Sewage Tracker Gets to the Bottom of Waste Disposal

A Polish water company wants local residents to become more environmentally aware by learning about the local sewage network, so it has developed a smart-phone application that shows them the route, time and speed their 'delivery' takes from the toilet to the local sewage system.

Published

8 months ago

Categories

World

Topics

Apps, Europe

People

Jozef Natonek

Places

Poland

Transcript

UPSOT: ANIMATED VIDEO This phone app shows toilet humour is alive and well in the smartphone age. But its Polish creators say the primary function of 'Where's my poo?' is to make children environmentally aware and interested in the messy business of sewage. Residents of Jaworzno city can track their waste from flush to sewage works, following its route and distance through local sewers on their smartphone or computer. UPSOT: MUSIC It was the brainchild of Jaworzno's Municipal Water and Sewage Company. Spokesman Slawomir Grucel explains..... SOUNDBITE (Polish), SLAWOMIR GRUCEL, SPOKESPERSON FOR MPWiK SAYING: "Using the application is very simple and intuitive. All you need to do is press the 'play' button and choose any location within the city of Jaworzno or write it down in the search menu, press 'start' and you get information about the route that your package will take to the sewage works." Learning about human waste isn't top of most kids' agendas, other than to provide amusement. But the company's director Jozef Natonek believes 'Where's my poo?'s clever animation is engaging local children's intellectual curiosity. SOUNDBITE (Polish), JOZEF NATONEK, DIRECTOR OF MPWiK JAWORZNO PLANT, SAYING: "Thanks to this many people are talking about the sewers. How can you get people to start talking about the sewers, how can you get young people to speak about it? It's very difficult but we did it thanks to using something that interests them. It's something that you can use on your phone or your computer. They can compare with one another about the differing speeds that their packages reach their destination, so they talk about it." High School student Kamil Gacek is a self-confessed fan and says the app has changed how he thinks about his own toilet trips. SOUNDBITE (Polish), KAMIL GACEK SAYING: "I would never have thought about this, how long the distance is to the sewers, and what speed it is going, but this application shows it in a way that's very interesting." The website and app are currently limited to Jaworzno, but other sewage firms may follow, allowing their own customers to get to the bottom of waste disposal.