1
00:00:00,560 --> 00:00:03,919
Though America’s national parks system might
be its best idea—according to Ken Burns,

2
00:00:03,919 --> 00:00:08,750
who obviously never ate a deep fried Oreo—its
glacial peaks and simmering springs mask a

3
00:00:08,750 --> 00:00:10,810
stinky secret.

4
00:00:10,810 --> 00:00:14,170
Millions of visitors travel to these national
parks which are managed by—you’ll never

5
00:00:14,170 --> 00:00:18,650
guess—the National Park Service, and having
that many people in a park requires the infrastructure

6
00:00:18,650 --> 00:00:20,350
of a small city.

7
00:00:20,350 --> 00:00:24,920
Many of these fragile, vast landscapes can’t
support centralized plumbing or sewage systems—which

8
00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,289
makes dealing with that much fecal matter
a huge, complex, dare I say crappy, problem

9
00:00:29,289 --> 00:00:30,880
for the Park Service.

10
00:00:30,880 --> 00:00:34,380
Most national parks have centralized plumbing
at their fancy visitor centers.

11
00:00:34,380 --> 00:00:38,730
But at trailheads, overlooks, and viewpoints,
the NPS relies mostly on pit toilets—which

12
00:00:38,730 --> 00:00:42,170
are basically what you get when you combine
the classic charm of a pit with the modern

13
00:00:42,170 --> 00:00:44,150
expectations of a toilet.

14
00:00:44,150 --> 00:00:47,820
Simply maintaining bathroom facilities for
visitors is a burden for parks, with Yellowstone

15
00:00:47,820 --> 00:00:52,350
National Park spending $12,000 on toilet paper
alone in summer 2018.

16
00:00:52,350 --> 00:00:56,550
But even though they’re the ecologically
best solution, pit toilets put a huge burden

17
00:00:56,550 --> 00:01:00,350
on fragile landscapes, because it turns out,
when you’re continually filling a hole with

18
00:01:00,350 --> 00:01:03,490
poop, eventually those holes fill up.

19
00:01:03,490 --> 00:01:06,859
Millions of visitors mean that these toilet
holes get filled every one to two years, which

20
00:01:06,859 --> 00:01:09,740
requires rangers to dig new ones nearly every
season.

21
00:01:09,740 --> 00:01:13,530
And even though parks have been using them
for decades, park officials still aren’t

22
00:01:13,530 --> 00:01:15,960
sure how long it takes for all that poop to
decompose.

23
00:01:15,960 --> 00:01:19,650
There’s also the safety issues that come
from expecting tourists to know how gravity

24
00:01:19,650 --> 00:01:23,009
works—like this woman who fell into a pit
toilet at Olympic National Park after trying

25
00:01:23,009 --> 00:01:26,429
to save her phone… or this guy who just
really liked jumping into them.

26
00:01:26,429 --> 00:01:30,299
To fix this, some parks have switched to vault
toilets to lessen the impact of visitors in

27
00:01:30,299 --> 00:01:31,299
the backcountry.

28
00:01:31,299 --> 00:01:35,039
But these self-contained toilets, which have
removable pits underneath them, carry their

29
00:01:35,039 --> 00:01:36,780
own problems—literally.

30
00:01:36,780 --> 00:01:41,409
Each vault usually includes a tank capable
of holding 750 to 1,000 gallons of Clif Bar

31
00:01:41,409 --> 00:01:45,360
slurry, but unlike a pit toilet, that waste
can’t just be buried.

32
00:01:45,360 --> 00:01:49,649
And in remote, rural areas—where most parks
are located—excavating vault toilets can

33
00:01:49,649 --> 00:01:51,259
be a nightmare.

34
00:01:51,259 --> 00:01:56,209
In Washington’s Olympic National Park, rangers
can hike anywhere from 10 to 30 miles or 16

35
00:01:56,209 --> 00:01:58,460
to 48 kilometers to remove them.

36
00:01:58,460 --> 00:02:02,890
When they get there, rangers must move these
200-pound vaults to less-smellable areas,

37
00:02:02,890 --> 00:02:07,189
and then again to a flat area where a helicopter
can airlift the vault out.

38
00:02:07,189 --> 00:02:11,009
Believe it or not, using helicopters to airlift
giant tanks full of poop out of national parks

39
00:02:11,009 --> 00:02:15,680
is extremely common, as it’s the most cost-effective
option for quickly hauling a lot of waste

40
00:02:15,680 --> 00:02:16,680
out.

41
00:02:16,680 --> 00:02:20,470
In Olympic as well as Zion national parks,
officials have an entire day dedicated to

42
00:02:20,470 --> 00:02:24,250
airlifting out human waste from a handful
of vault toilets along the parks’ most popular

43
00:02:24,250 --> 00:02:25,250
trails.

44
00:02:25,250 --> 00:02:28,980
First, they airlift out the vault toilets,
then remove the waste in 3,000-gallon pump

45
00:02:28,980 --> 00:02:33,829
trucks that are carted 250 miles or 400 kilometers
round-trip to a wastewater treatment plant

46
00:02:33,829 --> 00:02:35,260
in Wellington, Utah.

47
00:02:35,260 --> 00:02:38,030
The entire process can cost upwards of $10,000
per toilet.

48
00:02:38,030 --> 00:02:42,439
And at this point you’re probably thinking,
“why do the National Parks even need toilets?

49
00:02:42,439 --> 00:02:46,640
It says in the Constitution that if I pay
my taxes, I’m legally allowed to pee anywhere

50
00:02:46,640 --> 00:02:47,640
I want.”

51
00:02:47,640 --> 00:02:51,760
But not having bathrooms in the parks creates
different problems—not so much for stressed-out

52
00:02:51,760 --> 00:02:54,900
rangers, but for the fragile ecosystems the
parks protect.

53
00:02:54,900 --> 00:02:58,561
At Rocky Mountain National Park’s popular
Bear Lake, more people have been peeing in

54
00:02:58,561 --> 00:03:02,510
the backcountry, which has already elevated
the lake’s nitrogen levels—a problem found

55
00:03:02,510 --> 00:03:06,280
by tracing elevated caffeine levels in the
water back to visitors’ coffee habits.

56
00:03:06,280 --> 00:03:10,200
So even if you think going #1 behind a bush
won’t hurt anyone, you’re risking getting

57
00:03:10,200 --> 00:03:13,579
the fish hooked on lattes that they just can’t
afford in this economy.

58
00:03:13,579 --> 00:03:17,510
The good news is, there are solutions to this
crappy situation.

59
00:03:17,510 --> 00:03:21,969
New high-tech toilets have given the NPS cheaper
and more eco-friendly options for managing

60
00:03:21,969 --> 00:03:23,310
visitors’ bathroom habits.

61
00:03:23,310 --> 00:03:26,799
Several parks have implemented toilets from
Seattle company Toilet Tech, which only have

62
00:03:26,799 --> 00:03:30,380
to be emptied every five years by separating
liquid and solid waste.

63
00:03:30,380 --> 00:03:33,849
These toilets divert urine to the surface
of the ground simply by using gravity, and

64
00:03:33,849 --> 00:03:37,569
the solid waste is carted off on a conveyor
belt with the very real, actual name,“poopscalator,”

65
00:03:37,569 --> 00:03:40,019
that visitors activate using a foot pedal
when they’re done.

66
00:03:40,019 --> 00:03:43,670
Some of them even employ dung beetles to eat
away at the solid waste and minimize how much

67
00:03:43,670 --> 00:03:45,329
waste rangers have to carry out.

68
00:03:45,329 --> 00:03:49,370
But even though they’re cost-effective as
the years pass and the poop grows, most parks

69
00:03:49,370 --> 00:03:53,280
don’t have the money to put $20,000 towards
a single Toilet Tech contraption.

70
00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:57,440
So in some places, the most cost-effective
and eco-friendly solution has been encouraging

71
00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:00,989
visitors to carry out their poop—and some
officials have distributed powdered doggy

72
00:04:00,989 --> 00:04:03,120
bags to dry out people’s bowel movements.

73
00:04:03,120 --> 00:04:07,409
Ultimately, though, the National Park Service
doesn’t have enough money to implement ecologically

74
00:04:07,409 --> 00:04:11,819
beneficial toilet systems, because even as
their visitation has skyrocketed, their budgets

75
00:04:11,819 --> 00:04:13,159
have stagnated.

76
00:04:13,159 --> 00:04:16,510
Dealing with visitors’ bathroom habits might
be the nastiest part of a complex issue, but

77
00:04:16,510 --> 00:04:19,549
it’s just that—part of a larger issue.

78
00:04:19,549 --> 00:04:23,000
These places just weren’t designed to support
millions of people, which the pandemic has

79
00:04:23,000 --> 00:04:24,490
only made worse.

80
00:04:24,490 --> 00:04:28,090
In Arches National Park, cars aren’t allowed
to enter when parking lots are full, which

81
00:04:28,090 --> 00:04:33,360
can create delays anywhere from 3-5 hours
long—just to get past the entrance station.

82
00:04:33,360 --> 00:04:37,820
To combat this, Arches, along with Yosemite,
Glacier, and Rocky Mountain, instituted timed

83
00:04:37,820 --> 00:04:40,260
reservation systems to space out the crowds.

84
00:04:40,260 --> 00:04:44,250
As visitors wreak havoc on America’s iconic
landscapes, the NPS has been left with fewer

85
00:04:44,250 --> 00:04:47,150
resources to manage the ever-increasing swell.

86
00:04:47,150 --> 00:04:51,190
That’s right: I tricked you into learning
about wide-sweeping policy issues with a title

87
00:04:51,190 --> 00:04:52,190
about poop.

88
00:04:52,190 --> 00:04:56,199
You’re smarter now, and there’s nothing
you can do about it.

89
00:04:56,199 --> 00:04:59,580
Around the world, the conflict between man
and nature is intensifying.

90
00:04:59,580 --> 00:05:03,250
Our Wendover documentary, “The Colorado
Problem,” covers the evolving crisis of

91
00:05:03,250 --> 00:05:06,900
the Colorado River, which is being pushed
to its limits as millions of people depend

92
00:05:06,900 --> 00:05:10,610
on the American West’s largest river for
sustenance, agriculture, and power.

93
00:05:10,610 --> 00:05:16,120
As an on-the-ground, deep dive into the Colorado
River Basin, it exists because of Nebula.

94
00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:19,599
Since Nebula is a user-supported platform
free of the YouTube algorithm, we’re able

95
00:05:19,599 --> 00:05:23,520
to make longform content that wouldn’t otherwise
be viable, which is what sets it apart.

96
00:05:23,520 --> 00:05:27,930
And both us and so many other creators have
taken advantage of that to make loads of exclusive

97
00:05:27,930 --> 00:05:30,490
videos that will only ever be available on
there.

98
00:05:30,490 --> 00:05:34,270
And the great thing is, you can subscribe
through the Nebula/CuriosityStream bundle

99
00:05:34,270 --> 00:05:37,520
deal and pay less for both sites than you
would for Nebula by itself.

100
00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:41,759
If you sign up on CuriosityStream.com/HAI
or by clicking the button on-screen, they’ll

101
00:05:41,759 --> 00:05:47,699
throw in a Nebula subscription for free, all
for the low, low price of just $14.79 for

102
00:05:47,699 --> 00:05:49,150
the entire year.