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[[Image:Struvite.jpg|thumb|right|150px|A jar of Struvite]]
Urine is often used as a liquid fertilizer in rural areas due to its highly concentrated nutrient content. The main minerals required by plants are nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus. Urine contains roughly 80% of the nitrogen, 60% of the potassium and 55% of the phosphorus that humans excrete. While nitrogen is relatively easy to obtain from other sources, potassium and phosphorus are more scarce. The only readily available organic source of these is urine. However [[application of urine]] is often unwanted since it is required in large volumes, is inconvenient to transport and has a bad odor. Also it cannot be applied through irrigation systems.
==History and social context==
[[Image:urine collection.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Man collecting urine in jerrycans on his bicycle]]
Pilot studies were conducted by Eawag and UN-Habitat in a peri-urban farming community called Siddhipur in the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal. This was done to investigate the feasibility of urine separation and local struvite production.