Our bathrooms and sewage systems today are actually a disaster.
“It is hard to find something that we actually got right in the modern bathroom… We fill this tiny, inadequately ventilated room with toxic chemicals ranging from nail polish to tile cleaners. We flush the toilet and send bacteria into the air, with our toothbrush in a cup a few feet away. We take millions of gallons of fresh water and contaminate it with toxic chemicals, human waste, antibiotics and birth control hormones in quantities large enough to change the gender of fish.”

“… Nobody thought about how the water from a shower or bathtub (greywater) is different from the water from a toilet (blackwater); it all just went down the same drain which connected to the same sewer pipe that gathered the rainwater from the streets, and carried it away to be dumped in the river or lake.”

“We mix up all our bodily functions in a machine designed by engineers on the basis of the plumbing system, not human needs. The result is a toxic output of contaminated water, questionable air quality and incredible waste. We just can’t afford to do it this way any more.”

“The other source of waste and inefficiency is the shower… The water runs constantly, even when you are applying soap or shampoo. You are usually standing in a slippery dangerous tub or in a tiny stall where you cannot move out of the water stream. People who care about water waste, either for cost or environmental reasons, take short showers or have miserable low flow shower heads. It’s just not fun.”

“In Japan, you sit on a stool and have a bucket, sponge, ladle and hand shower that you only turn on when you need it. You can sit comfortably for as long as you like, in no danger of slipping, use the ladle or the hand shower to rinse. It’s really a lovely experience. It uses 10% of the water compared to a normal shower…

When thinking about the bathroom of the future, we should look more closely at the Japanese bathrooms of the past. They kept their water supply and their waste management far apart, and rarely had epidemics of typhoid or cholera. They would never think of putting the toilet in the same room as the tub. Instead of treating bathing as a chore, they turned it into a truly enjoyable ritual.”

1. Why the modern bathroom is a wasteful, unhealthy design, Lloyd Alter, The Guardian.
2. Bathroom Furniture & Ideas, IKEA.