100th anniversary of Thomas Crapper's death

Contrary to misconceptions, Thomas Crapper did not invent the flush toilet

Image courtesy of Thomas Crapper & Co Ltd

25 January 2010

100 years later, progress on sanitation lags a century behind...

Wednesday 27 January is the 100th anniversary of the death of Thomas Crapper - the master plumber from Yorkshire who is widely thought to have invented the flush toilet.

To mark the day, WaterAid is calling on members of the public to join the World's Longest Toilet Queue, a new record breaking campaign taking place in March.

Contrary to misconceptions, Thomas Crapper – founder of Thomas Crapper & Co Ltd – did not invent the flush toilet; one of the earliest forms was invented by Sir John Harrington in 1596, but we still owe him thanks for being one of the first to market the flush toilet to the masses. 

In the UK alone, the expansion of sanitation and water infrastructure in the 1880s contributed to a 15 year increase in life expectancy in the following four decades¹.

Yet, a hundred years since Crapper's death, water and sanitation remains one of the least funded and most overlooked issues in developing countries, with most recent projections suggesting that the sanitation Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target will not be met until 2108 in Africa – a century too late.

"Existing evidence suggests that poor sanitation is the single greatest killer of children, linked to as many as 2.4 million child deaths annually," says Oliver Cumming, WaterAid Sanitation policy officer.

"Ignoring this crisis is scandalous, and the British Government must take action to ensure that the world’s efforts to bring an end to global poverty are not undermined by a lack of focus on sanitation."

Sanitation facts

• The World Health Organisation estimates that sanitation-related diseases result in over 400 million school days lost every year
• The World Bank estimates that poor sanitation and drinking water costs developing countries as much 9% of their GDP
• Children living in households with no toilet are twice as likely to get diarrhoea as those with a toilet, causing more deaths every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined
• In sub-Saharan Africa treating diarrhoea costs governments at least 12% of their total health budget

"Without a comprehensive approach to tackling poverty that includes provision of sanitation and safe drinking water, global progress on meeting several MDGs will fail – including the critical goal of reducing the number of children who die before their fifth birthday," said Cumming.

Between 20 and 22 March 2010, supporters from all over the world will join with others to form The World's Longest Toilet Queue, and stand in solidarity with those who still waiting for their right to use a safe, clean toilet. It will be an official Guinness World Record attempt for a queue in multiple locations across the world during the course of the same time period.

"Timing is crucial," explains Cumming, "as one month later UK politicians and other decision-makers will gather at the first-ever High Level Meeting on Sanitation and Water in Washington to discuss what should be done to tackle the global water and sanitation crisis. We must maintain public pressure ahead of this important meeting."

Taking part in the World's Longest Toilet Queue is easy: participants just need to get a group of people to queue in front of a toilet for ten minutes at some point between 20-22 March 2010. The toilet itself can be real, fake or even someone dressed up in a toilet costume.

To find out more and join the queue go to: www.wateraid.org/queue

Notes to Editors

Read WaterAid's top ten toilet facts at: www.wateraid.org/crapper

WaterAid's vision is of a world where everyone has access to safe water and sanitation.

Our mission is to transform lives by improving access to safe water, hygiene and sanitation in the world’s poorest communities. We work with partners and influence decision-makers to maximise our impact.

• At least 4000 children die every day as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation.
• 884 million people in the world do not have access to safe water. This is roughly one in eight of the world's population.
• 2.5 billion people in the world do not have access to adequate sanitation, this is almost two fifths of the world's population.
• Just £15 can enable one person to access safe water, improved hygiene and sanitation.
• In 2009 alone WaterAid, together with its partners, reached over 2 million people to improved sanitation service

References:
1. UN Human development report, 2006