Amsterdam Will Harvest Urine for Green Roofs

As part of a campaign for International Water Week, Amsterdam's water corporation, Waternet, will use struvite from donated urine in order to fertilize the city's green roofs.

1 minute read

November 10, 2013, 5:00 AM PST

By NicoleFerraro


"Amsterdam is hosting International Water Week, which seeks to help cities address water challenges including rising sea levels, and growing demands for clean water caused by the world's growing population," writes Rich Heap.

"On Sunday, the city's water corporation, Waternet, installed a set of temporary urinals in La Place de la Bourse. Men are being encouraged to use these urinals so Waternet can collect their urine. It will then seek to extract the phosphates from the urine and turn them into struvite, which is a fertilizer used in agriculture and horticulture."

Thursday, November 7, 2013 in Future Cities

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