To commemorate World Toilet Day on November 19th, American billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates went into the sewers and visited the Sewage Museum in Brussels. A video Gates shared on Instagram shows him walking through the sewers and exploring the hidden history of Brussels’ sewer system. The video also showed him meeting with scientists to understand the complex workings of the city’s sewage system. Notably, a 200-mile network of sewers and treatment plants handles the city’s waste.
“For this year’s #WorldToiletDay, I investigated the hidden history of Brussels’ sewer system and the role of sewage in global health,” the video’s caption reads. A text inlay on the video reads, ”I experienced it all at the Brussels’ underground museum. Documenting the history of the city’s wastewater system. In the 1800’s the sewage got dumped into the city’s Senne River. That led to horrible cholera epidemics. Today, a 200-mile network of sewers and treatment plants process the city’s waste.”
On the occasion of World Toilet Day on November 19, American billionaire and philanthropist Bill Gates went down a sewer to visit the Sewer Museum in Brussels. A video Gates shared on Instagram shows him walking through the sewers and exploring the hidden history of Brussels’ sewage system. The video also showed him meeting with scientists to understand the complex workings of the city’s sewage system.
“For this year’s #WorldToiletDay, I investigated the hidden history of Brussels’ sewer system and the role of sewage in global health,” the video’s caption reads. “I experienced it all in the Brussels Underground Museum,” reads the text inserted into the video, documenting the history of the city’s sewage system. In the 1800’s the sewage got dumped into the city’s Senne River. That led to horrible cholera epidemics. Today, a 200-mile network of sewers and treatment plants process the city’s waste.”
In order to raise awareness about sanitation issues, Mr. Gates has taken part in a variety of public stunts, like drinking water from “fecal sludge” in 2015. A year, later in 2016, he posted a picture of himself taking a giant whiff of pit latrine odour. He said “the stench was foul and made me wince,” and described the smell as “a combination of sewage stink, barnyard sweat, and bitter ammonia topped off with vomit (or was it parmesan cheese?).”
In 2018, the billionaire shared the stage with a beaker of poop during a speech at the Reinvented Toilet Expo in Beijing.
In particular, World Toilet Day, which is celebrated on 19 November each year, aims to inspire action to address the global sanitation crisis. Although it has been an annual United Nations holiday since 2013, it was first celebrated by the World Toilet Organization in 2001. This year’s theme is “Accelerating Change.”
According to the World Health Organization, inadequate access to water, sanitation and hygiene causes 827,000 deaths in low- and middle-income countries each year.
