Comments on: Reconnecting with Waste through Social Media

By: Katherine

Katherine — Tue, 29 Jan 2013 19:04:00 +0000

Perhaps New York is different, but where I work the wastewater network isn’t only worked on by a social underclass. There are also professional engineers, generally getting paid reasonably well. I worked alongside them for quite some time. Sure, they don’t tend to be doing the manual labour or getting their hands dirty, but they definitely end up in sewer manholes on a regular basis.

By: NEW YORKER

NEW YORKER — Sun, 27 Jan 2013 01:56:00 +0000

I LOVE HUMAN WASTE. I LOVE TO SMEAR IT ALL OVER MY BODY AND EAT IT. I ALSO COLLECT THE FECES OF MY FRIENDS AND RELATIVES.

By: PinkWithIndignation

PinkWithIndignation — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 23:08:00 +0000

This sounds like the description of an art project.

By: lambdaphage

lambdaphage — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 21:41:00 +0000

It’s difficult to pin down anything like a thesis statement in these wispy paragraphs, but it’s hard to shake the doubt that the author is suggesting that failures in public sanitation systems are actually a good thing if they force us to “reconnect [this word alone is used six times in the post]” and act as “stewards of the shared land”.

In point of fact, public sanitation was probably the single greatest cause of reduction in preventable deaths in the 20th century, and it’s very important that those systems work well without much conscious intervention on the part of end-users. If you want to feel groovy and in touch with your community’s shit, there are tragically still many places in the world you can go to do that. Good luck with the cholera and schistosomiasis, though.

By: Elena

Elena — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 18:26:00 +0000

You could use state-of-the-art, XXIth Century sensors coupled with social networks to work around an outdated sewer system, or you could update an outdated sewer system. Sensors and twitter are cheaper, but it doesn't solve the problem. New Yorkers may need a Bazalgette of their own.