The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is doling out $42 million in an attempt to find a university that can give the modern flush toilet a much-needed overhaul. The idea is to devise a new and efficient throne that can be used safely in poor and under-developed countries.

Did you know that an estimated 2.6 billion people worldwide lack access to a flush toilet? With nothing more than a flimsy structure or hole in the ground to do their business into, billions of people spar with rapidly spreading, life-threatening diseases while being exposed to filthy water sources.

With that said, it might be time to give the 200-year-old modern flush toilet a complete overhaul.

And a man who’s best known in a different industry than plumbing is pouring $42 million into the reinvention efforts.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (yes, that Bill Gates) recently hand-selected eight universities from Africa, Asia, Europe and North America (including Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology) to “invent a waterless, hygienic toilet that is safe and affordable for people in the developing world and doesn’t have to be connected to the sewer,” according to a press release.

It’s called the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge, and among the concepts for a new and improved throne are a technology that turns the toilet into an electricity generator, and a community bathroom block that mineralizes human waste and recovers clean water, nutrients and energy.

Kohler's top-selling Cimarron toilet.

Tomorrow (Nov. 19) is World Toilet Day, and its official website is filled with infographics, stories and tidbits about the toilet—and those who lack one. One staggering stat claims “more people in the world have cell phones than toilets.”

According to the foundation’s website, the cost to install and maintain sewers is $1,000 per person, which “costs (African nations) about 5% of GDP each year,” according to an article in The Guardian reporting on the toilet challenge.

So it’s no surprise that the challenge’s goal is to create a toilet that doesn’t rely on water and an intricate sewer infrastructure, which poorer nations simply can’t afford.

Consider that building sewer systems from scratch in these nations is totally out of the question and the fact that The Guardian article reports “diarrhea linked to inadequate sanitation is now recognized as the biggest killer of children in Africa,” and you can see why the Reinvent the Toilet Challenge could be a game-changer.

No matter what you think of Bill Gates and his outlandish wealth (Forbes magazine says he’s worth $59 billion), you have to admire that he’s attempting to build a basic foundation to better hygiene and health for generations to come.

Until next time, Happy Home Improving!

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