Toilet
A toilet is a piece of sanitary hardware that collects human waste and sometimes toilet paper, usually for disposal. Flush toilets use water, while dry or non-flush toilets do not. They can be designed for a sitting position popular in Europe and North America with a toilet seat, with additional considerations for those with disabilities, or for a squatting posture more popular in Asia, known as a squat toilet. In urban areas, flush toilets are usually connected to a sewer system; in isolated areas, to a septic tank. The waste is known as blackwater and the combined effluent, including other sources, is sewage. Dry toilets are connected to a pit, removable container, composting chamber, or other storage and treatment device, including urine diversion with a urine-diverting toilet. "Toilet" or "toilets" is also widely used for rooms containing only one or more toilets and hand-basins. Lavatory is an older word for toilet.
The technology used for modern toilets varies. Toilets are commonly made of ceramic, concrete, plastic, or wood. Newer toilet technologies include dual flushing, low flushing, toilet seat warming, self-cleaning, female urinals and waterless urinals. Japan is known for its toilettechnology. Airplane toilets are specially designed to operate in the air. The need to maintain anal hygiene post-defecation is universally recognized and toilet paper, which may also be used to wipe the vulva after urination, is widely used.
In private homes, depending on the region and style, the toilet may exist in the same bathroom as the sink, bathtub, and shower. Another option is to have one room for body washing and a separate one for the toilet and handwashing sink. Public toilets consist of one or more toilets which are available for use by the general public. Products like urinal blocks and toilet blocks help maintain the smell and cleanliness of toilets. Toilet seat covers are sometimes used. Portable toilets may be brought in for large and temporary gatherings.
Historically, sanitation has been a concern from the earliest stages of human settlements. However, many poor households in developing countries use very basic, and often unhygienic, toilets – and 419 million people have no access to a toilet at all; they must openly defecate and urinate. These issues can lead to the spread of diseases transmitted via the fecal-oral route, or the transmission of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery. Therefore, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6 wants to "achieve access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for all and end open defecation".
Overview
The number of different types of toilets used worldwide is large, but can be grouped by:- Having water or not
- Being used in a sitting or squatting position
- Being located in the private household or in public
People use different toilet types based on the country that they are in. In developing countries, access to toilets is also related to people's socio-economic status. Poor people in low-income countries often have no toilets at all and resort to open defecation instead. This is part of the sanitation crisis which international initiatives draw attention to.
With water
Flush toilet
A typical flush toilet is a ceramic bowl connected on the "up" side to a cistern that enables rapid filling with water, and on the "down" side to a drain pipe that removes the effluent. When a toilet is flushed, the sewage should flow into a septic tank or into a system connected to a sewage treatment plant. However, in many developing countries, this treatment step does not take place.The water in the toilet bowl is connected to a pipe shaped like an upside-down U. One side of the U channel is arranged as a siphon tube longer than the water in the bowl is high. The siphon tube connects to the drain. The bottom of the drain pipe limits the height of the water in the bowl before it flows down the drain. The water in the bowl acts as a barrier to sewer gas entering the building. Sewer gas escapes through a vent pipe attached to the sewer line.
The amount of water used by conventional flush toilets usually makes up a significant portion of personal daily water usage. However, modern low flush toilet designs allow the use of much less water per flush. Dual flush toilets allow the user to select between a flush for urine or feces, saving a significant amount of water over conventional units. One type of dual flush system allows the flush handle to be pushed up for one kind of flush and down for the other, whereas another design is to have two buttons, one for urination and the other for defecation. In some places, users are encouraged not to flush after urination. Flushing toilets can be plumbed to use greywater rather than potable water. Some modern toilets pressurize the water in the tank, which initiates flushing action with less water usage.
Another variant is the pour-flush toilet. This type of flush toilet has no cistern but is flushed manually with a few liters of a small bucket. The flushing can use as little as. This type of toilet is common in many Asian countries. The toilet can be connected to one or two pits, in which case it is called a "pour flush pit latrine" or a "twin pit pour flush to pit latrine". It can also be connected to a septic tank.
Flush toilets on ships are typically flushed with seawater.
Twin pit designs
s use two pits used alternatively, when one pit gets full over a few months or years. The pits are of an adequate size to accommodate a volume of waste generated over one or two years. This allows the contents of the full pit enough time to transform into a partially sanitized, soil-like material that can be manually excavated. There is a risk of groundwater pollution when pits are located in areas with a high or variable water table, and/or fissures or cracks in the bedrock.Vacuum toilet
A vacuum toilet is a flush toilet that is connected to a vacuum sewer system, and removes waste by suction. They may use very little water or none,. Some flush with coloured disinfectant solution rather than with water. They may be used to separate blackwater and greywater, and process them separately.Passenger train toilets, aircraft lavatories, bus toilets, and ships with plumbing often use vacuum toilets. The lower water usage saves weight, and avoids water slopping out of the toilet bowl in motion. Aboard vehicles, a portable collection chamber is used; if it is filled by positive pressure from an intermediate vacuum chamber, it need not be kept under vacuum.
Floating toilet
A floating toilet is essentially a toilet on a platform built above or floating on the water. Instead of excreta going into the ground they are collected in a tank or barrel. To reduce the amount of excreta that needs to hauled to shore, many use urine diversion. The floating toilet was developed for residents without quick access to land or connection to a sewer systems. It is also used in areas subjected to prolonged flooding. The need for this type of toilet is high in areas like Cambodia.Without water
Pit latrine
Vault toilet
A vault toilet is a non-flush toilet with a sealed container buried in the ground to receive the excreta, all of which is contained underground until it is removed by pumping. A vault toilet is distinguished from a pit latrine because the waste accumulates in the vault instead of seeping into the underlying soil.Urine-diverting toilet
Portable toilet
Chemical toilet
Toilet fed to animals
The pig toilet, which consists of a toilet linked to a pigsty by a chute, is still in use to a limited extent. It was common in rural China, and was known in Japan, Korea, and India. The fish pond toilet depends on the same principle, of livestock eating human excreta directly."Flying toilet"
Squat toilets
Usage
Urination
There are cultural differences in socially accepted and preferred voiding positions for urination around the world: in the Middle East and Asia, the squatting position is more prevalent, while in the Western world the standing and sitting position are more common.Anal cleansing habits
In the Western world, the most common method of cleaning the anal area after defecation is by toilet paper or sometimes by using a bidet. In many Muslim countries, the facilities are designed to enable people to follow Islamic toilet etiquette . For example, a bidet shower may be plumbed in. The left hand is used for cleansing, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many Asian countries.The use of water in many Christian countries is due in part to the biblical toilet etiquette which encourages washing after all instances of defecation. The bidet is common in predominantly Catholic countries where water is considered essential for anal cleansing, and in some traditionally Orthodox and Lutheran countries such as Greece and Finland respectively, where bidet showers are common.
There are toilets on the market with seats having integrated spray mechanisms for anal and genital water sprays. This can be useful for the elderly or people with disabilities.