Human Urine
Soiled Crops
Every day I let my dog out to the backyard. He does an entire lap around the yard while marking his territory. One time I noticed that while doing his little routine, he would always piss on this particular plant like if it were a fire hydrant or something. At that time I thought he would eventually kill the plant, I mean its piss he is pouring on it right? However, to my amazement the plant survived after two full weeks of this special treatment. Not only did it survive, it actually flourished more than some of the other plants surrounding it. Since my dogs urine had such effects on the plant, I wondered if my own would provide the same results. But instead of acting like a dog and soiling my own yard, I will explore the pros and cons of using human urine as a fertilizer.
The first step in finding whether human urine can be used, as a fertilizer is understanding how we produce urine itself. In humans, soluble wastes are excreted primarily by the urinary system as urine. The urinary system consists of the kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra. The kidneys extract the soluble wastes from the bloodstream, as well as excess water, sugars, and a variety of other organic compounds. This mixture of substances then flows from the kidney through the ureter, bladder, and finally the urethra before passing from the body (Karak and Bhattacharyya 401). Now that we have a concept of how urine is made, our next step in determining whether urine can be used is as a fertilizer is learning what urine is made of. To start, urine is principally water. It also contains an assortment of inorganic salts and organic compounds, including proteins and hormones. Though urine varies in appearance, normal urine is a transparent solution ranging from colorless to amber but is usually a pale yellow. Normal human urine is odorless, but if left in the open for some time it changes to a distinct ammonia smell. Some of the main components of urine are ions like sodium,
Every day I let my dog out to the backyard. He does an entire lap around the yard while marking his territory. One time I noticed that while doing his little routine, he would always piss on this particular plant like if it were a fire hydrant or something. At that time I thought he would eventually kill the plant, I mean its piss he is pouring on it right? However, to my amazement the plant survived after two full weeks of this special treatment. Not only did it survive, it actually flourished more than some of the other plants surrounding it. Since my dogs urine had such effects on the plant, I wondered if my own would provide the same results. But instead of acting like a dog and soiling my own yard, I will explore the pros and cons of using human urine as a fertilizer.
The first step in finding whether human urine can be used, as a fertilizer is understanding how we produce urine itself. In humans, soluble wastes are excreted primarily by the urinary system as urine. The urinary system consists of the kidneys, ureters, urinary bladder, and urethra. The kidneys extract the soluble wastes from the bloodstream, as well as excess water, sugars, and a variety of other organic compounds. This mixture of substances then flows from the kidney through the ureter, bladder, and finally the urethra before passing from the body (Karak and Bhattacharyya 401). Now that we have a concept of how urine is made, our next step in determining whether urine can be used is as a fertilizer is learning what urine is made of. To start, urine is principally water. It also contains an assortment of inorganic salts and organic compounds, including proteins and hormones. Though urine varies in appearance, normal urine is a transparent solution ranging from colorless to amber but is usually a pale yellow. Normal human urine is odorless, but if left in the open for some time it changes to a distinct ammonia smell. Some of the main components of urine are ions like sodium,