There is an interesting book worth knowing about. It is called "The Big Necessity:The Unmentionable World of Human Waste and Why It Matters". It is written by the British writer Rose George. It seems odd at first. The whole thing is about one subject: human defecation!
Here is what one reviewer had to say about the book: “In Rose George’s hometown in England, impoverished immigrants took up residence in the new public latrines. (‘Fighting over the more spacious disabled cubicle was fierce.’) Which is worse? Living in a toilet or living without one? George bravely—and sometimes literally—submerges herself in the tragedy and occasional comedy of global sanitation. Sludge, biogas, New York City sewage: I ate it up and wanted more! The most unforgettable book to pass through the publishing pipeline in years.”—Mary Roach, author of Stiff .
See the Amazon.com page about the book for more 'pungent' reviews. This one by Mary Roach stood out for me since she is herself the author of "Stiff: The Curious Lives of Cadavers", which is also an odd and memorable book. "Stiff" is about the many adventures and contributions to humanity made by cadavers.
The Big Necessity has lots of shocking facts. The author relates visiting a restaurant in an African country. She asked where the bathroom was and was led by the waiter outside to a small separate building. Upon entering, she found only a white tiled room with totally nothing in it. She was confused and went back and found her waiter. He half-smiled and half-smirked and said impatiently," You just go on the floor. What did you expect? This isn't America."
George says that 2.6 billion people, more than a third of all of humans alive now, have no toilet facilities whatsoever. The book is copyright 2008. She makes herself clear:"I don't mean they have no toilet and must use a public one with queues and fees. Or that they have a outhouse or a rickety shack that empties into a filthy drain or pigsty. All that counts as sanitation, though not a safe variety. 4 of 10 people have no access to any latrine, toilet, bucket or box. Instead, they defecate by train tracks or in the forest." Milwaukee and Galway, Ireland had had pollution problems from organisms from feces getting into the water supply. Ennis, Ireland has not drinkable water from the same problem. Milan, Italy started using a water treatment plant in 2005 and Brussels, Belgium in 2003. These are advanced countries. You can imagine the situation in poor ones.
Since 1993, 935 million gallons of "pure, raw, untreated sewage" has been poured into Lake Michigan from the Milwaukee sewer system, which, she says, is designed to do exactly that dumping to avoid flooding when the sewer system gets too full of rainwater.
The book is available now and may be in your local library. Seems like a good one to request your library purchase if it hasn't. A paperback of it will be out available from Amazon on July 7.
