World Toilet day is this weekend and the Athens-Clarke County government is joining others around the world to raise awareness about sanitation issues.
Each year the United Nations urges people around the world to observe World Toilet Day. The campaign is aimed at raising awareness about the more than 2 billion people around the globe who do not have access to proper sanitation. Laurie Loftin is with ACC Water Conservation office, which is observing this year’s theme of “Waste Water.”
"The public is invited to tour our Cedar Creek Water Reclamation Facility on Saturday, November 18th at 10:30," said Loftin. "They can go online to ThinkAtTheSink.comand register for the event, to see how we take this water that comes to us that's has been flushed down a toilet or down a drain. And we turn it into something that is reusable."
Loftin says fecal matter in waste water goes through four steps before the water is returned to environment.
Those are containment, which keeps it from human contact; transport, in Athens that’s via pipes, or septic service; treatment, where waste is completely removed; and finally, disposal of bio solids for reuse for energy generation, or fertilizer.