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Nov 6, 2008 12:24 PM | 2
If you care about global health, sanitation or just clean water, then you'll care about the eighth annual World Toilet Summit and Expo in Macau, China. This conference of the World Toilet Organization (not to be confused with that other WTO) aims to figure out how to get some form of sanitation to the planet's 2.5 billion people—more than one in three— who do not have proper toilets.
The lack of such basic facilities leads to contamination of food and water, disease, and a host of other environmental and health problems. The solution may seem simple, but it’s not: the developed world's flush toilets will not work in areas where water is scarce.
Some possible remedies include dry latrines, cooking fuel made from fermented human waste (biogas) and even solar-powered toilets. They may not be as fancy as the robo-toilets of Japan, but they get the job done.
Credit: istockphoto.com
Tags:
health,
shit,
clean water,
toilet,
water,
latrine,
water pollution,
sanitation
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2 Comments
Add CommentOk, if solutions based in new technologies has prevailed in the arguments of that meeting. I hope that the conference barely have not flushed more red tape, graft and perks.
Reply | Report Abuse | Link to thisThe associated reference of Powwows to sanitation was upsetting and inappropriate. I was disappointed in Sci-Am to see this headline as I would expect more sensitivity to Indigenous Peoples of North America and cultural practices. Sci-Am should issue an apology and retract this awful statement.
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