World Toilet Day is November 19
40 Percent of the World Goes Without

Ever consider a toilet a luxury? Of course not -- at least not until perhaps today. Discussing bodily functions is considered such a taboo that many parents refer to bad language as “toilet talk.” The World Toilet Organization is looking to change that attitude as part of its overall goal of reducing the number of people without toilets to zero.

Something that we take for granted here in the U.S. is a huge issue for 2.5 billion people around the world who don’t have access to proper sanitation. Two and a half billion people translate to about 40% of the world’s population. That’s a huge figure when we’re talking about something as seemingly rudimentary as having a toilet. Or even access to a toilet. Nearly two million people die each year from waterborne illnesses, many of who are children. That is more than those who die from AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

The World Toilet Organization (WTO) and UNICEF have designated November 19 as World Toilet Day. This year, millions of people around the globe will join in on “The Big Squat” to help raise awareness of the plight of billions of people.

People will be participating in their offices, schools, malls, and along busy streets.. The goal is to raise awareness: the more public the place, the more people will get the message…or become intrigued enough to hopefully ask what the “squatters” are doing.

A highly-engaged partner in many of the WTO’s initiatives to improve sanitation and safe drinking water worldwide, the International Code Council (ICC) is proud to support the World Toilet Organization’s blunt and to-the-point campaign. “We cannot continue to blush and giggle when the word ‘toilet’ is spoken and expect the problem to solve itself,” said Jay Peters, Executive Director for the ICC’s Plumbing, Mechanical and Fuel Gas (PMG) Group. “Celebrities gladly pose for photos in front of a water tap to protest bottled water. We’d like to see them posing in front of a toilet to help reduce the unimaginable statistic of a child dying every 15 seconds from a waterborne illness.”

If you are interested in squatting for this life-critical cause or wish to spread the word to everyone you know so that they too know about The Big Squat on World Toilet Day, visit www.worldtoiletday.com/squat for details. To learn more about all of the important initiatives the World Toilet Organization conducts throughout the year, visit www.worldtoilet.org.