Have you ever had a poop and experienced the bowl water firing straight at your butt or genitals? I guess we’ve experienced this interesting event. It is like a diving contest in the settled water of the toilet bowl. What then is toilet splashback? Toilet splashback is a phenomenon that defies physical law and could be quite inconveniencing when using a poorly maintained public toilet facility. It occurs when our released excreta sends the toilet water jumping at our backside in an unwelcoming manner. It is believed to usually occur after one has urinated in the bowl before emptying their bowel.
Toilet splashback is also conceived to be caused as a result of our faeces dislodging water. This then leads to a formation of air at the bottom of our toilet bowl. The caging of the air and the disconnection in pressure makes water pull back together and erupts straight at our behind. Interestingly, large poop drop does not generate as much splashback as their smaller counterparts. The size of the chamber formed in water by our waste or faeces tends to influence the height and intensity of splashback. We will briefly explore the different ways of preventing water from jumping straight at you after your waste release.
Ways to prevent a toilet splashback in public or private toilets
1) Place a strip of toilet roll: Toilet splashback is more prevalent when there is surface tension of water. With surface tension, the water molecules at the top are expected to culminate or pull together. Placing some toilet roll in the toilet bowl before answering the call of nature will prevent splashback from occurring. Toilet roll in the water bowl helps to change or alter the surface tension of the water. This is the simplest and quickest way to prevent toilet water from jumping at our behind.
2) Releasing your poop immediately after a flush: Some people flush the toilet immediately before emptying their bowels. Aligning your poop inline with the flush is believed to have worked for some toilet users
3) Changing your diet: It is also advisable to consider eating food with higher water contents like fruits and vegetables to help soften your poop. As harder deposits are expected to generate more intense splashback than their softer counterparts. Eating slow cooked meals and food rich in fiber will generally lead to softer poop and less intense splashback. Our personal diet will have an effect on how high our excreta sends toilet water to our backside.
4) Lowering of the butt: This is also a hack in preventing a splashback. As lowering your backside will make the piece of poo still be in your butt as it hits the water. Reducing the distance between the toilet bowl and your release level will help weaken the splashback effect. It is a simple trick that will improve with practice.
5) Toilet squat: The splashback can only travel to some height. Choosing to squat than sit will reduce the chances of the toilet water hitting your butt. Opting to squat will not prevent splashback but reduces the chances of dealing with wet bottom
These simple tips will help prevent or reduce the intensity of toilet splashback in a portable toilet or standard unit.
