 4. World Toilet Day Today, my friend Carl shared with me that 19 November is World Toilet Day. Seriously. Carl always shares all sorts of trivial information. Interesting, but trivial. However, when Carl saw my amusement, he explained to me that World Toilet Day is far from trivial. Carl explained that we face a global sanitation crisis because 4.2 billion people are still living with poor quality toilets that ruin their health and pollute their environment. Lack of access to sanitation has an impact on public health, dignity, and safety. A lack of safely managed sanitation also means that around 673 million people practice open defecation. The spread of many diseases, such as cholera, diarrhea, typhoid, and dysentery is directly related to people being exposed to human feces due to toilets not being available. Having to urinate in the open can also be difficult for women and girls. Females tend to resort to the cover of darkness to give them more privacy, but then risk being attacked when alone at night. But that is not all. There is also a significant link between sanitation and groundwater. Inadequate sanitation systems spread human waste into rivers, lakes, and soil. This contaminates underground water resources. So, World Toilet Day is really about more than just toilets. It is about safely managed sanitation. It is to give everyone access to a toilet connected to a sanitation system that effectively removes and treats human waste. Carl says that World Toilet Day is important to inform, engage, and inspire people to take action toward achieving this goal. If you want to know more, the World Toilet Day website promotes key issues and stories, provides communications and campaigns, resources, and announces events and opportunities to participate.