Flush toilets and conventional sewage treatment plants are very wasteful in water consumption and are also very polluting. To address the problems of conventional wastewater treatment facilities. Ecological Sanitation experts around the world, are designing alternative systems designed to mimic nature. These alternative systems use man-made ponds, constructed wetlands and designed soil filters to transform wastewater.

The Findhorn Ecovillage in Scotland has actually created a ‘Living Machine’ that uses natural non-chemical biological systems to clean sewage and creates a mini-ecosystem within a greenhouse environment, mimicking nature's own water cleaning system. Diverse communities of bacteria, algae, micro-organisms, numerous species of plants and trees, snails, fish and other living creatures interact as whole ecologies in tanks and bio-filters. (www.ecovillagefindhorn.com). People at the Auroville Centre for Urban Research in Pondicherry have also done a lot of work in this area.

Recycle your wastewater relatively inexpensively, with minimal distribution costs, and the bonus of reclaimed resources ready to feed your garden or fishpond, or flush your toilets and water your lawns!