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Choose your overall sanitation strategy

Decide between a wet system (flush toilets to septic or treatment plant), a dry system (composting, urine-diverting or incinerating toilets with separate greywater treatment) or a hybrid. This choice drives water demand, power needs, site layout and approvals.

How

1. Wet system: familiar to users and inspectors, but needs suitable soil, space for a drainfield and a reserve area, and regular pumping.
2. Dry system: saves flush water and keeps nutrients out of groundwater, but greywater still needs treatment and the household must handle compost or urine safely.
3. Hybrid: for example a composting toilet plus a small greywater system, with one flush toilet for guests connected to a septic tank.
4. Check early whether your authority accepts dry toilets as the main toilet. Some require a full septic system anyway.
5. Record what each option needs from other systems: pumps and fans need power, dry toilets need a supply of bulking material, wet systems need more water.

Sources

1. Types of Septic Systems. US Environmental Protection Agency, accessed 2026-11
2. Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies (1st edition). Eawag-Sandec, accessed 2026-11
3. Composting Chamber (adapted from the Eawag Compendium of Sanitation Systems and Technologies). Akvopedia, accessed 2026-11

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