14 DAY TRIAL // What in the world could be more comfortable that the flushing toilet? Still, some researchers fear that this will trigger an environmental disaster in the western world. More ecological toilets, like the "squat toilet" in which one squats over a hole dug in the ground, are common in parts of Asia, Europe and Africa, but after decades of flushing, who the heck could use something like that?
"Most people can hardly imagine that other ways of handling human waste have ever existed. But actually, systems did exist prior to the flushing toilet where human waste was collected within the cities and re-used in farming areas." said co-author Maj-Britt Quitzau, an environmental sociologist with the National Environmental Research Institute of Denmark.
The flushing toilets are huge consumers of precious, potable water. A 2001 research showed that annually, a person will waste on average about 4,000 gallons (15,000 l) of drinking water to get rid of 75 pounds (34 kg) of feces and 130 gallons (490 l) of urine.
Shortages of drinking water represent a huge issue for millions of people in India or many African countries, while Westerners embrace their water wasting system. But flushing toilets have a history of about just one century. In the 1850s, a recycling "earth toilet" was common.
It was made of a seat located over a container filled with dry earth. After use, dry earth was thrown into the container. The waste was not discarded, but employed in agricultural fields as fertilizer. But the introduction of sewer systems in major cities and changed attitudes toward human wastes was a blow for the labor-intensive method. The flushing toilets were an easy and enclosed way of removing the waste, even if they required water consumption and sewage system.
"Even with its added expense, city planners and health personnel became some of the principal spokesmen for flushing toilets. They were troubled about the problems that growing urbanization brought along in the Western cities at this time," said Quitzau. In Stockholm, the number of water-flushing toilets increased from 127 in 1890 to over 80,000 in 1925, while the environmentally earth closets, regarded as less sanitary, disappeared.
Researchers are testing alternatives. Composting toilets (in which bacteria are used to transform feces into fertilized soil) need no water and urine-separating toilets require just a minimal amount of water to remove waste into one of two compartments in the bowl. But these technologies cannot be applied in developed countries where houses and blocks are designed to flush it all away.
"Perhaps sometime in the future, people in Western cities could accept the idea of using human urine and feces as resources instead of as wastes." said Quitzau.
And the proposed alternatives are regarded as unsanitary.
"Composting toilets are unfavorable because, although much improved technologically, they still remind people of ancient, unappetizing waterless technologies, such as the earth closet or outhouses. Building flush-free toilets to satisfy the masses will not be simple and, unlike the composting toilet, may require mimicking toilets that flush and must be user-friendly." said Quitzau.
"This is not something, which can be suddenly changed. Houses are built with respect to flushing toilets, not with respect to composting toilets requiring a collection chamber in the basement. Urban planners are taught about sewage systems and not sustainable toilet systems, where human urine and feces are collected and transported to farming areas. Currently, toilet technologies are focused on convenience, comfort and design, rather than sustainability", she added.
The vacuum toilet, used in airplanes, could be more appealing to Westerners, as it works somehow similarly to a flushing toilet, but as they are energy consuming, this is not a good tradeoff for the flushing toilets.
The best option should piece together the comfort offered by flushing toilets with the sustainability of composting toilets.
"The stability of flushing toilets is still strong, and it will take both technological advancements and changes in social and cultural patterns in order for more sustainable toilet solutions to gain a stronger foothold," Quitzau said.