Why Flushing Isn't For Everyone

Will the future contain fewer sewers and more clever crappers? To learn more about reinventing the toilet, and how we can help improve the lives and health of people around the world in general, visit gatesnotes.com/

time to science the crap out of this

I know you can't give examples for every technology, but it does feel a little bit like "here's the sewerage-alternative startups Gates has invested in" rather than an independent assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of the options.  For one, why would a brand new sewer be built as a combined waste and rainwater system? That's a valid issue with existing old systems, but the setup of this video as about building-out into areas with no legacy infrastructure. Others have of course also mentioned stuff like composting toilets, which don't even get a brief aside here. And I would normally expect a bit more of an analysis of the energy cost of some of these alternatives from you. Obviously in a solar-rich but water-poor area, boiling a bit makes sense — but there's also tons of areas which are marginal in both which these options might be too energy-intensive to be practical. At least on an individual ownership level, which would seem to be the implied default for this stuff.

I feel like saying "monsoons can overwhelm treatment plants" without further investigation implies that there isn't a solution to that problem, but there is: separate stormwater and sewage lines.

I remember a diseases in Africa documentary that mentioned the implementation (even if they were in beta) of the solar toilet. It hand-crank "flushed" and it took about three days to make it viable as fertilizer. I was fascinated.

Sometimes I think about how far removed we are as people from knowing about how our own existence works. 200 years ago, you knew where your poop went no matter what. Now I'm learning it through a YouTube video while pooping. Life is beautiful that way

Watching this on the toilet

I live in Hawaii and i have a Composting Toilet. We dont have sewer or water lines in the remote areas of Hawaii. Also Septic tanks are expensive, and Soil is a valuable commodity on the Big Island. So being able to make poop into Soil is a good way to make soil for your yard to plant fruit trees and vegetables

I laughed at the discussion of monsoons overwhelming systems. In New Zealand this is a yearly, if not quarterly or monthly issue. Centralised complex infrastructure not built/maintained to handle existing weather events (let alone our changing climate), regularly overwhelmed and dumping untreated sewage into our coastal waters and waterways. This regularly makes entire city beach-scapes unswimmable and unsuitable for food harvest - yet we seem afraid of the hyper-localised effects a miss-managed household composting system or micro-grid could have. +1 to being shocked that composting systems were not discussed. None of these feel like a sensible way forward in terms of technology, energy and materials.

The “turdally awesome” comment followed by a solid 3 seconds of awkward pause was the single best decision in editing history 😂

There is nothing wrong with septic tanks. If they are well build, they can last for decades with minimum maintenance. Also, there is nothing wrong with using more water if it is green water, such as water from rain or rivers that does not need to be processed. Water will not just disappear.

Shouldn't the overwhelming sewers issue only apply if the rain drainage system and sewage system is connected? It's seems natural but nothing says they need to be handled by the same pipe. And even if you want to do that as a cost cutting measure, you can just divide the pipe into a top and bottom part so it can be separated at the treatment facility to cleanish street water and very bad sewage water.

Fun fact, vacuum toilets are a thing for years! Here in the Netherlands we like to install them on trains so they don’t need to carry loads of water which they dumped on the tracks while riding. Instead, vacuums here compress your poo and suck all the water out leaving a cleaner experience for everyone.

My cats screaming and running around my house since they pooped right as I started to play this. Zoomies have never been timed so well

I always find this channel informative and entertaining, but presenting a primary barrier for sewer adoption as "cost" and then finishing with "this video was made in partnership with Bill Gates" really just makes it sound like you're ghoulishly defending a billionaire's investments over a very real, existing solution that could save millions of lives.

In the US; Septic Tanks are very common, per household. Based on waste amount, I would need a septic tank pumped every 10-30 years. They are very economical, and my grandparents had one installed, and manually pumped it out every year, and used it as fertilizer for the surrounding areas.

What about composting toilets? Are they too expensive as well? Seems like they'd also be a viable alternative and the tech already exists and is ready for prime time.

1:45 In India, building septic tanks deep within the ground at the commencement of building your house is a common and very widely (above 95 %) used practice. Even in areas where your earlier given 3 conditions do not apply at all. In fact, I was shocked and amazed to see that in the USA, all the toilets are directly connected to sewer lines and poop flushed directly into them. 😁

i think generally ok video but you missed one there are spetic systems that have a 4 speration tanks. the first settlement tank has a gas off that fills a gas bag that then the gas is used for the gas cooker and the gas central heating, the second settlement tank (like in a standard system) also biodegrades the next lot of settlement, the third tank is filled with gravel and sand and filters the water with the water for the forth tank coming fromt he bottom of the third, and the fourth is a pit with rocks in it, all tanks create their own alga and bacterea and the water that comes back out is clean the final tanks drains in the soil around it and if you plant reeds and willow or similar plants the root system does the final clean but even after tank 3 the water is mostly safe to drink, plus you get cooking gas. the solids from the first and second tank can be added to a standard compost heap and break down further.

the cost per user of the proposed solution would be much greater than the one of a sewage system. Implementing that in an area with low gdp per capita is much less efficient, and much more profitable for the company that sells it. What is it that the gates foundation is trying to achieve here?