TedEd: A brief history of toilets

A TedEd by Francis de los Reyes

In the days of the Roman Empire, people would go to communal bathrooms in order to talk and do their business. The waste would then drop down below into water pipelines. Though bathrooms today are a bit different, it is still an important invention. Most ancient texts describe some sort of advice about keeping waste away from water and shelter, and waste management began to take a more tangible form as early as 3000 BCE. As humans advanced, they formed squatting latrines in streets that connected to sewage, while houses in other areas each had their own toilets. These developments are key because untreated sewage is a breeding ground for a variety of diseases. During the Roman era, more sophisticated management systems were created that took sewage outside of city walls. In China, similar systems fed pigs and were sold as fertilizer. After the fall of the Roman Empire, Europe went through a dark age not only in general but of sanitization. People dumped waste into the streets and disease ran wild. But toward the end of the Middle Ages, conditions improved and most families had commode stools, or wooden boxes with lids, to do their business. In England, Sir John Harrington created the first modern flush toilet for Queen Elizabeth, and it largely follows the same mechanism we use today. In 1775, Alexander Cumming created an S-shaped bend in the pipes to retain water and keep out the smell, which was later improved to a U-bend by Thomas Crapper. Today, we also have wastewater management sites to ensure that the water released from toilets is clean and sanitary. But more than 4 billion people worldwide still lack a toilet or waste management.