This makes it an excellent system for improving the livelihoods of an estimated 2.6 billion people in developing countries who don’t have access to toilets.

 How It Works

The toilet gives the feel of a traditional toilet since they resemble in appearance. The major difference is that this waterless device sits on top of a box and is built with a wide vent. The toilet has a collection barrel containing exclusive moisture-sucking material known as polymer embedded on its pouch lining.

The polymer’s work is to draw out and exhaust all the water in the excreta that collects within the drum. What remains in the barrel is a dehydrated solid waste with zero moisture content.

A bad odor may be a concern with this toilet as the vaporization process emits foul smells.

However, since separating the water from the solid wastes is so rapid, the whole thing is almost stink-free. An additional filter was also built inside the device to help with any foul stench.

Wrapping Up

The modern toilet concept still has a long way to go in meeting the sanitary demands of the growing population around the world.

Waterless plumbing is changing the way the world poops and is gaining popularity thanks to its props for green living. 

Reinventing the modern toilet is inevitable. And if you’ve not caught up with waterless plumbing, then it will surely catch up with you.