Prof’s choice assignment: toilet

ur assignment

Step 1

Figure out how your household’s toilet waste water is disposed of. For most Canadian households, it will

typically be one of two options:

– it flows down the household drain to a network of underground sewers that transport it to a municipal

waste water treatment facility

– it drains into a household septic tank that is either emptied periodically by a waste collection service,

or that slowly drains into a set of buried pipes (called a “septic bed”) from which the waste water leaks

into the ground and is broken down by natural processes.

There are other options employed by households in rural areas and/or remote communities, and in

other countries. If you are not sure how it works for your household, do some research.

Step 2

Do one of the following, as appropriate…

For students whose household waste is carried to a municipal wastewater treatment facility:

– download a Google map of an appropriate scale, and indicate on it the location of your home and of

the nearest wastewater treatment facility. Then, indicate on the map the underground route your waste

likely travels to get to the treatment facility. Remember, it is unlikely to journey in a straight line;

municipal sewers tend to follow city streets and thoroughfares. Next, write a 2 paragraph text

description of where the toilet waste from your household likely goes to, and the treatment processes

used at the wastewater treatment facility that receives it. Most cities and towns maintain a website that

details their wastewater management systems and the processes used at treatment facilities. If in

doubt, you can always phone and ask someone at your local government office. The key is, don’t guess –

do some research. An example map is found at the end of these instructions.

For students whose household waste water flows to an on-site septic tank:

– download from Google maps an overhead satellite image of your home, and indicate on it where on

your property the septic tank and/or septic bed is located (you can include photos if useful to do so).

Write a 1-2 paragraph text description of how your household septic system functions, how often it

requires maintenance (or emptying), how much it costs annually, and any other salient details about it.

For students that have toilet facilities and/or waste water disposal systems different from the two

options described above:

Write a 2 paragraph text description of your household’s toilet facilities and waste water disposal

system, providing salient details. Include photos if possible.

Step 3

For homeless people in Ontario cities, finding a safe place to defecate has always been challenging.

Businesses and restaurants often reserve their toilet facilities for the use of paying customers only, and

discourage homeless people from using them. Libraries, bus stations, city-owned buildings, arenas,

recreation centres and some parks have public toilet facilities that the homeless may use, but these may

often be far apart, or may be closed on evenings or weekends. During COVID-related shutdowns in the

past 18 months, many of these facilities were closed for extended periods, further limiting toilet access

for homeless people.

Imagine you have been hired as a consultant for an organization that represents the rights of homeless

people in the city of Kitchener. Your task is to come up with a plan to improve access to public toilet

facilities for all citizens, but recognizing that the homeless stand to benefit most. The city council has

agreed to receive a 1-page briefing note from you that summarizes a simple, cost effective strategy for

providing better access to public toilets. Do some research, and come up with such a strategy for

Kitchener.

Important

– your briefing note can not include a recommendation that city council pass a law requiring businesses

to provide toilet access to all members of the public. That is outside their legal jurisdiction; you need to

come up with some other strategy

– just because a briefing note is short (1 page) this does not mean it should lack detail; on the contrary, a

briefing note is typically jam-packed with succinctly worded facts and statistics (and in the real world

would be backed up with a much longer, more detailed plan, something you don’t have to generate for

this assignment)

– make sure your briefing note summarizes what your strategy is, how it would be implemented, how

long it would take to implement, who would be responsible for implementing it, how much it would

cost, and how you would measure its effectiveness.

Step 4

Combine your maps, images and text from Steps 2 and 3 into a single document. Cite in the text any

reports, websites, and/or other sources you consulted, and list the complete bibliographic details for

each in a reference list at the end of your document (see details below). Note that the reference list

does not count toward the page limits. Convert your completed document to PDF format. Submit this

electronically to the Prof’s Assignment 1 dropbox before 2359H Waterloo time on October 24. Late

submissions are accepted without penalty only in extraordinary circumstances and must be pre-

authorized or be accompanied by a promptly-completed illness declaration following the University’s

prescribed format (see

https://students.wlu.ca/academics/calendars-and-policies/petitions-and-

appeals/index.html

). Unauthorized late submissions will have 2 marks deducted from the grade

awarded for every 24 hour period of lateness.

Why must I submit my assignment as a PDF?

“PDF” stands for “portable document format.” A pdf document can be read successfully on any

computer or smartphone screen, regardless of the operating system or software being used. In the

academic and business world, it is how official documents are transferred, so you had best get in the

habit of creating PDFs now.

There are many free PDF-writing software for PCs, and most Windows and iOS operating systems now

include them automatically. To find out if your machine has the software already installed, create a test

document, click ‘Print’, and in the dialogue box that pops up, click on the ‘Printer’ button and see if

there is a PDF option on the drop-down list. If there is, select it and then click ‘Print’. On your screen will

then appear a dialogue box asking you where you would like to save your PDF document (it will not

actually print a hard copy on your local printer). The resulting file name will have a .pdf extension. If you

don’t already have PDF-writing software on your computer, simply search the internet for ‘free PDF

writing software’. Do not submit to MyLS your completed assignment unless it has a .pdf extension. If

your assignment has a .doc, .docx, .notes or any other extension other than .pdf, it will not be graded.

How to cite sources and format a reference list for labs for this course

For assignments for ES110, cite sources and format references using a simplified APA method. In this

method, whenever you refer to a journal, magazine or newspaper article, cite the author’s surname and

the year of publication in the text, at the end of the sentence that makes use of the reference in

question. In the case of information you learn from reports or websites published by organizations that

do not name a specific author, provide the organizational name and year of publication. So, for example,

Climate change is expected to reduce the number of winter days cold enough to build and

maintain outdoor skating rinks in Canada (Robertson et al 2015). In the winter of 2019-2020,

outdoor rink makers across North America reported generally poor winter conditions and a

below-average number of days suitable for skating (RinkWatch project 2020).

At the end of the document, the full bibliographic details are provided in the reference list:

Rinkwatch project. 2020.

Sentinel rinks report 2019-2020

. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier

University. 8p. Accessed 19AUG20

https://www.rinkwatch.org/documents/sentinel_rink_report_2019-2020.pdf

Robertson, C., McLeman, R, and H. Lawrence. 2015. Winters too warm to skate? Citizen-science

reported variability in availability of outdoor skating in Canada.

The Canadian Geographer

59(4):

383–390.

Note that references are in alphabetical order using the first author’s surname and/or the organizational

name. For more details about formatting citations and references, consult

https://library.wlu.ca/help/activity/citing-sources

If you have any questions about this assignment, ask during an upcoming class meeting.

Rubric

Students will receive a maximum of 20 points for their written report, based on the following criteria:

–

The quality and clarity of the map showing the route their sewage takes (or of their rural

property where the septic system is); it must be easy to read, interpret and understand.

–

The route shown on the map should be a logical one; for example, sewers do not travel “as the

crow flies” directly from point A to point B; they typically follow the street/road network.

–

The first 2 paragraphs should provide a clear explanation of where your household’s toilet waste

ends up (either a treatment plant, a septic bed on the property or, in rare cases, some other

destination). Be succinct and factual. If you are not sure where your nearest treatment plant is,

do some research. You are allowed to use photos to illustrate; these do not count toward the

overall restrictions on the length of the text.

–

Your 1-page briefing note should be thoughtful, realistic and should demonstrate that you have

done supporting research (e.g. such as to find out what have been successful in increasing

access to public toilets). The teaching assistants will assess each assignment on its own merits.

–

The map + 2 paragraph description counts for half the grade for this assignment, the 1 page

reflection for the other half of the grade

Prof’s choice assignment: toilet

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