Inspiring Women February 2023

water as well as the nutrients, energy, and
information contained in the stuff we flush
away. While we see radical technological change
in almost every other aspect of our lives, we
remain stuck in a sanitation status quo—in part
because the topic of toilets is taboo.
Fortunately, there’s hope—and Pipe Dreams
daringly profiles the growing army of sewagesavvy
scientists, engineers, philanthropists,
entrepreneurs and activists worldwide who are
overcoming their aversions and focusing their
formidable skills on making toilets accessible
and healthier for all. Author Chelsea Wald takes
us on a wild world tour from a compost toilet
project to a plant that salvages used toilet paper
from sewage, and shows us a toilet seat that can
watch poop for signs of illness. Among other
accolades, Pipe Dreams was a finalist for the
2022 NASW Science in Society Journalism Award
and longlisted for the 2022 AAAS/Subaru SB&F
Prize for Excellence in Science Books.
What was your inspiration for the book?
In 2013, I got two assignments. In my work as
a freelancer, two things happen: either I pitch
stories or editors pitch to me. But this was
very much a coincidence. These stories just
came my way.
The first was a story about new toilet
technologies for very low resource contexts,
where people might have very poor toilets or
no toilets at all. The second was about heat in
our cities and where we could access more of
it. It turned out that there's a lot of heat in our
sewers, thanks to showers, washing machines,
and dishwashers. And we could pull that up
again with heat pumps and use it to heat and
even cool our cities.
This combination of stories in a short period of
time opened the lid of my mind, as I say in my
book. I wanted to know more, and I saw a fairly
untapped niche for myself as a writer. Looking
further, I found a flurry of innovation in toilets
and the infrastructure that connects to them.
There are a lot of innovators in different fields,
from engineering to design to sociology, thinking
in new ways about the toilet. Ultimately, I turned
that into a book about the future of the toilet.
How long did it take you to write the book?
Here’s the timeline: I got the first toilet-related
writing assignment in 2013 and kept following
up with more stories. Five years later, in 2018,
I got the book contract, just three months
after my first child was born – and on my 40th
birthday. I turned in my complete draft in April
2020, just after the pandemic started. So I could
answer this question in a lot of different ways
– but, any way you look at it, these years have
been very eventful!
What kind of research do you do, and how
long do you spend researching before
beginning a book?
As a journalist, I use several types of sources
to gather information. I speak to experts, as
well as read loads of papers and books on the
science and history of the topic. I also prefer to
go look around at projects in person. My trip
to Haiti illustrates why this is important. I was
going to look at a social enterprise called SOIL
that provides a toilet service to people in very
poor urban areas. The business picks up full
containers and drops off empty ones – kind of
like a curbside recycling program. It sounds
pretty simple until you see what happens
when it rains: many flooded roads become
unnavigable, and workers have to wade in
thigh-deep water as they make their rounds.
Experiencing this with my own senses helped
me appreciate and describe the magnitude
of what this organization is
attempting to achieve.
What is the most important thing
you want readers to take away
from your book?
We can ask so much more of our
toilets in terms of health,
environment, and equity. The toilet
can be a powerful tool for making
the world a better place because
everybody poops.
When did you start writing?
I started journalism school in 2002
but I’ve been writing as long as I
can remember. I wrote poems in
elementary school and plays in high
school. Science journalism was my
attempt at marrying my interests in
writing and science.
As a writer, what would you choose as your
mascot/avatar/spirit animal?
For the sake of this book, I would choose a
wombat. They poop cubes.
What’s your favorite under-appreciated
novel?
While Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables probably isn’t
under-appreciated (hello, Broadway!), what most
people probably don’t know is that it contains
lengthy passages about the history and meaning
of the sewer system. I found them particularly
fascinating while writing Pipe Dreams. My
favorite line: “The sewer is the conscience of
the city.”
What is your favorite childhood book?
Keeping to the theme, I would recommend
Frank Herbert’s Dune to older children. I read
it in my early 20s but it’s a thrilling read for
teenagers. The characters on the desert planet
wear “stillsuits” that recapture all the body’s
moisture, creating a kind of closed loop.
Ideally, that’s what our sanitation systems
could do someday.
What are you reading now?
This and that. On my bedside table is a pile
of parenting books that I find somehow
comforting, though I can’t read them all. I’m
partway through the final book in Hilary Mantel’s
Wolf Hall trilogy – but I think I’m procrastinating
because I’ll be sad to finish it. What a giant
she was!
If you could tell your younger writing-self
anything, what would it be?
You are funny.
What’s next for you? Are you working on
anything new you’d like to share with our
readers?
I had a second child in July so I am taking some
time away from work to spend with her and to let
some new project ideas percolate.
Writing a book can be a lonely
business, so I’m hoping to
find something more
collaborative.
Books presented in the
Inspiring Reads feature are
available for purchase via
the FAWCO website in the
Books by Members or Books
by Clubs sections.
Enjoy!
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