One of the most basic amenities that we take for granted here in the US today, it is difficult to even imagine what life would be like without the toilet. But for much of the developing world, there is no need to imagine, as life without adequate sanitation is both a common and dangerous reality. Often the hidden problems behind high child mortality rates, poor water quality and lack of safe waste disposal are known to cause a host of horrible, life-threatening diseases, including rotavirus, cholera, typhoid and hepatitis.

On the 10th anniversary of World Toilet Day, which takes place on November 19, we all have a chance to help make lack of clean water and adequate sanitation a thing of the past.

Vanguard, a documentary series on Current TV, came out with this awesome 44-minute documentary on sanitation called “The World’s Toilet Crisis.” It’s raw, very candid and highly persuasive in the argument that yes — everyone in the world should have a toilet! Watch it here:

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Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

A new survey by the American Dietetic Association and ConAgra Foods’ Home Food Safety program finds that as many as 83 percent of Americans eat in their office, and that they’re ignoring basic hygiene.

“For many people, multitasking through lunch is part of the average workday,” says ADA spokesperson Toby Smithson.

“While shorter lunch hours may result in getting more accomplished, they could also be causing workers to log additional sick days, as desktops hide bacteria that can lead to foodborne illness.”

According to the Home Food Safety survey, only 36 percent of respondents clean their work areas — desktop, keyboard and mouse —weekly, and two thirds do so once a month or less.

And, the authors point out, a 2007 study from the University of Arizona found the average desktop has 100 times more bacteria than a kitchen table and 400 times more than the average toilet seat.

“Treat your desktop like you would your kitchen table and counters at home,” says Smithson. “Clean all surfaces, whether at home or work, before you prepare or eat food on them.”

Only half of Americans say they always wash their hands before eating lunch, and only 67 percent say they store their lunch in a refrigerator. Rather alarmingly, around one in five people admit they don’t know if the fridge is ever cleaned, or say they know it rarely or never is.

“Food safety is very important, whether at home or at work. Simple things like washing your hands before preparing food and following microwave cooking instructions can really go a long way,” says Joan Menke-Schaenzer, chief global quality officer of ConAgra Foods.

Now go fetch that disinfectant, before you poison us all.

by Kate Taylor

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Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

By the Oregonia

Silent toilet leaks can account for up to 300 gallons of day of lost water without anybody noticing the leakage.

The Portland Water Bureau offers these easy steps to check your toilet for leaks:

1. Lift off the toilet tank lid. Without flushing, place several drops of food coloring (or one dye tablet, available from the bureau) in the toilet tank.

2. If water in the bowl turns color within 10 minutes, you have a toilet leak.

If you find that you have a leak, give us a call (513)770-5590 and we will get you taken care of.

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We service our valued clients in Mason, Ohio and  all surrounding areas such as Lebanon, Loveland, West Chester, Kings Mills, Landen, Bethany, Wetherington, Olde West Chester, South Lebanon, Monroe, Springboro,  Morrow, Maineville, Cincinnati, Blue Ash and many more.

Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

In 1596: Sir John Harington published A New Discourse of a Stale Subject, Called the Metamorphosis of Ajax, describing a forerunner to the modern flush toilet installed at his house at Kelston. The design had a flush valve to let water out of the tank, and a wash-down design to empty the bowl.

He installed one for his godmother Queen Elizabeth I at Richmond Palace, but some reports say she refused to use it because it made too much noise.

Not much has been improved upon the valve design up until now. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has taken up the call to improve the modern day flush valve toilet in order to accommodate the conditions in Africa where there is less water and the requirements for environmental disposal of waste is needed.

It is estimated that 2.6 billion people in Africa do not have facilities and are forced to use open latrines that are beds for disease. It is reported millions become ill from the unsanitary conditions.

Gates Representative Makes Commitment in Africa

The new toilet designs must innovative ways to dispose of human waste that can e used to create its own energy and water. Salt and nutrients can be recovered from sludge. All of this must cost less than 5 cents day to use. The current cost to use a public toilets twice a day is about 13 cents in rural Africa. Those who cannot afford the cost, dig holes in the ground in their yards.

In Kigali, Rwanda the representative from the Gates Foundation Sylvia Mathews Burwell, president of the foundations’ Global Development Program called on donors, governments, the private sector, and NGOs to address the urgent challenge, which affects nearly 40 percent of the world’s population most of who reside in developing countries.

“No innovation the past 200 years has done more to save lives and improve health than the sanitation revolution triggered by the invention of the toilet, Burwell said at AfricaSan, the third African Conference on Sanitation and Hygiene, organized by the African Ministers’ Council on Water. “But it did not go far enough. It only reached one third of the world. What we need are new approaches. new ideas. In short, we need to reinvent the toilet.”

Eight Universities Contacted to Submit New Designs

At the conference the foundation announce $42 million in new grants that aim to spur innovations in the capture and storage of waste, as well as its processing into reusable energy, fertilizer, and fresh water. The foundation will support work with local communities to end open defecation and increase access to affordable long-term solutions.

Of the eight Universities contacted, here is what three of them have proposed.

1. The California Institute of Technology plans to use solar panels to provide energy for a reactor that will break down the waste into hydrogen vapor. This gas can serve as a fuel source itself for people who need to use the bathroom at night and can still have electricity.

2. The Swiss federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology will design a toilet that separates human waste from useable contents. Clean water is then extracted from the urine, which people can use to wash their hands when they are done. The whole process will be done on site.

3. The Loughborough University in United Kingdom proposes a toilet prototype that will change human waste into charcoal, water and salt through a heat and pressure.

The five other universities each with unique designs are: University of Kwazulu-Natal in Africa, Stanford University, University of Toronto, Delft University of Technology in Netherlands and the national University of Singapore.

These innovations can have an impact around the world, not only in third world countries.

by Dava Castillo

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Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

Almost 80% of infectious diseases are passed on by human contact, and on average only 50% of people wash their hands after toileting, emphasizing the benefits of ‘hands-free’ toileting. Total Hygiene, the British company behind the UK’s top-selling Clos-o-Mat toilet, which eliminates the need to use toilet tissue, says latest findings reinforce the argument for a combined toilet/bidet/drier(automatic toilet), showing its Clos-o-Mat uses a 1/10th of the water and energy consumption required to produce just a single roll of toilet paper- and 100% reduction in wood.

“A single roll of toilet paper requires 37 gallons of water, 13kWh of electricity and 1.5lbs of wood to be produced,” says Robin Tuffley, Total Hygiene Marketing Manager. “By contrast, a typical Clos-o-Mat toilet uses less than 2 gallons of water to flush and wash, and less electricity than a kettle- 0.12kWh- to warm the water and air-dry. The eco credentials speak for themselves, even before you factor in the health benefits of improved hygiene.

“We know germs are passed by hand/body contact, so removing that contact improves hygiene. Washing with water rather than wiping is also more effective, especially if you have a limiting physical or mental condition, and, for some, a religious consideration. And a combined unit takes up less space, and requires less cleaning, than separate toilet and bidet.”

Total Hygiene has over 40,000 of its Clos-o-Mats installed in the UK, both in individual’s homes, and public/ multi-user environments. Actor Kenny Baker, most famous for his role as Star Wars’ R2D2, has a Clos-o-Mat in his Lancashire home, which he installed after coming across a similar product in Japan, where 60% of households have such units. He says, “The Japanese love technology, and to them such toilets are normal. I thought ‘I’ve got to have one of those!’ It was a treat to go to the toilet. The Clos-O-Mat has been a fantastic buy, so comfortable, and so much more hygienic and pleasant.”

Published by Angela May

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We service our valued clients in Mason, Ohio and  all surrounding areas such as Lebanon, Loveland, West Chester, Kings Mills, Landen, Bethany, Wetherington, Olde West Chester, South Lebanon, Monroe, Springboro,  Morrow, Maineville, Cincinnati, Blue Ash and many more.

Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

 

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We service our valued clients in Mason, Ohio and  all surrounding areas such as Lebanon, Loveland, West Chester, Kings Mills, Landen, Bethany, Wetherington, Olde West Chester, South Lebanon, Monroe, Springboro,  Morrow, Maineville, Cincinnati, Blue Ash and many more.

Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

Michael Hoffmann at the California Institute of Technology found that sunlight powers an electrochemical reaction with human waste in water that generates microbe-killing oxidants and releases hydrogen gas.

The researchers plan to collect the hydrogen in a fuel cell to power a light or possibly even a self-cleaning mechanism, New Scientist reported.

Hoffmann received a grant this week from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build a prototype.

He says he can build one toilet for 2000 dollars and hopes to reduce the cost through design refinement and mass production.

The grant is part of the Gates Foundation’s latest global public health initiative to improve sanitation.

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Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

The surprising results come from a survey conducted by One Poll on behalf of the Science Museum, reports the Daily Mail. Three thousand adults responded to the survey, and overwhelmingly, the one thing Britons said they could not live without was sunshine, a nod to the infamous British weather.

The thirst to be connected pushed having an Internet connection to second place, coming in above clean drinking water, which was third. Also cool to the British were fridges, which came in fourth.

Facebook took the fifth spot, ahead of flushing toilets at No 9.

The museum’s Exhibition Manager, Ms Sarah Richardson told the Daily Mail that she found the results “crazy”, and “to say you can’t live without material things over drinking water is crazy.”

The survey was conducted in an attempt to highlight the things that the West take for granted, and was done in conjunction with the Science Museum’s new exhibition, Water Wars: Fight the Food Crisis. The exhibition highlights the problem of water scarcity worldwide and its effects on food production, and the technologies used to solve it.

“It seems having fresh drinking water is something that many of us take for granted but is becoming scarcer in many parts of the world. If you see how little water others have to drink or grow food you soon realise water is fast becoming a luxury for millions”, added Ms Richardson.

by AGENCIES

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We service our valued clients in Mason, Ohio and  all surrounding areas such as Lebanon, Loveland, West Chester, Kings Mills, Landen, Bethany, Wetherington, Olde West Chester, South Lebanon, Monroe, Springboro,  Morrow, Maineville, Cincinnati, Blue Ash and many more.

Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

Terrence McCaigue sued Flat Rate Plumbing, of New Berlin, in Milwaukee County Court. He says he called Flat Rate on March 31 because he had a clogged toilet, and “By April 1, 2011, one day after his initial phone call, Terrence McCaigue had a bill from Flat Rate for $13,698.12.”

McCaigue says that “part of the employees’ job description is to ‘upsell’ the consumer, i.e. to consumer to hire Flat Rate to do more work than the consumer contemplated when they called Flat Rate.”

Flat Rate also wheedles its customers into obtaining financing to pay for work they don’t need and cannot afford, McCaigue says.

He says the two Flat Rate employees who came to his home told him his clogged toilet “could not be fixed and needed to be replaced. Upon information and belief, this statement was false.”

They asked to see the rest of the plumbing, and told him that most of it needed to be replaced too, he says.

The plumbers told him a second toilet had to be replaced because it was loose and “costing him money;” that a bathroom sink “had to be replaced because it had a small stain and a sticky handle;” that a hot water heater “needed to be replaced because it was ‘outdated’ and ‘costing him money;” and that the area near a sink “needed to be replaced because it was not ‘up to code.’”

McCaigue sais he “had not been experiencing problems with any of the plumbing in his home with the exception of the clogged toilet.” He says he “never asked for additional work and even told Flat Rate that he did not have to funds to pay for any replacement plumbing.”

That’s when the employees told him they could help him get financing for it, McCaigue says, though they didn’t put their promises in writing.

He claims that “Flat Rate regularly assists their customers in obtaining credit to finance their work.”

He says they gave him a “Kwik Comfort Consumer Application,” which stated that he should “read the attached credit card agreement and sign below,” but there was no credit card agreement attached. And he says the pre-printed application did not comply with state law.

He says Flat Rate told him he would get 2 years of deferred interest, though the Kwik Comfort application said interest would be deferred for only 1 year.

McCaigue says the plumber charged his new credit card $6,743.12 and showed up at is house the next day and told him that “even more of his plumbing needed to be replaced and that they could help him get additional financing to pay for the work.”

GE Money Bank, the apparent issuer of the Kwik Comfort credit, would not increase his credit limit, though, so the Flat Rate plumbers told him that for their second bill, of $6,955, they would take a $3,000 money order-which they did take-put another $756.88 on his GE Money Bank credit card, and put another $3,198.12 on the credit card next year.

To top it off, McCaigue says, Flat Rate never told him they needed a permit to do the work, never got a permit until after the work was done, and disputed, and that a city inspector found that Flat Rate’s work had violated the building code.

McCaigue seeks rescission of unconscionable contracts, restitution of $10,529, punitive damages, and damages for misrepresentation and for violations of at least seven Wisconsin statutes.

By Lisa Buchmeier

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We service our valued clients in Mason, Ohio and  all surrounding areas such as Lebanon, Loveland, West Chester, Kings Mills, Landen, Bethany, Wetherington, Olde West Chester, South Lebanon, Monroe, Springboro,  Morrow, Maineville, Cincinnati, Blue Ash and many more.

Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.

“Do you want to drink pee?” David Shaff asked.

About 1:30 a.m. Wednesday, water officials say, a 21-year-old Molalla man was caught on camera urinating in one of Portland’s uncovered reservoirs — one that provides water to a majority of Portlanders.

From a gross-out perspective, that’s enough to make residents wary of turning on the tap.

“I think I’m going to have a Coke with my lunch today,” said city Commissioner Randy Leonard, who oversees the Water Bureau. The bureau recently began work on an $80 million project elsewhere to comply with federal rules to cover city reservoirs.

But does tossing out so much water — at a cost of more than $36,000 — make sense from a scientific or health angle?

Urine is pretty sterile chemically speaking, said Dave Stone, an assistant professor in toxicology at Oregon State University who specializes in chemical contaminants in water.

“It’s inappropriate behavior. But how many animals are doing that or birds?” he said. “I don’t want to second-guess the city, but I can’t think of anything chemically that would have me be concerned.”

But Chris Wanner, director of operations for the Water Bureau, said he was worried — though less about the urine than about unknown items thrown into the water by a group of five people who hung around Mount Tabor early Wednesday.

Even so, Portland’s five open reservoirs are susceptible to dead rodents, birds or bird poop. Water quality is tested, but reservoirs aren’t drained because of dead animals.

“We look at that as part of the business of open reservoirs,” Wanner said.

Water officials disconnected the same reservoir in April 2010 after tests found E. coli in samples. Five months before that, they issued a rare boil alert after tests at a Washington Park reservoir found E. coli.

Dr. Gary Oxman — the Multnomah County health officer who advises officials on infectious diseases such as salmonella, hepatitis and H1N1 — said the average bladder holds 6 to 8 ounces of urine and would be vastly diluted in a reservoir.

“The health risk associated with that is really, really tiny,” he said. But because of concerns about the unknown objects, he did say draining the water is “an appropriate thing to do.”

A surveillance camera captured the incident. Once officials contacted the group, and after the 21-year-old was told he urinated in drinking water and his actions were disrespectful, he reportedly said, “I didn’t mean to show disrespect. I thought this was a sewage treatment plant.”

Police did not cite the man or his friends, though video and reports by police and the Water Bureau will be submitted to the Multnomah County district attorney’s office for possible criminal charges. The Oregonian is not naming the 21-year-old because he was not arrested or charged with a crime.

“It’ll kind of depend on what the surveillance video shows,” said Sgt. Pete Simpson, a police spokesman. “He’s not out of the water yet.”

Draining the reservoir will take several days, keeping it offline until perhaps late next week. Shaff originally said dumping the water would cost about $600,000 in lost revenue but he later clarified that his math was way off and that the water would have sold for a retail price of almost $28,500. Disposal fees are expected to reach about $7,600.

Shaff noted that Portland’s Bull Run water supply contains billions of gallons of water, and it makes sense to clean the reservoir.

And it goes back to the idea of drinking pee. “Answer the question,” he said. “It has nothing to do with ‘scientifically.’

“Most people,” he added, “are gonna be pretty damn squeamish about that.”

by Brad Schmidt, The Oregonian

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We service our valued clients in Mason, Ohio and  all surrounding areas such as Lebanon, Loveland, West Chester, Kings Mills, Landen, Bethany, Wetherington, Olde West Chester, South Lebanon, Monroe, Springboro,  Morrow, Maineville, Cincinnati, Blue Ash and many more.

Nixco Plumbing Inc. installs, services and repairs backflow preventers, water heaters, garbage disposers, sump pumps, ejector pumps, drinking fountains, lav faucets, kitchen sink faucets, shower valves, tub valves, hose bibbs, toilets, sewer lines, water lines, miscellaneous plumbing repairs and much more.  We can also take care  of your sewer and drain cleaning, water line repairs,  sewer line repairs and much more.