Outhouse

An outhouse — known variously across the English-speaking world otherwise as bog, dunny, long-drop, or privy — is a small structure, separate from a house or main building, which covers a toilet. This is typically either a pit latrine or a bucket toilet, but other forms of dry (non-flushing) toilets may be encountered. The term may also be used to denote the toilet itself, not just the structure.

Outhouses were in use in cities of developed countries (e.g. Australia) well into the second half of the twentieth century. They are still common in rural areas and also in cities of developing countries. Outhouses that are covering pit latrines in densely populated areas can cause groundwater pollution.

Design aspects Common features

Outhouses vary in design and construction. They are by definition outside the dwelling, and are not connected to plumbing, sewer, or septic system. The World Health Organization recommends they be built a reasonable distance from the house balancing issues of easy access versus that of smell.

The superstructure exists to shelter the user, and also to protect the toilet itself. The primary purpose of the building is for privacy and human comfort, and the walls and roof provide a visual screen and some protection from the elements. The outhouse also has the secondary role of protecting the toilet hole from sudden influxes of rainwater, which would flood the hole and flush untreated wastes into the underlying soils before they can decompose.

Outhouses are commonly humble and utilitarian, made of lumber or plywood. This is especially so they can easily be moved when the earthen pit fills up. Depending on the size of the pit and the amount of use, this can be fairly frequent, sometimes yearly. As pundit "Jackpine" Bob Cary wrote: "Anyone can build an outhouse, but not everyone can build a good outhouse." Floor plans typically are rectangular or square, but hexagonal outhouses have been built.

The arrangements inside the outhouse vary by culture. In Western societies, many, though not all, have at least one seat with a hole in it, above a small pit. Others, often in more rural, older areas in European countries, simply have a hole with two indents on either side for the user's feet. In Eastern societies, there is a hole in the floor, over which the user crouches. A roll of toilet paper is usually available. Old corn cob, leaves, or other types of paper may instead be used.

The decoration on the outhouse door has no standard. The well-known crescent moon on American outhouses was popularized by cartoonists and had a questionable basis in fact. There are authors who claim the practice began during the colonial period as an early "mens"/"ladies" designation for an illiterate populace (the sun and moon being popular symbols for the sexes during those times). Others dismiss the claim as an urban legend. What is certain is that the purpose of the hole is for venting and light and there were a wide variety of shapes and placements employed.

Toilet types covered by outhouse shelters The shelter may cover very different sorts of toilets.

Pit latrines

An outhouse often provides the shelter for a pit latrine, which collects human feces in a hole in the ground. When properly built and maintained they can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. When the pit fills to the top, it should be either emptied or a new pit constructed and the shelter moved or re-built at the new location. The management of the fecal sludge removed from the pit is complicated. There are both environment and health risks if not done properly. As of 2013 pit latrines are used by an estimated 1.77 billion people. This is mostly in the developing world as well as in rural and wilderness areas.

Bucket toilet

Another system is the bucket toilet, consisting of a seat and a portable receptacle (bucket or pail). These may be emptied by their owners into composting piles in the garden (a low-tech composting toilet), or collected by contractors for larger-scale disposal. Historically, this was known as the pail closet; the municipality employed workers, often known as "nightmen" (from night soil), to empty and replace the buckets. This system was associated in particular with the English town of Rochdale, to the extent that it was described as the "Rochdale System" of sanitation. 20th century books report that similar systems were in operation in parts of France and elsewhere in continental Europe.

The system of municipal collection was widespread in Australia; "dunny cans" persisted well into the second half of the twentieth century, see below. In Scandinavia and some other countries, outhouses are built over removable containers that enable easy removal of the waste and enable much more rapid composting in separate piles. A similar system operates in India, where hundreds of thousands of workers engage in manual scavenging, i.e. emptying pit latrines and bucket toilets without any personal protective equipment.

Drums and barrels in national parks

A variety of systems are used in some national parks and popular wilderness areas, to cope with the increased volume of people engaged in activities such as mountaineering and kayaking. The growing popularity of paddling, hiking, and climbing has created special waste disposal issues throughout the world. It is a dominant topic for outdoor organizations and their members. For example, in some places the human waste is collected in drums which need to be helicoptered in and out at considerable expense.

Alternatively, some parks mandate a "pack it in, pack it out" rule. Many reports document the use of containers for the removal of excrement, which must be packed in and packed out on Mount Everest. Also known as "expedition barrels" or "bog barrels", the cans are weighed to make sure that groups do not dump them along the way. "Toilet tents" are erected. There has been an increasing awareness that the mountain needs to be kept clean, for the health of the climbers at least.

Composting toilets

Worm hold privies, another variant of the composting toilet, are being used by Vermont's Green Mountain Club. These simple outhouses are stocked with red worms (a staple used by home composters). Composting toilets are also subject to regulations.'See Composting toilets bring the outhouse indoors — JSCMS

The "Clivus Multrum" is another type of composting toilet which can be inside of an outhouse.

Others There are other types of toilet that may be covered by an outhouse superstructure, or a toilet tent (e.g. in humanitarian relief operations), or even be installed inside a house that is beyond the reach of sewers. The Swedish Pacto toilet uses a continuous roll of plastic to collect and dispose of waste. Incinerating toilets are installed in several thousand cabins in Norway. These toilets incinerate waste into ashes, using only propane and 12 volt battery electricity.

Public health issues Outhouse design, placement, and maintenance has long been recognized as being important to the public health. See posters created by the Works Progress Administration during the 1930s and early 1940s.

Insect control Some types of flying insects such as the housefly are attracted to the odor of decaying material, and will use it for food for their offspring, laying eggs in the decaying material. Other insects such as mosquitoes seek out standing water that may be present in the pit for the breeding of their offspring.

Both of these are undesirable pests to humans, but can be easily controlled without chemicals by enclosing the top of the pit with tight-fitting boards or concrete, using a sufficiently sealed toilet hole cover that is closed after every use, and by using fine-grid insect screen to cover the inlet and outlet vent holes. This prevents flying insect entry by all potential routes.

It is common (at least in the United States) for outhouses to have a bucket or a bag of powdered lime with a scoop of some kind in it. Either before or after using the outhouse (usually after but sometimes both) a scoop or two of lime is sprinkled into the lid holes to cover the waste as to suppress the odor which also can help with the insect issues. This method of using powdered lime is also used (and for the same reasons) in common/mass graves.

Parasites One of the purposes of outhouses is to avoid spreading parasites such as intestinal worms, notably hookworms, which might otherwise be spread via open defecation.

Uses

Outhouses on mountain peaks On August 29, 2007, the highest outhouse (actually not a building but a pit toilet surrounded by a low rock wall) in the continental United States, which sat atop Mount Whitney at about above sea level, offering a magnificent panorama to the user, was removed. Two other outhouses in the Inyo National Forest were closed due to the expense and danger involved in transporting out large sewage drums via helicopter. The annual 19,000 or so hikers of the Mount Whitney Trail, who must pick up National Forest Service permits, are now given Wagbags (a double-sealed sanitation kit) to facilitate the practice of "pack it in; pack it out." Solar-powered toilets did not sufficiently compact the excrement, and the systems were judged failures at that location. Additionally, relieving park rangers of latrine duty allowed them to better concentrate on primary ranger duties such as talking to hikers. The use of Wagbags and the removal of outhouses is part of a larger trend in US parks. The US National Park Service once built an outhouse that cost above $333,000. In 2007, France's two highest outhouses were helicoptered to the top of Mont Blanc at a height of . The containers from these outhouses are emptied by helicopter. The facilities will serve 30,000 skiers and hikers annually, helping to alleviate the deposit of urine and feces that spread down the mountain face with the spring thaw, and turned it into 'Mont Noir'. More technically, the 2002 book Le versant noir du mont Blanc ("The black hillside of Mont Blanc") exposes problems in conserving the site.proMONT-BLANC Le versant noir du Mont-Blanc. Upon the Mount Elbrus—Russia's highest peak, the highest mountain in Europe and topographically dividing Europe from Asia—sits the world's "nastiest outhouse" at . It is in the Caucasus Mountains, near the frontier between Georgia and Russia. As one writer opined, "...it does not much feel like Europe when you're there. It feels more like Central Asia or the Middle East."Outside Magazine 1993 search and article) The outhouse is surrounded by and covered in ice, perched off the end of a rock, and with a pipe pouring effluvia onto the mountain. It consistently receives low marks for sanitation and convenience, but is considered a unique experience.See "Getting to the Top in the Caucasus" – The New York Times Australia's highest outhouse – located at Rawson's Pass in the Main Range in Kosciuszko National Park, which annually receives over 100,000 walkers outside of winter and has a serious human waste management issue, was completed in 2008. A stone outhouse in Colca Canyon, Peru, has been claimed to be "the world's highest".

History

Old outhouse pits are seen as excellent places for archeological and anthropological excavations, offering up a trove of common objects from the pasta veritable inadvertent time capsulewhich yields historical insight into the lives of the bygone occupants. This is also called privy digging. It is especially common to find old bottles, which seemingly were secretly stashed or trashed, so their content could be privately imbibed.Compare Fossilised feces (coprolites) yield much information about diet and health.

Australia