What could be done

One of the things that I often hear about this issue is that it is just no practicable to change all of the London's current WC for new ones that would stop the wastage of clean water and allow the collection of our waste for its posterior compostage, etc. Perhaps this should be considered in a different way: the issue at hand here is one of contamination of our environment that is becoming a public health problem as well. The solution proposed not only does not fully control the problem but also does not address the issue of sustainability, i.e. the use of precious drinking water to wash away our waste, a very important reason that should always be considered, particularly in projects like this one for their impact in the long term, and of increasing importance in the ever more crowded world we live in. To that we have to add the actual cost of the project, which as I understand it, we all are going to pay one way or another for the rest of our lives (for as long as we live in London and our water comes from Thames Water, that is). 

What would I then do to deal with the issue at hand? Well, first I would create a system by which people/ households/ buildings, etc would be compensated or encouraged to made any necessary reforms to change the current WC by one like the vacuum sewers described by the 'Low-tech Magazine' blog. If I have to spend some money I would prefer to spend it in an sustainable system rather than in one that isn't, and the same options should be given to all Londoners, encouraging as much as possible to adopt the sustainable option. This would be followed by legislation banning the construction of current WC in any new building and only permitting those that would allow the recycling of our waste. Finally, I would force the phasing out little by little all the old fashion WC in the capital, replacing them with sustainable ones. This could be done, for example, by taxing old systems out of existence. 

I think it could be done. If a change at a similar scale was achieved by the Clean Air Act of 1956, banning the use of coals in households throughout London and other large cities in the country, and forcing the introduction of other 'cleaner' system to heat up our homes, I think we could now do the same but with our sanitary system. It is a matter of wanting to do it. It is possible.