A Darkroom in the Sticks - Rural Environmental Technologies

[Ed K.]

Hello LF Experts -

Anyone have a darkroom in a scenic far-off place with no city water or sewer, but plenty of water at that?

I may be moving to a place would be similar to living in a national park in many ways. Scenic, lots of well and surface water, septic system, but no sewer. Naturally (no pun intended), I'll want to have a darkroom to make some great prints of the negs I've been collecting.

BUT - I don't want to run afoul of environmental regulations (can research that easily), and I really don't want to end up drinking cesium chloroplatinate, ferric oxalate, silver salts, or whatever else tends to go with silver and non-silver B&W processes; I also don't want my neighbors kids to be born with 5 arms and one eye or anything else.

Assume that the environmental regs where I will move are pretty tight...

Everything I can think of leans toward separate waste water storage systems and industrial hauling to processing centers for the wash water and chems, and then tanks and conservation measures to supply enough water to wash, etc. It sounds like a regular good sized engineering project big enough to make me rent an industrial facility many miles away instead.

And well, I sure don't want to be stuck doing inkjets for my final prints. I figure I can afford about 10 grand for environmental systems, especially if they minimize hauling liquids out.

Does anyone have ideas or tips to share from their experience doing darkroom work on their property in a rural area, or an unincorporated area that still has pretty stiff environmental regulations? (and of course, this assumes that you actually comply with the laws willingly) If you have more than 7 legs/arms/antennae, or can produce cold-bath processed Ziatypes by breathing on the paper, you need not answer.

Thoughts on this much appreciated...

[Louie Powell]

The Peters Valley Craft Center operates a large teaching darkroom in their facility which is in the middle of nowhere in western New Jersey - within the boundaries of the Delaware Water Gap Recreational Area and under the careful supervision of the National Park Service. Water comes from a well, and effluent goes into a septic system. They probably have people working in the darkroom three or four days a week, year round (during the winter, the darkroom is used by a local community college). There is no problem

Three people live in our house. We probably generate a couple hundred gallons of elluent each day, Flushing a toilet generates 1.3 gallons alone.

I am able to get into my darkroom about twice a month. Each session generates about 5 gallons of effluent. While I don't want to drink it, the actual chemical component of the effluent is fairly small. So compared with our normal effluent load, the darkroom in insignificant.

In fact, there are only two chemicals used in an average darkroom that are the least bit harmful. One is used fixer because it contains silver, a heavy metal. It can be rendered harmless by simply allowing it so sit in a pail for a couple of days with a bit of steel wool - the silver ions are exchanged for iron, with the silver precipitating a sludge, while iron in water is innocuous (the water coming into our house already has iron in it).

The other is selenium toner. If it is used to exhaustion, the resulting liquid is fairly harmless. In fact, minute amounts of selenium are good for flowers, especially roses.

So the whole matter of contamination of the environment from home darkrooms is vastly overexaggerated.

[John Powers]

You might search here and on APUG.org, re: septic systems, wells, rural or country darkroom, Jobo, etc. I live in the country a mile up hill from a national park, have a septic system and well, a darkroom, a Jobo and the normal number of toes. What most have said is that the fixer is the problem. The other chemicals have already been modified by law to meet standards and can be diluted and washed down the drain.

Concerning yourself only with fixer narrows down the volume significantly. Many pour it straight or diluted onto their flowers. Some get a five gallon bucket with a lid from Home Depot and let the fix mix with steel wool for a week. You then dispose of the steel wool which has drawn in the nasties and throw the fluid on the daisies. I am told there are commercial facilities (your local may differ) that take or pick up nasties. Again we are talking a very small volume. My local university considers running student darkroom fixer through their silver processor a public green gesture. It helps that I take courses there in my retirement. The point is that the problem may be much smaller than your post would indicate and there may be many ways to address the problem specifically in your area. Perhaps if you mention the area someone can write from experience.

On the other hand for ten grand I will be happy to buy you a tank and steel wool, stop by periodically, what ever scenic place you are moving, pick up the steel wool and dispose of it at the local waste processing facility. Maybe that is the part time retirement business I should start to fund my photography and other hobbies.

Enjoy,

John

[Nathan Potter]

Ed, I had a darkroom setup in my MA house with a septic system. Septic systems are pretty sturdy with regard to effluent - mainly you don't want to kill the active bacteria. But I also had a nearby well so I used two strategies. I used two waste streams; one directly to the septic system via the normal sink drain; the second to a small holding tank with a level sensor. When the tank was full a small chemical pump (polypro centrifugal) pumped the liquid thru two ion exchange resin beds in fiberglass cylinders then to the normal sink drain. The chemistry that contained heavy metals or uncertain other contaminents got poured into the holding tank and sent through the resin beds. I borrowed a resistivity meter to check the ohm-cm resistivity of the resin bed effluent on ocassion to make sure it was practically drinkable > than say 2 Megohm. Wash water, stop bath and any other caustic or acid liquid went right to the sink drain with considerable dilution - that's OK for the septic system. There's a bit of plumbing involved in all this but the system worked fine. By the way I was a water commissioner for the town so perhaps I had to over do things a bit for image, but you know those pesky enviro freaks. You'll have to dig a bit on google to locate ion exchange beds and containers and also be aware of what ions are removed based on the various chemistries you're using.

[Ed K.]

So far, great input - a relief to be sure, and so far, thanks for comments!

I believe that the silver stuff is more commonly known than the alternative photo stuff. Bear in mind that alt photo processes involve many more kinds of metal salts, acids and special forms of metals. Chrome alum, dichromates, and the like may be part of the picture too. I could skip carbon printing, but I definitely want all the forms of Zia and regular pt/pd printing if possible. It's true that with Zia's, no developer is needed (even though I like cold bath with Zia), but pt developers are poisenous.

I recall reading some notes about platinum green, etc., however the assumptions seemed to be based on "don't know yet" and regular city sewer / high dilution.

All good so far though, and again, so far, thanks!

[Glenn Thoreson]

The normal home darkroom and it's resulting effluent are not harmful to a properly designed and installed septic system. Follow the basic advice mentioned, in regard to silver and other heavy metals, and use selenium to depletion. You'll do perfectly fine. If stalks with eyeballs start growing out the septic tank, move.

[Annie M.]

I live on a small acreage on a cliff above the ocean. My domestic water comes from a stream and rain water harvesting. Water waste disposal is by septic system. I do not put anything into my septic system that I would not put on or in my body.

ALL photographic chemistry contains compounds that are hazardous to humans or the environment... the effluent that flows into the septic system eventually flows to the groundwater and to the coastal marine ecosystem... why would I poison my subject matter?

I use rainwater for processing (high tannins in the stream). I do an initial rinse and put that with the spent chemistry into a large holding drum outdoors for evaporation (screened to protect the creatures) the concentrate that is left goes to a commercial lab and they dispose of it with their spent chemistry.

Sounds like you are moving to a special place you may wish to keep it that way.

Cheers Annie

[Ed K.]

AM - indeed, a special place and one that needs to be kept that way. Interesting thought to evaporate the water from the worst of things. Also, I noticed that steel wool does start the breakdown / precipitation of many pt / pd compounds. Hmmm, I wonder what a nice wad of pt plated steel wool might be worth...

Indeed folks - my first concern is that I want to keep my own environment in great shape whether the law requires it or not, and secondarily, I wish to comply with laws to the fullest extent.

Of course, I'll be out of luck when photography is declared illegal someday...

[Brian Schall]

The reality is more and more products are turning up in the environment via septic systems and sewage treatment plants than were ever expected. The industry calls them PCPP's, personal care products and pharmacueticals. Things we use on our bodies, things we put into our bodies, things we clean our house with. This I know because I am a state regulator in the septic program. We have no idea what photo chemicals do because no one has studied it, and it's not a big enough segment to study.

My rule of thumb is simply: If you don't want to drink it or have your neighbor drink it, don't put it down the drain.

[Annie M.]

Kodak says not to put your chemistry in the septic system they have a publication that may be helpful....

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/servi.../faq5026.shtml