We've talked about Mr. Floatie before. He's the giant walking poo hanging out in Victoria, Canada, trying to get the population to pay attention to issues involving sewage treatment. But we didn't pay too much attention to the issue he's championing: that Greater Victoria has really anachronistic sewage treatment practices.

Modern sewage treatment works in three stages: usually primary and secondary treatment, and occasionally tertiary treatment. As How Stuff Works tells us:

"Primary treatment is very simple -- it involves a screen followed by a set of pools or ponds that let the water sit so that the solids can settle out. Primary treatment might remove half of the solids, organic materials and bacteria from the water. If the plant does no more than primary treatment, then the water is chlorinated to kill the remaining bacteria and discharged."

"The second stage, known as secondary treatment, removes organic materials and nutrients. This is done with the help of bacteria -- the water flows to large, aerated tanks where bacteria consume everything they can. The wastewater then flows to settling tanks where the bacteria settle out. Secondary treatment might remove 90 percent of all solids and organic materials from the wastewater."

Tertiary treatment varies, and may involve chemicals, UV light, filter beds, or other techniques.

But Greater Victoria, which produces 30 million gallons of sewage every day, only employs primary treatment. Which means that while 50% of the solids, organic material, and bacteria are removed, 50% of the solids, organic material, and bacteria are dumped right into the water.

There's no excuse for a city the size of Victoria not to invest in modern sewage treatment plants. Yes, they're expensive; but they're worth it. So our thanks go out to Mr. Floatie for raising awareness about this issue. On behalf of poopers who enjoy clean water everywhere, I am outraged.

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Now, from that article, a moment of utterly stupid media prudeness: "The program co-ordinator with the Georgia Strait Alliance says the chocolate bar-shaped mascot is responsible for renewed debate about what Victoria should do with its sewage."

"Chocolate bar-shaped?" In an article about a giant walking poo, illustrated by a picture of a giant walking poo, they think it'll offend their readers to acknowledge that he's shaped like a giant walking poo?

In Bowling For Columbine, Michael Moore painted a very utopian picture of the Canadian media. It depresses me to know that they're just as moronic as the media here.