Reclaiming human “waste” as a resource protects watersheds from nutrient pollution while giving farms a local, sustainable source of fertilizer. Communities across the Cape and Islands are actively exploring urine diversion as an affordable, practical strategy for reducing nutrient pollution, including a funded pilot project underway in Falmouth.

But applying fertilizer made from diverted urine on farmland raises new questions: What happens to the residual medicines in our urine? What about pathogens, heavy metals, and PFAS? Rich Earth will share the latest research on the safety of urine fertilizer, and place it in the context of other common farm inputs including irrigation water, manure, and biosolids. This presentation will support informed decision-making for safe human waste management, clean water, and fertile farms.

Join us at the Clean Water Center on Saturday, September 19th, 10am-2pm for Wastewaterpalooza Open House which includes a number of fun as well as educational activities for the whole family.

For decades, Hilda Maingay and Earle Barnhart of The Green Center have welcomed visitors to experience their home’s ecological solar home design and source-separating sanitation as working systems—not simply ideas.

Since 2023, the Green Center has partnered with Talitha Abramsen, Founder and Convener of the Wastewater Innovation Network as well as Creator and Organizer of VIPee Tours. Talitha’s VIPee Tours are immersive field trips exploring the connections among housing, clean water, climate, conservation, and public costs.