Composting toilets at Sperry - 1994

[llholmes1948]

(A lot of money and effort. Too bad they were a failure.)

From the Yesterdays Column of the Hungry Horse News:

30 years ago

March 10, 1994

Preliminary plans for composting toilets, new water and waste disposal systems were released for Granite Park and Sperry Chalet, estimated to cost $4.2 million. In the past, Park workers would periodically drain septic tanks onto the ground at the chalets — a practice that attracted grizzly bears to the area — and waste would sometimes bubble to the surface through outdated drain fields.

[mattB]

Its surprising there wasn't some performance guarantee in the contract for the composting toilet?

I had a chat with the ranger who was maintaining the toilets at Sperry and it sounded like they never made it through the first winter. I understand that its a harsh climate, but its not like snow and sub-zero winter temps were a surprise. If it wasn't going to work, then the money could have been spent on a much better system for collecting the waste and containing it for easier transport out. Or maybe just a dehydrating system, so there'd be less material and less weight to transport out?

[llholmes1948]

I don't have a great understanding of the history of these toilets at Sperry. When we stayed there in July 2001 there was a park employee at Sperry whose sole job was to maintain the composting toilets. Was that the first year they were in use? When we returned in 2008, the composting toilets were no longer. I don't know when the Park Service declared them to be a failure but I don't think they lasted long.