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Human waste (or human excreta) refers to the waste products of the human digestive system, menses, and human metabolism including urine and feces.As part of a sanitation system that is in place, human waste is collected, transported, treated and disposed of or reused by one method or another, depending on the type of toilet being used, ability by the users to pay for services and other factors.
The benefits to society of managing human excreta are considerable, for public health as well as for the environment. As a rough estimate: For every US$1 spent on sanitation, the return to society is US$5.50. [23]: 2 For developing countries, the economic costs of inadequate sanitation is a huge concern.
Human feces photographed in a toilet, shortly after defecation.. Human feces (American English) or faeces (British English), commonly and in medical literature more often called stool, [1] are the solid or semisolid remains of food that could not be digested or absorbed in the small intestine of humans, but has been further broken down by bacteria in the large intestine.
In the case of human feces, fecal transplants or fecal bacteriotherapy are in use. Urine and feces together are called excreta . Skatole is the principal compound responsible for the unpleasant smell of feces.
Urine varies in appearance, depending principally upon a body's level of hydration, interactions with drugs, compounds and pigments or dyes found in food, or diseases. [8] Normally, urine is a transparent solution ranging from colorless to amber, but is usually a pale yellow. [ 8 ]
Night soil is a historically used euphemism for human excreta collected from cesspools, privies, pail closets, pit latrines, privy middens, septic tanks, etc. This material was removed from the immediate area, usually at night, by workers employed in this trade.
The eggs from helminths (parasitic worms) are a commonly used indicator organism to assess the safety of sanitation and wastewater reuse systems (such schemes are also called reuse of human excreta). [ 40 ] : 55 This is because they are the most resistant pathogens of all types of pathogens (pathogens can be viruses , bacteria , protozoa and ...
When properly built and maintained, pit latrines can decrease the spread of disease by reducing the amount of human feces in the environment from open defecation. [4] [8] This decreases the transfer of pathogens between feces and food by flies. [4] These pathogens are major causes of infectious diarrhea and intestinal worm infections. [8]