I signed up to attend a discussion and tour of the Marshfield Wastewater Treatment Plant today. It was organized by the campus organization called "L.I.F.E.", Learning Is ForEver and is listed as a learning in retirement organization. I have learned that many colleges and universities have learning in retirement organizations.
I recently saw an article about the Bronte sisters who died young. The idea was that the water they all drank was part of a drainage pattern that included water that flowed through a graveyard and the graves in it. The idea of drinking water that ran through a decaying body is not an appealing one.
I very much enjoyed "The Demon Under the Microscope" by Thomas Hager, the story of the development of antibiotics. Specific illnesses were successfully held in check by medicines well before unknown and complicated mixtures of infectious agents could be halted. Hager says a big turning point was the attack on Pearl Harbor. Science had found sulfa drugs and by then, penicillin.
I usually hear about washing hands and basic sanitation being responsible for longer, healthier lives. The book "How We Got to Now" by Steven Johnson, and the PBS tv show of the same name, make clear that it is modern health practices of sanitation that matter as much or more than complex medical procedures.
Our presenter today made it clear that the effluent produced by our wastewater and toilets can be handled but it helps the process to abide by the motto "No wipes in the pipes". Our presenter, Joel Goham, showed us the difference between toilet paper in water (which dissolves quickly and conveniently) and ordinary tissue/facial paper which does not. He emphasized that most paper products that are labeled "flushable" are a bother and an expense and should not be in the wastewater system.
