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An Incredible Invention

How flushing toilets changed the world

October/November 2022
By Jacqueline Adams and Maggie Mead

SHUTTERSTOCK.COM

As you read, think about how toilets and sewer systems affect the health of communities.

The year was 1851. Millions of people from around Europe gathered in London, England. They came to see amazing objects like marble statues, stuffed zebras, and the world’s largest diamond.

But what truly mesmerized the crowds were the first public flushing toilets. The toilets were invented by a plumber named George Jennings. They looked a bit different from the one in your bathroom. They had water tanks high above the bowls. When the toilets were flushed, the force of gravity pulled water down a pipe and into the bowl.

Over five months, more than 800,000 people paid a penny to use the device. Why was the flushing toilet such a big deal?

The average person uses the toilet 2,500 times per year!

Smelly Streets

THE GRANGER COLLECTION

In the 1800s, people in London and other cities often died from diseases spread by germs in human waste.

In the mid-1800s, people in London faced a stinky situation. They didn’t flush their waste away. Instead, they collected it in pots and dumped it into streets, ditches, or rivers. People didn’t know that human poop contains bacteria that cause deadly diseases. The waste seeped into the city’s drinking water and made people sick.

This problem wasn’t unique to London. For much of human history, people had been trying to figure out what to do with waste. Some ancient cities used flowing water to carry poop through stone channels and away from people. The first flush toilet was invented in 1596 by Sir John Harington, the godson of Queen Elizabeth I. Over time, inventors created pipes, valves, and other devices to improve the toilet’s design.

PICTORIAL PRESS LTD/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

Early toilets flushed poop away and kept people healthy.

After Jennings introduced his toilet in 1851, thousands of flush toilets were installed in London. But that didn’t fix the city’s poop problem. London’s pipes still dumped waste into ditches. In 1858, a heat wave struck the city. That led to an event known as “The Great Stink.” Residents were overwhelmed with the stench of baking sewage. Yuck!

After that, city leaders built a sewer system. This network of pipes carried waste away from drinking water sources. The health of the community greatly improved.

Toilet Access

Today, modern sewer systems carry waste from toilets to treatment plants. These facilities filter out solid waste and clean the water so it can return to our faucets.

Clean, safe toilets are common in much of the world, but they are not a reality for everyone. About 3.6 billion people around the world don’t have access to flush toilets. Lack of toilet access causes hundreds of thousands of deaths from diseases each year.

GLOBAL COMMUNITIES

The Digni-Loo is a simple toilet for places without sewers. It keeps waste away from water sources.

On November 19, the United Nations observes World Toilet Day to highlight the need to increase toilet access. “What we think are basic necessities are challenges for many people in the world,” says Jesse Shapiro. He’s an expert at the U.S. Agency for International Development.

Life Science
Health & Disease, Human Body
Engineering
Design Process
bacteria

single-celled microscopic organisms that live in every environment on Earth
gravity

the force that pulls an object toward another object
sewer system

a facility consisting of a system of channels to carry dirty water and human waste
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