Even in so-called developed societies people need reminding not to chuck inappropriate objects down their flush toilet. Here in Yorkshire, England, the local water supply and sewerage undertaker, Yorkshire Water, has all sorts of problems due to this. Here what it says on its webpage Bin it. Don’t flush it:
Yorkshire’s sewers are being abused and it’s causing all kinds of problems. You wouldn't believe some of the things we find down the sewer − nappies, false teeth, fat, Christmas trees and even a Spacehopper! As funny as that sounds, all of these things can cause the sewer to stop working and this can lead to flooding. 50% of all blockages are caused by people putting the wrong things down the sewer and the effects can be very unpleasant.
Numptee is the cartoon star of Yorkshire Water’s campaign to get people to stop doing this – you can “check out his videos to find out how he’s creating all kinds of havoc in his home by putting the wrong things down his toilet and sink.”
In Victorian times ‘Cleanliness was close to Godliness’ – but we don’t seem to really value hygiene as we did a hundred years ago. I wonder why. See: Health/hygiene, sanitation, and water: Is cleanliness next to whatever has replaced godliness? by Astier Almedon.
About Me
- Duncan Mara
- University of Leeds, United Kingdom
- I'm an emeritus professor of civil engineering at the University of Leeds in England. I've been working on low-cost sanitation in developing countries since the mid-1970s, and also on low-cost wastewater treatment and reuse. I was a lecturer at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, 1970-73 and then a senior lecturer at the University of Dundee, Scotland, 1974-79 before moving to Leeds in late 1979. I was a visiting professor of sanitary engineering at the Universidade Federal da Paraiba in Campina Grande, northeast Brazil, during 1976-95, and since 1996 I have been a visiting professor of environmental engineering at the Instituto Cinara, Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia.