Meet Mr. Toilet

February 26, 2018 7:58 PM

Meet Mr. Toilet Think shit is something you shouldn’t talk about? Think again. Why the “unglamorous” world of sanitation deserves more attention—yes, even from you.
posted by ocherdraco (9 comments total)

When I was little my dad (a politician) took the family to LA to look at their sewage plant. Really, there are very few things more important in modern government than what to do about all the shit.

Here in Victoria, we've been fighting about it for decades. We still dump ours into the ocean. Mr. Floatie is not amused.
posted by klanawa at 8:53 PM on February 26, 2018 [3 favorites]

I'll be honest, I bought this book mainly for its excellent title. Turned out to be a fascinating read as well.
posted by Paul Slade at 9:31 PM on February 26, 2018

I suspect that, although American society accords enormous respect to doctors, it is really the designers of modern sanitation systems who are primarily responsible for the massive improvements in life expectancy and public health in many parts of the world in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
posted by a certain Sysoi Pafnut'evich at 9:54 PM on February 26, 2018 [13 favorites]

Chicago reversed a river (in the middle of the night) so they could send their shit downstate rather than into the lake and their drinking water supply. They also converted a quarry into a massive 8 billion gallon toilet bowl to catch rain overflows. And it is not sufficient for heavy rainfall!

The shit must flow.
posted by srboisvert at 5:07 AM on February 27, 2018 [1 favorite]

Not to mention that every building in Chicago was lifted on screw jacks to facilitate gravity-driven plumbing. That’s an impressive feat of engineering. As I understand it, that’s why there’s Wacker Dr and all those roads that run under the city.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:50 AM on February 27, 2018

Also Mr. Toilet seems very charming. I like him, and he’s doing good work.
posted by shapes that haunt the dusk at 9:50 AM on February 27, 2018

If you enjoyed the Origin of Feces, you'll love The Big Necessity.

No, seriously, I just heard of Origin of Feces in Paul Slade's link above, but it sounds like it focuses more on the historical and environmental impacts of feces, whereas Rose George's amazing Big Necessity is the story of the humanitarian and epidemiological struggle for adequate lavatories. As in, there are already education-challenged communities that can't use their schools because there's no clean, safe place to shit at school.
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:25 AM on February 27, 2018

(much of chapter 3 is about Mr Toilet himself, Jack Sim and his World Toilet Organization, with fascinating side trips into HIV activism and guerrilla fighters)
posted by ivan ivanych samovar at 10:33 AM on February 27, 2018

I did not read the article, so I am assuming Mr. Toilet is voiced by Jon Hamm.
posted by littlesq at 9:38 PM on February 27, 2018