{"id":1130,"date":"2012-09-24T11:27:48","date_gmt":"2012-09-24T15:27:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/?p=1130"},"modified":"2012-09-24T11:27:48","modified_gmt":"2012-09-24T15:27:48","slug":"the-big-flush","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2012\/09\/24\/the-big-flush\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Flush"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<h1><a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/blogs\/thetwo-way\/2012\/09\/22\/161609631\/synchronized-flushing-in-zimbabwe-is-not-a-new-olympic-sport\">Synchronized Flushing In Zimbabwe Is Not A New Olympic Sport<\/a><\/h1>\n<p>Categories:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/archives\/archive.php?thingId=129641447\">human interest<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/archives\/archive.php?thingId=127605625\">Weather<\/a>,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/archives\/archive.php?thingId=127602567\">Environment<\/a>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n11:20 am<br \/>\nSeptember 22, 2012<\/p>\n<div>\n<ul>\n<li>by\u00a0SHULA NEUMAN<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div id=\"storytext\">\nResidents of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, are engaging in a community-wide flushing of toilets today.<br \/>\nIs it a symbolic washing away of waste? A sign of protest? A commode &#8220;flash mob?&#8221;<br \/>\nNone of the above.<br \/>\nAfter months of severe water shortages, the city&#8217;s authorities have imposed 72 hours of water rationing a week. Two of Bulawayo&#8217;s five supply dams have dried up because of the drought, according to the online version of\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.africareview.com\/News\/Zimbabwe+city+orders+synchronised+toilet+flush\/-\/979180\/1513704\/-\/uixbdr\/-\/index.html%20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Africa Review<\/a><\/em>. So, when water is restored to the city&#8217;s 1 million residents today, the city council has asked everyone to pitch in for the &#8220;Big Flush,&#8221; at 7:30 p.m. local time.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/templates\/story\/story.php?storyId=161606451\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The AP explains<\/a>\u00a0that synchronized flushing will clear waste that has been accumulating in the city&#8217;s sanitary facilities during the past three days of water rationing.<br \/>\nAccording to city council spokesperson Nesisa Mpofu, just because water is being restored fully to residents for now does not mean that everything is OK.<br \/>\n&#8220;Water rationing may be extended to 92-hour periods. The situation is very serious,&#8221; she says. In fact, there is the risk that two more dams could dry up before the rainy season begins in November.<br \/>\nWhile the idea of a Big Flush might seem like a good way to unify a population around a problem, the drought and the need to flush the sewage lines is indicative of a larger issue. Zimbabwe has been plagued with severe droughts in the past and the shortages have contributed to outbreaks of cholera and typhoid \u2014 the worst of which occurred in the capital, Harare, in 2010 when more than 4,000 people died.<br \/>\nTheoretically, help is on the way. After years of stalling, there is now a plan underway to build a pipeline that draws water from the Zambezi River.\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.newzimbabwe.com\/news-9119-Byo+asks+residents+for+mass+toilet+flush\/news.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Newzimbabwe.com<\/a>\u00a0reports that China committed $2.2 million to the project, but it is not expected to be complete until 2014 at the earliest.<br \/>\nIn the meantime, the people of Bulaweyo will have to find ways to be resourceful in using their water sparingly \u2014 and hope that some good comes out of the Big Flush.\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Synchronized Flushing In Zimbabwe Is Not A New Olympic Sport Categories:\u00a0human interest,\u00a0Weather,\u00a0Environment 11:20 am September 22, 2012 by\u00a0SHULA NEUMAN Residents of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, are engaging in a community-wide flushing of toilets today. Is it a symbolic washing away of waste? A sign of protest? A commode &#8220;flash mob?&#8221; None of the above. After months of&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Big Flush - Alex Prud&#039;homme<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/alexprudhomme.com\/2012\/09\/24\/the-big-flush\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Big Flush - Alex Prud&#039;homme\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Synchronized Flushing In Zimbabwe Is Not A New Olympic Sport Categories:\u00a0human interest,\u00a0Weather,\u00a0Environment 11:20 am September 22, 2012 by\u00a0SHULA NEUMAN Residents of Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, are engaging in a community-wide flushing of toilets today. 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