The WTO: flush with success

Making public sanitation number one — and number two. A theme song for "private moments"

By Peter Woodford

There was an important WTO summit held in Taipei recently, yet there was scarcely any North American media coverage. Membership to the organization is being extended to seven new countries without significant debate. And what's more, there were no antiglobalization demonstrators to be found. There was, however, plenty of debate over the finer points of 'dumping.' This WTO, you see, is the World Toilet Organization.

The WTO is a non-governmental organization based in Singapore, made up of 17 constituent members, the majority being from Asian countries. The group pushes for improved public washroom standards and is currently pressuring the Chinese government to get their Olympic facilities up to snuff. The organization even has its own theme song. Titled "Secret Garden," it embodies the WTO philosophy. The mission statement is put this way: "In our rushing-here-and-there society, we hardly have private moments to ourselves. The Toilet is a Secret Garden where we can be alone quietly with ourselves, and our spirit can run free." The sax-heavy ditty puts public toilets in a spiritual context:

Secret garden out in the open,
Somewhere my heart runs free,
Deep down burning, forever yearning,
Always there

Where I care for, nature's therefore
Tend to your every leaf,
Private moment, secret garden
Is where my heart runs free

Considering its historical importance in the realm of public conveniences, it is perhaps not surprising that the British Toilet Association (BTA) is one of the more radical WTO members. Not long ago they issued a press release warning that "... Britain's public toilets, once the envy of the civilized world, are in crisis and fast becoming endangered." England and Wales once boasted over 10,000 public washrooms but the number has dwindled to less than 6,000. Municipalities claim the washroom closures are due to rising maintenance costs and concerns over intravenous drug use. The BTA has launched a Save Our Toilets campaign with the aim of reversing the tide and promoting more and "better public toilets for all." The association also released a manifesto of sorts with their Away From Home Toilet Charter, which calls for generally higher sanitation standards in public washrooms and sufficient female facilities. Their formula for female washrooms is as follows: the number of men's stalls plus urinals multiplied by two should equal the number of women's stalls available.

The US is represented in the WTO by the Paruresis Society. Paruresis, or bladder-shyness, is a condition in which one finds it difficult or indeed impossible to urinate in the presence of others. The bladder-shy are working with the WTO to advocate for better privacy standards in public washrooms. Paruresis sufferers are also deeply troubled by mandatory drug testing at the workplace. In a well-publicized incident, a bladder-shy Caterpillar employee was fired when he couldn't muster a urine sample for drug testing.

India's WTO member, Gramalaya, puts a more pressing spin on the issue than their British and American counterparts, working to improve sanitation and disease in desperately poor areas of India. Their mission includes the construction of public washrooms in needy areas. Gramalaya's work in the city of Tiruchirappalli has resulted in what their local billboard poignantly proclaims "India's first 100% Sanitised Slum — where open defecation is totally eschewed by the community." The campaign in Tiruchirappalli is reminiscent of the Victorian-era sanitation movement in London that saw the building of public washrooms and all but eradicated what the British called "fouling the streets."

Canada is conspicuously absent from the WTO and is not among the seven newly admitted members. Could it be we don't have a problem? Ask any female weekend carouser hopping from one foot to the other desperately seeking a late night fast food joint that doesn't lock its loos at 11 pm. She might feel otherwise.

For your calendar: November 19th is World Toilet Day (coincidentally, that's also the date of Monaco's fête nationale). The World Toilet Organization (and their theme song) can be found at www.worldtoilet.org.x