Toilet: A New Era

Since the invention of water cabinets, water closets (WC), by the English engineer Joseph Bramah in the 18th century, sanitary facilities have changed little in the West. However, they waste quantities of drinking water with each emptying of the basin. At the same time, a third of humanity does not have access to it, as in India, where 800 million people do not. Japan, South Korea or Singapore have already made their revolution. In the United States, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is funding a competition for scientists to reinvent sanitation. The objective: equipment that uses little water, is ecological and autonomous, capable of operating without electricity or a sewerage system.