Two students from the University of East Anglia in Norwich are encouraging their classmates to urinate in the shower, the BBC reports. Debs Torr and Chris Dobson have initiated the "Go with the Flow" campaign that encourages the university's 15,000 students to forego their first morning toilet and save 18 million gallons of flush water a year.
"With 15,000 students at UEA, over a year we would save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool 26 times over ... Imagine how big an impact it could have if we could get everyone in East Anglia, or even the UK, to change their morning habits ... The campaign has been really divisive - people either seem to love it or hate it," according to Dobson, 20.
Dobson also added, "As long as the water is flowing there is no hygiene risk as urine is sterile but we would encourage that every person using the same shower consents to the challenge and if not that they don't take part."
There is a wee problem: urine is not actually sterile.
Evann Hilt authored a study that took urine samples from 84 women. The urine of healthy bladders had 33 types of bacteria, whereas overactive bladders showed 77 different kinds of bacteria. Hilt said that the bacteria is common bacteria that could be found elsewhere in the body, according to Today.
Some, like the character Patches O'Houlihan in the movie "Dodgeball," say urine is sterile, but that concept is a misunderstanding of the findings of Edward Kass, according to Today.
In the 1950's, the epidemiologist was looking for a certain number of bacteria that would indicate a bladder infection. Kass never called urine "sterile," but clinicians have used the word to indicate that the sample is free from infection.
"There is bacteria on our body, and we wouldn't be able to survive without them. There are just a few bacteria out there that cause illness," said Hilt, as reported by Today.
To pee or not to pee: That is the question.
