Where Does Poo Go?
Do you know? Slate.com has a series of articles on wastewater treatment. The author walked through the sewers of London, visited their wastewater treatment plant, and watched schoolchildren get a tour of another plant.
For me the articles were interesting because it's a complex engineering process, and it involves cleaning up after ourselves so we don't pollute the environment. Not only that, but the author got to walk through sewer systems under London that were about 150 years old. Sweet!
Right now for the class I am taking over here we are compiling data for European lifestyles. The goal is to make a calculator that gives you an idea of the size of your environmental "footprint", based on your lifestyle. Questions asked will be:
How much meat do you eat each week?
How far do you commute to work? Using car, bike, public transport?
How far do you travel for vacations? How often? Using airplanes?
My job is to gather up data on.... wait for it.....wastewater treatment!!
The Slate articles are here, but if that is too intellectual you can look at photos of my brother with cheerleaders here.
For me the articles were interesting because it's a complex engineering process, and it involves cleaning up after ourselves so we don't pollute the environment. Not only that, but the author got to walk through sewer systems under London that were about 150 years old. Sweet!
Right now for the class I am taking over here we are compiling data for European lifestyles. The goal is to make a calculator that gives you an idea of the size of your environmental "footprint", based on your lifestyle. Questions asked will be:
How much meat do you eat each week?
How far do you commute to work? Using car, bike, public transport?
How far do you travel for vacations? How often? Using airplanes?
My job is to gather up data on.... wait for it.....wastewater treatment!!
The Slate articles are here, but if that is too intellectual you can look at photos of my brother with cheerleaders here.
posted by ScottyB at
4:55 AM
2 Comments:
Well I for one applaud your research. I don't think kids these days learn enough about where their poo goes when they flush the crapper (pun intended). One thing that I often wonder about poo is how much money do I save the municipality I live in by doing my business on the throne at work (in another city) rather than at home? Also have you found that waterless urinals are used more in Europe than in the USA? Of course, these are mostly the ramblings of a scatological fool.
By
Anonymous, at 01 May, 2006 14:05
Sir Crapper, your question about using the toilet at home versus at work made me wanna get out my calculator. Look for a response in an upcoming post.
Waterless urinals are not something I've seen alot of in Europe. Rather, I've seen plenty of urinals that are automatically controlled and not flushed often. On the other hand, I've seen some urinals that flush once when you approach them and once when you leave. Weird.
By
ScottyB, at 01 May, 2006 14:57
Post a Comment
<< Home