[Music]
consider this when you flush your toilet
you don't even give a second thought to
what happens to sewage water in the pipe
or how fast it travels or where it goes
but if you ever do then you should hope
that there will never come a day when
everyone in the world flushes at the
exact same moment but let's talk about a
less grand example first say if you live
in a separate house with two bathrooms
then flushing both of them at the same
time won't do any harm at all
now that's boring let's upscale you live
in a big apartment building with
centralized sewage system in older
buildings especially outside the u.s.
you can still find this kind of drawer
that opens up on a really huge vertical
pipe or soil pipe that's where all the
waste goes when you and your down and
upstairs neighbors flush may sound gross
but you can even hear the wastewater
rushing past you when someone above
presses the button so imagine that the
whole column just decided to flush at
the exact same moment there's a powerful
waterfall occurring right in front of
you and it's good if it's just water but
people normally flush not just for the
fun of it so there's also toilet paper
and other less savory substances so it
all rushes down at high speed and
eventually gets into the general sewage
system of the city the pipes down below
are much wider so they could keep up
with the flow but even so the average
diameter of the largest pipe which is
the one that goes straight to the waste
recycling station is about 10 feet that
sounds like a lot but it depends on the
instant flow I'll get there so anyway
twelve stories of unanimous flushes what
happens first is probably howling and
that's kind of scary the thing is that
all this waste in water
create a pressure that most pipes would
not be able to withstand so you'd be
lucky if the pipe in front of you didn't
burst right in your face
hey don't picture this if the pipe
handles it though it will still howl
like crazy from all the strain but when
the waste reaches the wider sewage pipes
it will go further without much trouble
the piping will become gradually bigger
in diameter because obviously it
collects not only the waste from your
building but from all your neighborhood
and the further it goes the more soil
pipes it services like I mentioned
earlier the largest pipe is the central
one or several if you're in a big city
right before the waste disposal and
recycling plant it will need a really
serious inflow to get clogged and I mean
the whole city level of serious now
imagine there's a town of 300,000 people
let's call it flushing Tainui uhm ik its
government invented a new holiday called
flushing ttan flush day on this day
every citizen should honor the gift of
civilization that is a sewage system and
press the flush button at the exact same
moment the whole town is getting ready
for the celebration colors are flying
bands are playing and the large clock at
the central square counts down the last
seconds before the big flush three two
one go
everyone happily presses the button and
the water starts flowing
remember the howling I mentioned well in
a town of this population it will
probably not happen with many people
living in their own homes with separate
sewage systems but it doesn't mean
nothing will happen at all
quite the contrary at first there will
be absolute silence then a kind of
tremor perhaps as the sewer system
beneath the town tries to cope with the
enormous flow just to put it in
perspective when flush ejects about
three and a half gallons of water so
that's 1 million fifty thousand gallons
of water for the whole flushing t'n same
as one and a half Olympic swimming pools
then if you're lucky enough to be the
resident you'll see the wastewater
rising back in your toilet and fast you
turn to the wash ball and the bathtub
and get even more jittery the
foul-smelling stuff Rises there too
bubbling you run into the kitchen
awaiting a disaster and you're right all
the dishes you left for washing later
are already half covered in the let's
call it dark water you call the local
plumber but the line is busy
everyone is apparently having the same
problem as you not knowing what to do
you go to the window and oh oh you see
the manhole lids have burst from their
places and the stuff from the sewer
starts overflowing the streets at the
same time you hear more bubbling from
behind you and you're afraid to turn
around but you have to this sight is
unpleasant to say the least the washing
machine you left plugged in and ready
has overflown too and to add insult to
injury there were clothes left in it by
by my favorite t-shirt the floor is
rapidly getting covered in sewage water
and you have no other choice but to
quickly slip on your mud boots and jump
out the window of your house outside
although the air is fresher the odor is
still nauseating you wade through the
ever-rising dark water along with the
other residents of the town seeking a
higher ground to wait out the worst of
it
the whole town gathers on the highest
hill there are manholes here too but the
sewage waters don't overflow here
because it's too high thankfully people
are glaring at the government officials
who proposed the idea in the first place
but everyone understands it's their own
fault to you and the others watch your
town flooded with wastewater until it
finally subsides which takes about an
hour after that you grimly plod back
down to count the losses and get to the
cleaning the flushing today has been
officially canceled from now on okay
that's one moderately populated town for
you
but what if we take it even further
and make it a world flush day the TV and
radio all across the globe count down
the seconds before the huge event day or
night doesn't matter we assume everyone
has been waiting for this and is
prepared to press the button and there
it is the water merely rushes down the
pipes only to you guessed it get back to
you
but since the stakes are much higher now
the backlash will probably be a lot more
intense you'd better stay away from
anything connected to the sewage system
because the flow is going to become a
spray if you don't fall back at once
you're gonna take a really stinky shower
but don't even think about running
outside in the first minutes after the
big flush it's not gonna be safe the
manhole covers will pop into the air
like soda bottle caps and the whole city
will look as if it's full of
foul-smelling geysers well maybe not but
we don't know for sure right yet the
worst is still to come the wastewater
recycling facilities won't be able to
cope with the stress and the pipes there
will burst to remember that 10-foot wide
pipe I mentioned earlier when it bursts
it will literally explode upward
raining down lumps of earth and water
be sure to stay as far as you can from
their willya next the flood will
continue and it will probably turn into
an absolute stinky tsunami oh people
will try to get as high as possible to
save themselves from the smelly disaster
mountainous regions will become the
safest on the planet people will hide on
the peaks and in the hills until the
worst ends flatlands dwellers won't be
so lucky though taking the brunt of the
damage upon themselves houses will float
and people will have to hang on for dear
life the flow will get steadily stronger
but in about a half an hour it will
start to subside it's hard to imagine
the amount of trouble it will have
caused but you can say for sure that it
will cost a lot to everyone in the world
recycling facilities and sewer pipe
works will have to be repaired before
anyone can use their bathrooms again and
that's not to mention the repairs
necessary to restore the houses parks
and whatever got in the way of the flush
flood all in all the picture is as
unpleasant as it sounds and smells well
I don't think that world flush day is a
good idea after all
do you so let's just flush that idea
right now
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