Our old friend Rob Perks tipped me to a feature story in Texas Monthly, a monthly publication about al things Texas, with a humorous and extensive overview of where the poo goes when we flush the toilet. It's filled with clever andecotes and unbeleiveable stories about what comes up when the system that's supposed to keep things down fails. Peter Carlson at the Washington Post offers this summary of the story:

Texas Monthly is America's finest regional magazine, covering Texas politics, Texas culture, Texas cuisine, Texas controversies and Texas celebrities. The December issue also covers . . . Texas sewage.

Writer Nate Blakeslee spent a great deal of time and effort investigating nearly every aspect of sewage in general and the sewerage system of Austin in particular. His editors rewarded his hard work by headlining his article, "Everyone's Poop."

It's a fine article, no doubt the best story I've ever read about sewage. I highly recommend it, although I would not advocate reading it while eating breakfast -- or any other meal for that matter. It contains an unforgettable disquisition on the visual and olfactory effects of major sewer-pipe backups that really cannot be adequately summarized. Suffice it to say that the pull-quote in that section of the story reads: "I mean, it was a foot up on the sides of their houses."