Toilets USA: Let’s Take Action
Access to water and sanitation is a human right many Americans do not enjoy.
In 2010 the United Nations General Assembly declared access to water and sanitation a human right. The next year, UN Special Rapporteur Catarina de Albuquerque reported on her Mission to the United States of America, citing among groups denied this right, unhoused Americans and members of some Tribal Nations. Watch her video summary of the report and read her letter to the Mayor of Sacramento, California. In 2011 California Legislature incorporated the human right to water, sanitation, hygiene into law. Unless we stand up for this right, toilet in public places, businesses and urban transit systems will disappear.We need to break society’s taboo on talking about pee and poop.
Sanitation is the silent science, simply absent from most private and public discourse in the United States. “Flush and forget “operates at individual, household and societal levels. Linguistic propriety in the US is both innate and legislated. In the radio and television of the 1950s, producers could not imply that married people had sexual relations nor describe a woman as “pregnant.” By the end of the century all the formerly censored themes were there: nudity, gay sex, incest, menstruation, masturbation. But while the bedroom door has opened, the bathroom door remains largely closed, opening only for scatological humorʼs shock value. Cultural shame has kept potty talk taboo. Cutting edge performance art like that of The POOP Project will help break it, inviting us to feel comfortable, to explore the unspoken, and to have fun.Traditional public restroom design fails to serve the needs of diverse users.
Mid-20th century restrooms with their separate women’s and men’s sections were designed to serve middle class nuclear families with cars. Today’s urban toilet users include fathers with young daughters, mothers with sons, elderly and disabled people with opposite sex caregivers, and members of the GLBTQ community. We need family-friendly, gender-neutral facilities serve everyone. Basic restroom safety requires Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) in location, layout, lighting, surface, materials, fixtures and hardware. Users, especially children, need protection from inappropriate contact with strangers in traditional “gang toilets.” Individual private stalls directly entered from common areas are the answer. The working goal of the PHLUSH Public Restroom Design Principles is Cost effective public restrooms that provide maximum function in minimum space and are safe, accessible, available, attractive and easy to maintain.Deteriorating US sewer infrastructure is vulnerable to old age, earthquake and flood.

Graywater reuse and waterless toilets can protect our country’s vital resources.

Environmentally sound recycling of pee and poo protects water sources and promotes global food security.

Body shame hides illness and hinders health. Greater “gut awareness” serves us all.

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Today is Menstrual Hygiene Day, and PHLUSH realizes that menstrual hygiene management (MHM) and health can be improved with adequate access to restrooms. We are beginning to dive into the intersection of restroom advocacy and MHM -- learn more by hearing our board President, Genevieve Schutzius, speak on the intersection…
No matter one's position in life, the title of that old children's book applies: "Everyone Poops." From a manual laborer all the way to royalty, nature's call is one we all must answer - sometimes more urgently than others! That's why even The Queen City must admit that she's ready…
Are you passionate about public sanitation, toilet access, and emergency preparedness? PHLUSH (Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human) is looking for enthusiastic volunteers to help us make the world a better place to poop and pee. The need for public restrooms has never been greater due to the pandemic, rising…
Happy Menstrual Hygiene Day!
Is the Queen City ready to PHLUSH?
PHLUSH is looking for volunteers!