3. Compost and Water
Compost and Water Quality thus composting methods must be carefully managed to reduce those risks. In hot composting systems like aerated static piles, there is no concern of pathogens surviving the process. However, in a worm compost system, awareness of potential pathogens is important since they could both harm the worms and survive/proliferate in the moderate temperatures of the worm composting environment.
Reflect How will you mitigate pathogenrelated risks in the way you compost at your home, farm, or ranch?
Water running off of compost production systems may contain some microbes and other chemicals that affect water quality. This section addresses the different types of contaminants that might be found in feedstocks and whether they can survive the composting process or be chemically transformed.
There is growing interest in composting feedstocks such as human waste, but from a safety and regulations perspective, composting these wastes is a different category than animal manure and food scraps. There are ways to compost these products safely and effectively as well, but we are not covering them in detail here. The Humanure Handbook: Shit in a Nutshell by Joseph Jenkins is a good starting place.
Disease Some feedstocks such as meat, dog poop, or certain greywater may contain microbes that can cause disease (“pathogens”) in humans, plants, or other organisms, and
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