Prompt entry #5

Ah, the flush of a toilet. What could be easier? Pull a lever and the refuse swirls away forever. No need to think about it. Gone are the days of the outhouse, the sprinkling of lye, the pervasive odor, the mound of refuse so disgustingly visible. The sewage treatment plant; it is one of the sure signs that we live packed together. Sewage treatment is inherently a good thing, of course. 80,000 people congregated in one spot are bound to produce a lot of shit and piss. But our own implementation of that sewer system was far from perfect.

Duluth has a sewer run-off problem. Houses built before 1970 had foundation footing drains connected directly to the sanitary sewer system which, during periods of heavy rain or melting snow, can overload the system, producing sewage backups that eventually make their way into Lake Superior.

Like many environmental problems, there isn’t one simple, easy fix, nor is there one culprit that can shoulder both the blame and the cost. Should the cash-strapped city of Duluth pony up or should its cash-strapped citizens? I wonder, though, about the decision to hook the sewers up this way in the first place. Was it an act of ignorance? An expedient short cut? Short term thinking? Or was it simply an honest mistake?

Since the majority of Duluth is perched on a hilltop overlooking Lake Superior, sewage run-off finds a quick and easy path directly to the lake. Given Lake Superior’s size, it is tempting to think that our sewage overflow is mere drop in the bucket; the fact that Lake Superior is the cleanest of all the Great Lakes makes this a tempting mindset to adopt. But, of course, we must act. After all, what better example can there be for environmental irresponsibility than to foul up the source of your own drinking water with excrement.

The outhouse carries some of the same risks. If improperly constructed or placed, it can leech harmful bacteria into the water supply. Of course this happens on a one to one scale, providing the outhouse builder with an incentive to do the job right. A well placed outhouse, one that does not receive too much use and is placed in the right soil, will harmlessly break down the refuse. There is a lot to be said for this simple, organic solution. There is even something to be said for the smells of an outhouse, and the view to the outside world an outhouse normally provides. It is a humbling reminder that we are of this earth, that we, too, are animals that piss and shit. That our waste must be accounted for.