Hi, Susan,

I've lived on a farm with a septic tank, and I live in a town with a sewer system. The septic tank requires no power. Your toilet uses the water in the tank to flush the commode, which moves the waste into the septic tank. With a new tank, it sits there till you fill it with water, then each flush pushes the overflow into your drainage field, which is downhill from the septic tank.

In our town, we have occasional power outages, and our toilets flush as usual. The treatment building uses electrical power, but I've never had the power out long enough to see what happens - either the treatment center has backup power or it's far enough downhill it never filled up. :->

Here's where you lose the use of your toilet: no water. I was on St. Barth when the island ran out of water. You have one flush, and then the tank doesn't fill. We used water from our swimming pool to fill the toilet.

I expect the water mains to break in the San Francisco Bay Area when we have our earthquake. We have those strong plastic bags for trash compactors and hobbit chips for people who keep gerbils and such (I think it's pine sawdust). When the toilet is dry, put the plastic bag in the commode and use it for dry waste as much as possible (take a leak outside somewhere). Sprinkle with sawdust (or cat litter) till full or too stinky. Take outside and bury the bag in a shallow grave where it won't be stepped on. Repeat as necessary.

When services come back, ask our garbage company how they want to handle the waste. If they can't, who does? Ask till we get the answer. With the waste buried, it's not a high priority, but we will press till we get a way to dispose of the waste safely.