Leaks

How we view a leak may vary significantly depending on what is leaking and what it is leaking from. A tire leaking air, or a pipe leaking water is almost always an annoyance. A leak of flammable liquid or gas can be alarming.

Then there are leaks of information. Your opinion on those will depend on who had it, who is getting it, and why. To those who desire to keep something secret, a leak is a bad thing. There can be valid reasons for keeping a secret; a password, how to build a nuclear weapon, or an embarrassing fact about oneself.

If you’re a journalist or an investigator, a leak may be a welcome and valuable discovery. It may be information about a dishonest government official or a corporation that the public, or law enforcement, should know.

Information in general, with limited exceptions, should be free to learn. That helps insure honesty in public life. Naturally there is personal privacy and certain things that would be dangerous in the wrong hands that need to be kept out of view.

There is another kind of leak. Bill Gates, who became extremely wealthy selling overpriced computer operating systems but then retired and began using his wealth for mostly good purposes, has taken an interest in these.

The concern is that the nearly 8 billion people in the world all periodically need to take a leak. They also need to take a shit. In most developed countries we often do both of these things in the same place, and submit the results to the same process: the flush.

The problem with that is that large amounts of water is used to make it all flow away from us, water that becomes unusable for anything else until it is cleaned up. It is a wasteful cycle, and that will be more of an issue as the population grows and more undeveloped places seek to use the modern conveniences that we take for granted in wealthy countries.

The fact is that leaks and shits are not the same. Urine can be streamed or sprinkled almost anywhere. It fertilizes and moistens plants and does no harm. Shit, on the other hand (don’t forget to wash your hands), is another matter. If it could be transported away from us without floating it , millions of gallons of water could be saved, In increasingly dry areas, that would make a big difference.

There is no need to dilute urine with fresh water to send it away. It will flow where you need it to go anyway, if your aim is accurate. Personally, I often like to find dry places to water. Trees, bushes, fences (non-electric ones)– there are many places than can be used unobserved. And even when there are other people in the vicinity, leaking often can be accomplished without notice by appearing to do something else.

Technology has brought us immense benefits, but sometimes we need to remember to be a part of nature.