ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Shit flow diagram

Okay, so think about when you go to the bathroom to poop. You know how the poop comes out of your body and goes into the toilet? Well, imagine if we wanted to know where all the poop goes after that. It's kind of like following a trail of breadcrumbs to see where they lead.

A poop flow diagram, also called a shit flow diagram, helps us track where all the poop goes in a community. It shows us the journey from when the poop leaves people's bodies to when it is finally treated or disposed of.

Basically, we start at the beginning: when people go to the bathroom. The poop gets flushed down the toilet and goes into something called a sewer pipe. The sewer pipe is like a big tunnel that runs under the ground and carries all the poop to a wastewater treatment plant.

At the treatment plant, the poop gets cleaned up and turned into something that's safe for the environment. This is important because if we didn't do this, the poop could harm plants and animals and make people sick.

But not every community has a fancy treatment plant. Some places don't have a sewer system at all, so they have to handle their poop another way. This could involve things like using pit latrines, which are basically like big holes in the ground people go to the bathroom in. The poop then gets covered up with dirt or burned.

A poop flow diagram helps us understand how our community handles its poop and whether that's a safe and sanitary way of doing things. And even though it might seem gross or silly, it's actually very important for making sure we all stay healthy and our environment stays clean.