Scientists are going to use tampons to sort out a pretty gross plumbing problem that’s badly affecting the environment. Seriously.
The problem is that, according to the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, 5% of homes’ toilets contents – yes, that means everything that goes into their toilets, all that gross sewage – ends up being pumped into rivers and lakes. That’s poo, floating in the Tyne/Thames/Irwell/Avon/whichever gross river’s closest to you. It has resulted in only 17% of the UK’s rivers being in good health.
The solution? To find out where the faulty plumbing is coming from, as The Guardian reports. How? Scientists are going to dye tampons – they’ve previously been shown to absorb the colours in detergents, toothpaste and shampoo, making them glow in the dark – and flush them down suspected faulty toilets. Then, some other scientists are going to watch at the river locations where sewage has been spotted to work out which toilets have got the grossest plumbing systems. Like a really bright, bleached cotton version of poo-sticks.
Professor David Lerner, who works in environmental engineering at the University of Sheffield, told The Guardian: ‘Sewage in rivers is very unpleasant, very widespread and very difficult to track down. Our new method may be unconventional, but it’s cheap and it works.’
We wonder, though, are Prof Lerner and his fellow scientists going to have to pay tax on the tampons they use? Because women, who actually need tampons, are having to pay 5% tax on their sanitaryware, while things like razors and crocodile meat are 0% tax.
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Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.