Night Soil
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Night soil is a historical
euphemism A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens,
septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment ...
s, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers employed in this trade. Sometimes it could be transported out of towns and sold on as a
fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...
. Another definition is "untreated excreta transported without water (e.g. via containers or buckets)". Night soil was produced as a result of a
sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
system in areas without sewer systems or
septic tank A septic tank is an underground chamber made of concrete, fiberglass, or plastic through which domestic wastewater (sewage) flows for basic sewage treatment. Settling and anaerobic digestion processes reduce solids and organics, but the treatment ...
s. In this system of waste management, human feces are collected without dilution in water. Night soil is largely an outdated term used in historical contexts, while fecal sludge management remains an ongoing challenge, particularly in
developing countries A developing country is a sovereign state with a less-developed Secondary sector of the economy, industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to developed countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. ...
.


Collection and disposal

Feces were excreted into a container such as a chamber pot, and sometimes collected in the container with urine and other waste ("slops", hence slopping out). The excrement in the pail was often covered with ashes or earth (soil), which may have contributed to the term "night soil". Often the deposition or excretion occurred within the residence, such as in a shophouse. This system may still be used in isolated rural areas or in urban slums in developing countries. The material was collected for temporary storage and disposed of depending on local custom. Disposal has varied through time. In urban areas, before deep drainage, a night soil collector usually arrived during the night, hence its name. The vehicle used for collection has been called a night-cart, and its operator a night-man or night-cart man. In isolated rural areas such as in farms, the householders usually disposed of the night soil themselves.


Uses in agriculture

Human excreta may be attractive as
fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...
because of the high demand for fertilizer and the relative availability of the material to create night soil. In areas where native soil is of poor quality, the local population may weigh the risk of using night soil. The use of unprocessed human feces as fertilizer is a risky practice as it may contain disease-causing pathogens. Nevertheless, in some developing nations it is still widespread. Common parasitic worm infections, such as
ascariasis Ascariasis is a disease caused by the parasitic roundworm ''Ascaris lumbricoides''. Infections have no symptoms in more than 85% of cases, especially if the number of worms is small. Symptoms increase with the number of worms present and may in ...
, in these countries are linked to night soil use in agriculture, because the helminth eggs are in feces and can thus be transmitted from one infected person to another person ( fecal-oral transmission of disease). These risks are reduced by proper fecal sludge management, e.g. via
compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...
ing. The safe reduction of human excreta into compost is possible. Some municipalities create
compost Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...
from the
sewage sludge Sewage sludge is the residual, semi-solid material that is produced as a by-product during sewage treatment of industrial or municipal wastewater. The term "septage" also refers to sludge from simple wastewater treatment but is connected to si ...
, but then recommend that it be used only on flower beds — not vegetable gardens.


History


Ancient Greece

The use of sewage as fertilizer was common in ancient
Attica Attica (, ''Attikḗ'' (Ancient Greek) or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the entire Athens metropolitan area, which consists of the city of Athens, the capital city, capital of Greece and the core cit ...
. The sewage system of ancient
Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...
collected the sewage of the city in a large reservoir and then channelled it to the Cephissus river valley for use as fertilizer.


China, Hong Kong, and Singapore

The term is known, or even infamous, among the generations that were born in parts of China or Chinatowns (depending on the development of the infrastructure) before 1960. Post-
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
Chinatown, Singapore, before the independence of Singapore, utilized night-soil collection as a primary means of waste disposal, especially as much of the infrastructure was damaged and took a long time to rebuild following the Battle of Singapore and subsequent Japanese occupation. Following the development of the economy and the
standard of living Standard of living is the level of income, comforts and services available to an individual, community or society. A contributing factor to an individual's quality of life, standard of living is generally concerned with objective metrics outsid ...
after independence, the night soil system in Singapore is now an anecdote from the time of colonial rule when new systems developed. The collection method is generally very manual and heavily relies on close human contact with the waste. During the Nationalist era when the
Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...
ruled
mainland China "Mainland China", also referred to as "the Chinese mainland", is a Geopolitics, geopolitical term defined as the territory under direct administration of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in the aftermath of the Chinese Civil War. In addit ...
, as well as Chinatown in Singapore, the night soil collector usually arrived with spare and relatively empty honey buckets to exchange for the full honey buckets. The method of transporting the honey buckets from individual households to collection centers was very similar to delivering water supplies by an unskilled laborer, with the exception that the item being transported was not at all potable and it was being delivered ''from'' the household, rather than ''to'' the household. The collector would hang full honey buckets onto each end of a pole he carried on his shoulder and then proceeded to carry it through the streets until he reached the collection point. Chinese has a similar euphemism for night soil collection, ''dou2 je6 hoeng1'', which literally means "emptying nocturnal fragrance".


Japan

The reuse of
feces Feces (also known as faeces American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, or fæces; : faex) are the solid or semi-solid remains of food that was not digested in the small intestine, and has been broken down by bacteria in the ...
as fertilizer was common in Japan. In the city of Edo, compost merchants gathered feces to sell to farmers. That was good additional income for apartment owners. Human excreta of rich people were sold at higher prices because their diet was better; presumably, more nutrients remained in their excreta. Various historic documents dating from the 9th century detail the disposal procedures for toilet waste. Selling human waste products as fertilizers became much less common after
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, both for sanitary reasons and because of the proliferation of chemical fertilizers, and less than 1% is used for night soil fertilization. The presence of the United States occupying force, by whom the use of human waste as fertilizer was seen as unhygienic and suspect, was also a contributing factor: "the Occupationaires condemned the practice, and tried to prevent their compatriots from eating vegetables and fruit from the local markets".


Mexico and Central America

Various Mesoamerican civilizations used human feces to fertilize their crops. The Aztecs, in particular, are well known for their famous chinampas, artificial islands made of mud and human waste used to grow crops that could be harvested up to seven times a year. Current research has placed the origins of chinampas in an Aztec town of Culhuacan in the year 1100 C.E. They were constructed by first fencing an area between 30 m x 2.5 m and 91 m x 9 m, using wattle. Then filled in with mud, sediment, feces and decaying vegetation. To stabilize the chinampas, trees were often planted on the corners, primarily ''āhuexōtl'' ('' Salix bonplandiana'') or ''āhuēhuētl'' ('' Taxodium mucronatum''). Chinampas were very common before Spanish conquest and are still found in Mexico today.


United Kingdom

In Britain during the Medieval period, it was not uncommon for
human feces Human feces (American English) or faeces (British English), commonly and in medical literature more often called stool, are the solid or semisolid remains of food that could not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine of humans, but has b ...
to be spread on farms for use as
fertilizer A fertilizer or fertiliser is any material of natural or synthetic origin that is applied to soil or to plant tissues to supply plant nutrients. Fertilizers may be distinct from liming materials or other non-nutrient soil amendments. Man ...
. A gong farmer was the term used in Tudor England for a person employed to remove human excrement from privies and cesspits. Gong farmers were only allowed to work at night and the waste they collected had to be taken outside the city or town boundaries. The rapid industrialisation of England during the 19th century led to mass urbanisation, over-crowding, and epidemics. One response was the development of the "Rochdale system", in which the town council arranged for the collection of night soil from outhouses attached to each dwelling or group of dwellings (see pail closet). A later response was the passage of the Public Health Act 1875, which led to the creation of byelaws regarding housing, mandating one outhouse per house. These were "earth closets" (not water closets i.e. WCs) and depended on "night soil men" or "nightmen".


Australia

Before reticulated sewerage systems replaced them, major cities in Australia had a nightsoil collection system, with its own special terms. "Nightsoil" was collected from " dunnies" (outhouses/water closets) at the rear of dwellings, often accessed by "dunny lanes" (narrow laneways) by a "dunny man" (a nightsoil collector). Most inner-city areas were connected to the sewer in the early 1900s, but it was not until the 1970s that all suburban areas were sewered. ee Sheppard v Smith [2021NSWSC 1207 at paragraphs 22 and 29">021.html" ;"title="ee Sheppard v Smith [2021">ee Sheppard v Smith [2021NSWSC 1207 at paragraphs 22 and 29


Current examples


India

People responsible for the disposal of night soil were also in India. The tradition widely persists as the law is difficult to enforce. This "manual scavenging" is now illegal in all Indian states. The Indian government's Union Ministry for Social Justice and Empowerment stated in 2003 that 676,000 people were employed in the manual collection of human waste in India. Social organizations have estimated that up to 1.3 million Indians collect such waste. Further, workers in the collection of human waste were confined to marriage amongst themselves, thereby leading to a waste-collecting caste, which passes its profession on from generation to generation. Employment of Manual Scavengers and Creation of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993 has made manual scavenging illegal.https://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/1581/1/199346.pdf


Japan

Modern Japan still has areas with ongoing night soil collection and disposal. The Japanese name for the "outhouse within the house" style toilet, where night soil is collected for disposal, is ''kumitori benjo'' (汲み取り便所). The proper disposal or recycling of sewage remains an important research area that is highly political.


See also

* Composting toilet


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Night Soil Environmental soil science Composting Feces Euphemisms