by Rose George
Is the risk acceptable? Ellen Z. Harrison, Murray B. McBride, and David R. Bouldin, “The Case for Caution,” Cornell Waste Management Institute Working Paper, February 1999, p. 3.
Sanjour wrote another memo Collected papers of William Sanjour, http://pwp.lincs.net/sanjour/Default.htm.
Didn’t think [the rule] passed scientific muster C. Snyder, “The Dirty Work of Promoting ‘Recycling’ of America’s Sewage Sludge,” International Journal of Occupational Environmental Health 11 (2005): 417.
The immuno-compromised “Because data are sparse on what constitutes an infective dose, it is prudent public health practice to minimize workers’ contact with Class B biosolids and soil or dusts containing Class B biosolids during production and application, and at land application sites during the period when public access is restricted.” National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health, “Guidance for Controlling Potential Risks to Workers Exposed to Class B Biosolids,” July 2002, p. 2.
Lubricants used in dental devices David L. Lewis and Max Arens, “Resistance of Microorganisms to Disinfection in Dental and Medical Devices,” Nature Medicine 1 (1995): 956–58.
Scientific rules pushed through David L. Lewis, “EPA Science: Casualty of Election Politics,” Nature 381 (June 27, 1996).
Unreliable and fraudulent data McElmurray v. United States Department of Agriculture, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Georgia, Southern Division, Case 1:05-cv-00159-AAA-WLB, judgment by Judge Anthony Alaimo, filed February 2, 2008, p. 39.
Simply not a good idea Jessica Leeder, “Human Fertilizer Poses Cancer Risk: Study,” National Post, July 31, 2002; McElmurray v. USDA, p. 41.
Questioned his credibility Josh Harkinson, “Wretched Excess,” Houston Press, March 31, 2005.
EPA’s Science and Technology Achievement Award Personal communication with Maggie Breville of the EPA, March 2008.
EPA’s handling of Lewis Caroline Snyder, “EPA Wants Scientist Out for Publishing Papers Critical of Sludge Rule,” National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 280 Newsletter 18/5 (July 2002).
The safest science-based alternative Letter from Albert Gray, Water Environment Foundation, to the Washington Post, August 7, 2001, available at http://www.biosolids.org/news.asp?id=1219.
I should think myself a madman Not all Barking residents proved to be good witnesses for the vicar’s cause. Mr. Frederick Powell, lighterman, when asked if his fellow residents often complained of the smell of sewage in the creek, said, “I never heard persons who were sitting in The Ship say, ‘How beastly the London sewage smells! Let us drink up and go.’” Robert Rawlinson, Report upon Inquiry as to the truth or otherwise of certain allegations contained in a memorial from the vicar and other inhabitants of Barking, in the County of Essex, calling attention to the pollution of the River Thames by the Discharge of Sewage through the Northern Main Outfall Sewer of the Metropolitan Board of Works (London: George Edward Eyre and William Spottiswoode for Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1870), pp. 4, 99.
Entirely imaginary and contrary to fact Rawllinson, Report, p. 42.
Vomited copiously “There can be no doubt,” wrote the London Times in one of many editorials about the disaster, “that at the period when the collision occurred, the Metropolitan sewers—that for the north side at Barking and that for the south side at Belvedere—were pouring forth their daily contribution of millions of gallons of water loaded with all the filth of a great city.” One survivor told a subsequent inquiry that death may have been “due in many cases to the poisonous state of the water”; another said that “both for taste and smell it was something he could hardly describe.” Three inquiries blamed first the dredger, then the Princess Alice, then both ships. Among the 631 victims, most of whom could not swim or were hampered by being children or wearing copious petticoats, were “four children of Mr. and Mrs. Davies, 281, Burdett-Road, Limehouse, [and] Arthur Kiddell, a little boy, who was visiting them.” Times, September 18 and 19, 1878. A detailed account of the disaster has been posted by the Thames Police Museum at http://www.thamespolicemuseum.org.
A natural contaminant Devra Davis, The Secret History of the War on Cancer (New York: Basic Books, 2007), pp. 78–79.
Judiciaries in Kentucky, California, and Oregon Penland v. Redwood Sanitary Sewer District 1998, http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/A90247.htm; Jamie Manfuso and Scott Carroll, “Sludge Ban Starts Fight Across Nation,” Sarasota Herald-Tribune, July 14, 2002.
120 times that allowed in drinking water Nonetheless, after the Boyce Dairy informed the EPA that it found thallium and other heavy metals in its milk, the dairy was still allowed to sell the milk for human consumption. John Heilprin and Kevin S. Vineys, “Sewage-Based Fertilizer Safety Doubted,” Associated Press, March 6, 2008.
Unreliable, incomplete and in some cases fudged McElmurray v. USDA, p. 15.
National Farmers’ Union policy Policy of the National Farmers’ Union, enacted by delegates to the 104th anniversary convention, Denver, Colorado, March 3–6, 2006, p. 69.
Switzerland banned the practice “La fin des boues d’épuration dans l’agriculture,” Office Fédéral de l’Environnement news release, May 13, 2002.
8. OPEN DEFECATION–FREE INDIA
Every day, 200,000 tons of human feces United Nations Sustainable Development Division, “Nirmal Gram Puraskar: Fiscal Rewards to Zero Open Defecation in Rural Villages in India,” case study 2003–2005, available at http://webapps01.un.org/dsd/caseStudy/public/Welcome.do.
155,000 truckloads Darryl D’Monte, “A Bottom-Up Approach to Sanitation,” InfochangeIndia.org, October 2006, http://www.infochangeindia.org/features389.jsp.
Sitting on their haunches S. P. Singh, Sulabh Sanitation Movement: Vision-2000 Plus (New Delhi, India: Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, 2005), p. 5.
They do it beside train tracks “Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate, mostly, beside the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the riverbanks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover.” V. S. Naipaul, Area of Darkness (London: Picador, 1964, repr. 2002), p. 70.
Scores of bare bottoms Chander Suta Dogra, “Whole Lota Love,” Outlook, July 24, 2006.
Blocking natural body functions UNICEF, “Meeting the MDG Water and Sanitation Target: A Mid-term Assessment of Progress,” http://www.unicef.org/wes/mdgreport/.
One billion people are carrying hookworm Because hookworm is generally tolerated and usually doesn’t kill, exact figures about its prevalence are difficult to calculate. Nilanthi R. de Silva, in a 2003 review of the existing literature and figures, put hookworm prevalence at 700–800 million and ascariasis at 1.2 billion, with 50 percent of infections occurring in China. Nilanthi R. de Silva et al., “Soil-Transmitted Helminth Infections: Updating the Global Picture,” Trends in Parasitology 19/12 (December 2003): 547.
The number of infections that feces can transmit Richard G. Feachem, David J. Bradley, Hemda Garelick, D. Duncan Mara, Sanitation and Disease: Health Aspects of Excreta and Wastewater Management (Chichester, U.K.: John Wiley & Sons for The World Bank, 1983), p. 3.
Typhoid, scabies, and botulism Ibid., pp. 9–12. World Health Organization water and sanitation diseases fact sheets are available at http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/diseases/diseasefact/en/index.html.
“F-diagram” The F-diagram of fecal-oral transmission routes was devised in 1958 by E. G. Walter and J. N. Lanoix. The World Bank, “The Handwashing Handbook,” 2005, p. 10.
Nearly 800 million Indians Associated Press, “Oxfam: Millions in South Asia Lack Vital Services,” October 19, 2006; United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2006, “Beyond Scarcity: Power and the Global Water Crisis” (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 36.
7.4 million more people WaterAid, “Drinking Water and Sanitation Status in India” (London: WaterAid, 2005), p. 25.
Unused, misused, or ignored A. J. Robinson, “Scaling Up R
ural Sanitation in South Asia: Lessons learned from Bangladesh, India and Pakistan” (New Delhi: Water and Sanitation Program—South Asia, 2005), p. 42.
Balancing a toilet on his head Darryl D’Monte, “Slow Progress Towards Sanitation,” India Together, December 2004.
Improved health never came into it Other reasons for wanting a latrine included not feeling embarrassed by having to indicate to important visitors where they should go to defecate; ensuring themselves a good place in the afterlife by leaving a durable legacy for their descendants; and fearing supernatural illnesses caused by smelling other people’s feces. Marion W. Jenkins and Val Curtis, “Achieving the ‘Good Life’: Why Some People Want Latrines in Rural Benin,” Social Science & Medicine 61 (2005): 2450–51.
Wants, not needs Val Curtis, “Hygiene and Sanitation: Dirt, Disgust and Desire,” Public Hygiene Lecture at the School of Oriental and Asian Studies, London, October 9, 2006.
Bringing in the army Oxfam, “Guidelines for Public Health Promotion in Emergencies,” May 2001, p. 8.
361 villages Personal communication with Joe Madiath, October 2007.
Only $11 Robinson, “Scaling Up,” p. 42.
Rural Sanitary Marts Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC), Listening (Geneva: WSSCC, 2004), p. 27.
Not the GDP or Sensex Anjali Puri, “Second Nature,” Outlook, July 24, 2006.
The number of India’s toiletless Robinson, “Scaling Up,” p. 85.
Ten thousand villages applied Government of India, Department of Drinking Water Supply, http://nirmalgrampuraskar.nic.in.
Anyone running for local office Nirmala Ganapathy, “No Toilet at Home? Don’t Contest Panchayat Polls,” Indian Express, November 4, 2005.
A key factor which triggers mobilization Kar offers other tips for trainee triggerers including, “On the transect walk, draw attention to the flies on the shit, and the chickens pecking and eating the shit. Ask how often there are flies on their, or their children’s, food, and whether they like to eat this kind of local chicken.” Kamal Kar, “A Practical Guide to Triggering Community-Led Total Sanitation (CLTS),” Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex, 2005, p. 6.
Where the hell does it all go? WSSCC, Listening, p. 40.
Onto the flies Ibid.
A huge online poll At a BBC Web site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/humanbody/mind/disgust, visitors were invited to rate a series of twenty paired images according to how disgusting they were. Seven of the pairs deliberately placed a disease-related image next to a similar image that wouldn’t cause disease. A cut hair can carry ringworm; the hair attached to someone’s head is safe. Over four months, 77,000 people from 165 countries took part. The plate of yellow goo—supposed to look like bodily fluids—rated as 61 percent more disgusting than its paired image of blue goo. A final question asked respondents to rate who they would least want to share a toothbrush with. The postman rated as most disgusting (59.4 percent); a partner as the least disgusting (1.8 percent), findings that correspond to the fact that the less familiar the person is, the more likely it is that he/she will carry possibly transmittable pathogens. Disgust denoted threat. Val Curtis, Robert Aunger, and Tamar Babie, “Evidence that Disgust Evolved to Protect from Risk of Disease,” Proceedings of the Royal Society, B (Suppl.) 271 (2004), pp. 131–33.
Their own babies’ feces In two studies, mothers were first asked to fill in a questionnaire about how they felt about changing their own baby’s feces-soiled diaper. In a second study, they were presented with samples of their own baby’s dirty diaper and diapers from other infants. Evidence showed that mothers found their own baby’s diaper smell less disgusting, even when labeling made it unclear whose diaper was whose. I. Case, Betty M. Repacholi, and Richard J. Stevenson, “My Baby Doesn’t Smell as Bad as Yours: The Plasticity of Disgust,” Evolution and Human Behavior 27 (2006): 357–65.
Dirty because it is out of place “Dirt then, is never an isolated, unique event. Where there is dirt, there is system. Dirt is the by-product of a systematic ordering and classification of matter, insofar as ordering involves rejecting inappropriate elements.” Mary Douglas, Purity and Danger: An Analysis of Concepts of Pollution and Taboo (London: Routledge, 2006), p. 44.
The ultimate lèse-majesté John Berger, “Muck and Its Entanglements,” Harper’s Magazine, May 1989, pp. 60–61.
The Bangladesh program An interesting account of Mosmoil’s story is told in a film by the World Bank’s Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), narrated by the Indian actor Roshan Seth, which reenacts the CLTS process using the real villagers of Mosmoil. WSP, Awakening: The Story of Total Sanitation in Bangladesh, is available online at http://www.wsp.org/filez/video/4162007110732_AwakeningPart1.wmv.
Bare bottoms doing what they must Gourisankar Ghosh, former chief of the WSSCC, told me that the reason former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi became interested in sanitation was because he took a Delhi-Bombay fast train one morning and happened to look out the window. V. S. Naipaul, who famously called India “the turd world,” wrote that open defecation was so endemic because “it is said that the peasant, Muslim or Hindu, suffers from claustrophobia if he has to use an enclosed latrine.” Naipaul, Area of Darkness, p. 70.
A thousand tigers WSSCC, Listening, p. 41.
Gifting latrine slabs to brides WSP, Awakening: The Story of Total Sanitation in Bangladesh.
9. IN THE CITIES
The hydraulic city Matthew Gandy, “Water, Sanitation and the Modern City: Colonial and Post-Colonial Experiences in Lagos and Mumbai,” Human Development Report Occasional Paper, 2006, p. 4.
Operational definition United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN-HABITAT), “The Challenge of Slums: Global Report on Human Settlements,” 2003, p. 12.
Now an urban species The United Nations Population Division expected the milestone to have been reached in 2005; Worldwatch’s State of the World 2007 report concluded it would happen in 2008. David Whitehouse, “Half of Humanity Set to Go Urban,” BBC News, May 19, 2005; “State of the World 2007: Notable Trends,” Worldwatch news release, January 10, 2007.
Nearly a billion slum dwellers UN-HABITAT, “Challenge of Slums,”p. xxv.
Africa’s slum-dwelling population John Vidal, “Cities Are Now the Frontline of Poverty,” Guardian, February 2, 2005.
Kenya’s population growth Mike Davis, Planet of Slums (London: Verso, 2006), pp. 18, 24.
One hundred thousand people move to slums “The Growth of Cities: Monsters Stir,” IRIN (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs), March 15, 2008.
$1.4 billion a year Dan McDougall, “Waste Not, Want Not in the £700M a Year Slum,” Observer, March 4, 2007.
Sewers cost five times more David Nilsson, “A Heritage of Unsustainability? Reviewing the Origin of the Large-Scale Water and Sanitation System in Kampala, Uganda,” Environment and Urbanization 18 (2006): 380.
Lain in shallower trenches Duncan Mara, “Health and Sanitation in the Developing World,” paper delivered at the World Toilet Summit, Singapore, November 19–21, 2001, http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cen6ddm/papers2000-2005.html.
The authority generally provided trunk sewers The OPP method also saves money. Residents invested 90 million rupees ($1.4 million) to build their neighborhood sanitation systems; it’s estimated the same level of service would have cost local government $10.5 million. Arif Hasan, “Orangi Pilot Project: The Expansion of Work Beyond Orangi and the Mapping of Informal Settlements and Infrastructure,” Environment and Urbanization 18/2 (2006): 451–80.
Repeated in forty-two other Karachi slums United Nations Development Program, Human Development Report 2006 “Beyond Scarcity: Power, Poverty and the Global Water Crisis” (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006), p. 121.
Foolish to pass from one distortion Jeremy Seabrook, quoted in Davis, Planet of Slums, p. 70.
SPARC’s business is booming A precise figure of SPARC’s reach is difficult, but the projects in Mumbai and Pune already serve a quarter of
a million people. Personal communication with David Satterthwaite, International Institute for Environment and Development, London, April 2008.
96 percent of Tanzanians WHO/UNICEF, “Meeting the MDG Drinking Water and Sanitation Target,” 2006, p. 43.
Fecal contamination of users David Satterthwaite and Gordon McGranahan, “Overview of the Global Sanitation Problem,” Human Development Report Office Occasional Paper No. 12 (New York: UNDP, 2006), p. 8.
It was cholera that made headlines Steven Shapin, “Sick City,” The New Yorker, November 6, 2006.
Melbourne uses waste stabilization ponds Melbourne Water operates the Western Treatment Plant at Werribee, which treats 485 million liters a day, provided by 1.6 million people. Further information can be found on the extensive Web site of Professor Duncan Mara, a world authority on ponds. See http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~cen6ddm/.
Less than half a cent per person Marion W. Jenkins and Steven Sugden, “Rethinking Sanitation: Lessons and Innovation for Sustainability and Success in the New Millennium,” Human Development Report Office Occasional Paper No. 27 (New York: United Nations Development Programme, 2006), p. 25.
U.S. patent 6,242,489 Available at http://www.uspto.gov/patft/.
Or as a taggant The Sunshine Project, Backgrounder Series #8, July 2001, http://www.sunshine-project.org/publications/bk/bk8en.html.
John Snow never patented Peter Vinten-Johansen, Cholera, Chloroform and the Science of Medicine: A Life of John Snow (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003), p. 113.