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November 19, 2007

Focus On Flushing: World Toilet Day

You're going to tell me this is TMI (Too Much Information) but I am tickled by this little tidbit so I am going to share. Your average toilet is going to use several gallons of water each time you flush. Even the low-flow models of late still use about 2 gallons each time you pull the lever. Now for the TMI - I have a pregnant friend (who shall remain anonymous) who has been peeing so frequently of late, she has switched to flushing once every couple trips (in the private of her own home, when no one else is home) to save water. I think that's awesome.

Monday November 19 is World Toilet Day. And no, this is not a joke. Even National Geographic is covering the World Toilet Summit in New Delhi, India this year.

The number of people living in the world without basic sanitation is unbelievable. According to the WTO (not the World Trade Organization but the World Toilet Organization), only about 14% of the world's sewage is treated, the rest is discharged directly into the environment. According to a UN report from about a year ago, about about 40% of the world population lacks basic sanitation, putting them and everyone else at risk of disease, not to mention it has a profound impact on the environment - especially the need for clean, safe drinking water.

Perhaps these numbers don't surprise you. When you think about the Third World, you think of people living in slums, in huts? Well, much of the third world does live in primitive housing.When there are toilets, they are shared by many, many people and you're often safer going elsewhere. For example, I challenge you to find a usable public toilet anywhere outside of tourist facilities in Kenya - especially outside of the major cities. Frankly, much of the time, you may have to squat behind your vehicle while your mates watch for lions. Wouldn't want to be caught with your pants down.

Even here in the US, where we've got numerous toilets in the average household (I've got three), we've still got problems. The water we flush here in the US is generally filtered by sewage treatment facilities. We filter certain stuff out, but we do not filter out everything - treatment generally produces two results: filtered liquid and sludge.The filtration requirements change often and vary by location. Not everything can be filtered for but eventually the filtered liquod meets a set of standards for being disposed of back into nature. The filtered liquid often goes straight into our environment, pumped directly into our rivers and oceans, and what hasn't been filtered out now has the opportunity to affect our environment. In California, for example, California Sea Otters are dying due to a parasite found in flushable cat litter that is reaching the Monterey Bay. Elsewhere, fish populations are reacting to the hormones being flushed by women taking birth control pills.

Last week, the news - all the way up to NPR - was talking about the public interest story about the two young boys who invented "wedgie-proof" underwear, featured on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show." This week at the World Toilet Expo, various sanitation-related technologies are being demo'd. I think we should take the toilet war to the people who will give it the thought it deserves: our toilet-humor loving kids. If every school had an invention convention for toilet tech, imagine what we'd come up with. So many ideas, like the paper toilet seat cover, are so simple but effective for improving sanitation.

Posted by sorsha at November 19, 2007 1:31 AM