A Darkroom in the Sticks - Rural Environmental Technologies

[NER]

There's no need for complicated water treatment waste treatment systems, hiring waste disposal companies, killing off your septic tank, or losing sleep over related matters. Keep it simple and inexpensive. For aqueous chemistry, consider the option of collecting your spent solutions in one or more receptacles of sufficient size, durability, and type for your volume of work (e.g., polyethylene stock tanks). Place the receptacle(s) outdoors in a covered and secured location and manner that will not allow birds or other animals to get into it (e.g. a secured screen top). Let the water evaporate. Periodically collect the remaining solids and take them to the nearest household hazardous waste collection facility (HHWCF) in one or more labeled containers - there is typically no charge for this service. For spent non-aqueous wastes, collect these in suitable small, labeled containers, and take these to the same HHWCF. When dropping off anything at a HHWCF you will need to leave the container. Your containers for these purposes should be relatively small to facilitate handling by the HHWCF.

N. Riley
https://normanrileyphotography.com

[Rick A]

Every few months I toss one of these in the toilet:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Green-Go...17A6/206337694

About 6 years here with film/paper development in a basement darkroom going to a septic tank. No problems.

This, plus it's prudent to have the septic tank cleaned (solids sucked out) at least every five years. This isn't my first home with a well and septic system, I dump spent developer, stop, and wash water down the drain, everything else goes into a slop bucket to evaporate.

[esearing]

I would not dump green gobbler down my drain ...

Green Gobler is the only thing that seems to work on horizontal pipe clogs. Like Potassium Permanganate it oxidizes quickly and breaks up organic matter to help push it to the septic system. Can be totally neutralized with a half pint of Hydrogen Peroxide with no effect to Fish or wildlife. Then a bacterial product can be added to boost septic response and activity.

[jnantz]

Green Gobler is the only thing that seems to work on horizontal pipe clogs. Like Potassium Permanganate it oxidizes quickly and breaks up organic matter to help push it to the septic system. Can be totally neutralized with a half pint of Hydrogen Peroxide with no effect to Fish or wildlife. Then a bacterial product can be added to boost septic response and activity.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I still would not have added that kind of stuff to any septic system when I was on it. im glad you and others have found it useful. sorry to be real, and I mean no disrespect but, most people don't read instructions until after they f*cked something up and then they claim it was the product's fault. they "wing it".

[barryjyoung]

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...

Hey Ed:

I recently moved to the middle of a 1.5 million acre National Forest. You can see my darkroom in a post here "Starting the darkroom build. What to consider". I do not personally use cesium when processing, so your situation is perhaps different than mine. We are on a well. After reading your well crafted post, I will have to look into my effluents more closely.

A small part of why I only do B+W now is the nastiness of the chemistry used in color processing. If I were on city water, that might be less of a concern.

Thanks very much for bringing this up.

Barry Young
Young Camera Company

[Tin Can]

My location WAS called Little Egypt and clear cut before Statehood as the Pilgrims were scared in deep forest

True story

They burned and wasted the soil so much everybody went somewhere else, but watched The Trail of Tears death march

Lucky for me the GREAT Depression somehow just happened!

Then the govmint set up a big camp for wage slaves during the GREAT depression

ONLY UNMARRIED MEN allowed in camps, they replanted trees, made a State Park, 1929 nice Lodge I visit as often as possible, before the Sickness

They made dams to get us clean water, all flows down the Big River

Coal mining destroyed the land under my very old house

I doubt my tiny bit of chems are any problem

Oh I forgot USA ONLY Nuke fuel factory is 50 miles away

Be well and of good cheer!