The goal of building a better toilet, like building a better mousetrap, sounds like the lead-in to a bad joke.
But the worldís sanitation problems are a deadly serious issue, and a new initiative launched Tuesday by Bill and Melinda Gates has the laudable goal of improving sanitation in the worldís poorest regions. Their philanthropic foundation, which previously has designated hundreds of millions of dollars to improve education, will provide $42 million in grants to ěreinvent the toilet.î In reality, the program envisions going far beyond improvements in the familiar fixture thatís been around since the 1800s. Because many of these third-world regions lack water and sewer infrastructure the project will promote better sanitation through toilet alternatives ó safe and affordable latrines, systems that convert human waste into energy and fertilizer and waste-disposal devices that donít require external water and sewer connections or electrical power.
Worldwide, thereís a staggering need for an all-out campaign to eradicate sub-standard sanitary conditions.
40 percent of the worldís population lacks access to safe, sanitary toilets.
About 1.5 million children die each year from illnesses related to food and water tainted with human waste.
Of the 60 million people added to the worldís towns and cities every year, most inhabit slums and shanty-towns with no sanitation facilities.
This kind of outreach isnít new. Many religious and non-profit organizations devote volunteers and money to water and sanitation projects in third-world villages. (One such organization, Wine into Water, founded by former bartender Doc Hendley, will be the subject of a presentation at this weekís youth environmental summit at the Center for the Environment at Catawba College.) But the Gates initiative will operate on a larger scale and draw in scientists and researchers from academia as well as the private sector. For instance, in one project already under way, a team at Stanford University plans to build a disposal system in Nairobi that could process two tons of waste daily by turning it into a type of charcoal used for carbon capture. Those kinds of breakthroughs are possible when Windows-type innovation meets the conventional water closet.
In America, we take modern water and sewage systems for granted, being far-removed from the cholera and typhoid epidemics that once ravaged our cities. Yet a significant portion of the world lives without these basic facilities. The Gates initiative holds the promise of reducing illness and preventable deaths for millions of the worldís poorest people.