Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human (PHLUSH) will celebrate World Toilet Day on November 19th in Port Townsend. The local nonprofit collaborates with Local 20/20 and the Jefferson County Department of Emergency Management on sanitation preparedness for a pipe-destroying Cascadia Subduction Zone earthquake.
The World Toilet Day event will be held at 4pm at the Tin Brick, 232 Taylor St, Port Townsend, Washington 98368. PHLUSH Board President Hayley Joyell Smith will be on hand to meet community members and PHLUSH volunteers. At 5pm PHLUSH incorporation in Washington State as a 501c3 nonprofit will be heralded with a Virtual Ribbon Cutting.
PHLUSH believes that toilet availability is a human right and that well-designed sanitation systems restore health to our cities, our waters and our soils. Through education and advocacy, PHLUSH helps local governments and citizen groups to provide equitable public restroom availability and to prepare for a pipe-breaking seismic event with appropriate ecological toilet systems.
Founded in Portland, PHLUSH today is a 501 c3 organization that collaborates with groups across North America. It is a member of the World Toilet Organization and a partner in the Sustainable Sanitation Alliance.
Launched by World Toilet Organization (WTO) Founder Jack Sim on November 19, 2001, World Toilet Day is now led by the United Nations to promote action to bring toilet systems to 2.4 billion people living without them.
World Toilet Day Facts: The scoop on poop
2.4 billion people live without improved sanitation and one in ten of our global neighbors has no choice but to defecate in the open. Diarrhoea kills 750,000 kids a year and and is the leading cause of malnutrition and stunting in those who live. (1)
Worldwide demand for sanitation professionals is mushrooming. Water and wastewater treatment plants in the United States plan to hire 33,000 new workers as experienced operators trained after the 1972 Clean Water Act retire.(2)
Every day, an estimated 9.5 million m3 of human excreta and 900 million m3 of municipal wastewater are generated around the world – enough to fill 363,800 Olympic swimming pools. Much of it is dumped untreated into lakes, rivers and oceans, compromising vital ecosystems and public health. Now people realize that resources in this “waste” stream can help meet the challenges water scarcity, energy access, climate change, the shortfall in food production, while creating green jobs.(3)
As global demand for toilets increases in areas where networked sewer infrastructure is unfeasible, alternative and non-sewered sanitation is attracting some of the brightest innovators.(4)
Sources:
(1) http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs330/en/
(2) http://workforwater.org/resourceforwaterprofessionals/page_int.aspx?id=271
(3) http://www.sustainablecitiescollective.com/node/1237383?utm&utm_content=bufferaab20&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
(4) http://blogs.worldbank.org/water/fecal-sludge-management-elephant-room-we-have-developed-tools-help
Date/Time
Date(s) - 19/11/2016
16 h 00 min - 17 h 15 min
Location
The Tin Brick
Address
232 Taylor Street
Port Townsend
Washington
North America
98368
United States