Through the Years: A Gallery of the World's Toilets

Roman Toilets

A Roman-era public restroom in Ephesus, Turkey.

Toilets in Wartime

Latrines and cooking pots mingle near the front lines during World War I. The soldiers' pit latrines are directly behind the open-air kitchen where three army cooks are preparing food.

Bathroom in 1918

A typical American bathroom in 1918, as seen in an advertisement for the G. C. Glass Plumbing company.

Privy, North Carolina, 1914-1915

The less well-off would have made do with a simple outdoor privy.

Outhouses

Outhouses in back of a butcher's work area in Sydney, Australia in 1900. This photograph was taken in a quarantine area during an outbreak of bubonic plague.

Barrelman

A 'strontschepper,' or feces-collector, collects toilet waste in buckets in this 1953 photograph taken in Amsterdam.

Open Sewer, Uganda

n open drainage channel flowing through a low-income area of Kampala, Uganda. There are no adequate sanitation facilities in this area so the drain is contaminated with raw sewage.

Makeshift Latrine

A makeshift latrine in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Children Play Near Open Sewage.

Children play over an open sewer in the slum of N-gombe in Lusaka, Zambia.

Building a Latrine

Construction of a latrine slab as part of a WaterAid sanitation program helping a poor community in Tamale, Ghana.

A New Latrine

Mithu, next to the latrine his family built following a WaterAid program in Laloich village, Mohanpur district, Rajshahi , Bangladesh.

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