BACKGROUND: The unresolved urine problem

By Tapio Mainio
     
      The increased interest in outdoor activities and physical exercise has shown itself in the outdoor centres run by Suomen Latu [The Central Association for Recreational Sports and Outdoor Activities] in the Helsinki area.
      The 12th year of the Paloheinä skiing area has seen more than 30% more comers than in the previous record season.
     
The same goes for similar recreation centres at Oittaa in Espoo, on Töölönlahti in downtown Helsinki, and at Kuusijärvi in Vantaa: all have served a greater number of people than before, as many as 120,000 altogether.
      The draw of the great outdoors and doing things such as skiing and hiking is also visible in the numbers of registered Suomen Latu members, which have gone over 75,000 for the first time this year. Ten years ago the organisation had 40,000 members.
     
The hikers and skiers in Lapland leave a distinct footprint, and not always for the good.
      Right now, on the site at the Hannunkuru wilderness huts, staff from Metsähallitus are pondering how the vexed problem of urine getting back into the ground can be resolved with the soon-to-be refurbished latrines.
      Thousands of hikers show up at the hut each year, winter and summer.
      The wear and tear on the undergrowth is changing the original fragile fell nature just as much as the lavatory wastes are causing eutrophication of the local waters.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 13.4.2006

More on this subject:
 More and more people hiking in the Lapland wilds
 Grooming the ski-trails starts at 4 a.m.

Links:
  Suomen Latu in English
  Paloheinä
  Pallas-Yllästunturi National Park