Leatherhead Matters

AS the world celebrates World Toilet Day today, sanitation experts in Australia  have called for the end of the flushing dunny to save water and provide fertilizer for crops.

Leading health advocates have called for the use of “dry” toilets which separate urine from faeces and remove the need to flush.

Speaking at the recent World Toilet Summit in Macau, World Toilet Organisation founder Jack Sims said the concept of the flushing toilet was unsustainable.

Mr Sims said a culture where people flushed their loos but disregarded the thousands of litres of wasted drinking water each year was one of sanitation’s greatest challenges.

“This ‘flush and forget’ attitude creates a new problem which we have to revisit,” he said.

There have already been calls by Australian experts to reduce the amount of water wasted through toilet flushing with a proposed new toilet tax.

Adelaide University’s Water Management Professor Mike Young said the tax would encourage people to take shorter showers, recycle washing machine water or connect rainwater tanks to internal plumbing.

“Some people may go as far as not flushing their toilet as often, as the less sewage you produce the less the rate you pay,” Professor Young said.

Top of the range

If you aren’t flushed with enthusiasm by a third-world toilet, Time magazine recently revealed the world’s most expensive toilet.

The sophisticated lavatory from Japanese manufacturer Toto features a self-raising or closing toilet lid, a seat-warmer and ambient music to make relieving yourself as pleasant as possible.

Several of these features are already the mainstay of upper-class Japanese restaurants, while some of the top range models can even check blood pressure, urine protein, weight and body fat.

Now if only people could figure out how to use the Toto without having to read the 50 page Japanese manual!!

H/T News.com.au