Sewage

Industrial development on Luna should start with remote controlled devices, but eventually the capitol development will make the value of human presence high enough and the expense of supporting people on Luna low enough that there will be people on Luna doing what people do best. Part of the infrastructure to support people will be the sewage treatment facilities. Human waste must be handled very differently than the industrial waste the Luna will need to process from the start of industrial activities.

Begin at the Beginning

Sewage treatment should start at the toilet. Each flush should be an isolated batch of sewage that is subject to automated analysis to insure that it is not contaminated with chemicals or solid foreign objects that would interfere with the recycling process that will be vital to the colony. Pressing the flush button should cause the cause the toilet lid to fasten securely isolating the batch. Scanners will check for the presence of RFID tags which will be incorporated into towelettes that people will use to clean themselves. The towelettes should be disposed of in a separate recycling system specialized for washing them. The presence of a towelette in the toilet bowl will activate an out-of-order signal for maintenance service to unfasten the toilet lid, fix the problem, and return the toilet to service. In case there are no RFID tags in the bowl, automatic machinery will stir the contents and force it through a screen using added water as necessary. Solid objects that do not go through the screen will also activate an out-of-order signal. Automatic chemical analysis will be the last step before packing the batch into a barrel for shipment to the central sewage treatment facility. Sewer pipelines connecting each toilet with the sewage treatment facility would be convenient but there needs to be allowance for the air tight emergency isolation doors which will close automatically in case there is a breach in the integrity of the pressure vessel that forms the compartment in which the toilet is located. Fresh air and stale air ducts will need to have their separate air tight isolation doors in case of emergency, but isolation doors for hot and cold water pipes and sewage pipes would be an excessive complication. In case of a breach, affected compartments will need to function on canned oxygen generators, canned CO2 scrubbing units, and emergency sanitary procedures which might, depending upon the nature of the emergency, result in some stored sewage to be processed later.

Use of Developed Technology

Sewage treatment on Earth has already resulted in a sewage sludge product which can be used to fertilize agricultural fields. On Luna where the process will need to be more carefully controlled, the process should work more efficiently. The potential biological hazard that sewage constitutes will be handled with procedures similar to those used on Earth.

Various Thoughts

• Sewage Treatment is done on most ships. Packaged systems are available.
• How do they handle the problem for Biosphere II?
• How is the problem handled at the South Pole Station? Adapt it for the moon?
• Medications aren't always completely absorbed and will be excreted into the sewage system. A solution for handling them there is required.