An excellent report from Rocky but I have to say I'm not convinced the same system will work on the Whitney corridor. The key to the Rocky report seems to be weekly (!) maintenance and hauling out the solids. The USFS has a very poor record of being able to maintain anything in a remote wilderness setting. Not their fault, mostly. A combination of budget constraints and commitment.
The original Whitney toilets seems to have failed because of poor design and infrequent maintenance. The two that were built could, literally, be smelled 1/4 mile away on a bad day. I believe construction and maintenance exceeded $50,000 at least. That kind of money just doesn't exist for federal agencies anymore. Poor maintenance required that 50 gal. drums of human waste were stored nearby until they could be hauled out.
This isn't to say that, under ideal conditions (careful engineering and a guaranteed budget for, say 10 years) a system similar to Rocky couldn't be built... . I just doubt it could be maintained. As tight as budgets are for NPS, they're far worse for USFS (Inyo/Whitney corridor). To me, it's not worth taking the risk of another expensive failure.
How much of that money could otherwise be used to hire a ranger and llama, say, to pick up the abandoned wag bags?? Much more efficient use of the money and likely cheaper.
George
None of the views expressed here in any way represent those of the unidentified agency that I work for or, often, reality. It's just me, fired up by coffee and powerful prose.
