Too Much Information: Website Tracks Toilet Flushes to Promote World Health

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REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

REUTERS/Tim Wimborne

It’s the app the world never thought it would see: We give you the Flush Tracker.

Flush Tracker is the online app, available in the Google Maps format, which tracks toilet flushes made in the U.K., Irish Republic, Poland and South Africa (which is either bad or good luck for some of our readers). This web app has been developed in association with the World Toilet Organization — yes, there really is such a thing — and the toilet cleaner Domestos to promote World Toilet Day (which was on Nov. 19), an event raising awareness of the dangers which prevail due to poor sanitation.

(See the Top 10 Famous Toilets)

According to World Toilet Day’s website, 5,000 children die every day in less economically developed countries due to diarrheal diseases. That’s five times more than the mortality figures for HIV and AIDS in those same countries. The tracker may seem funny, but it highlights a difference in public health and how oblivious the developed world can be to basic sanitation.

(See TIME’s Top 10 Odd Environmental Ideas)

And in case anyone is curious, since starting this article a flush NewsFeed’s London office has been tracking has traveled 3.9 miles. Probably best to not delve any deeper.