In 1998, Auckland suffered a 5-week long power outage that halted water supplies, causing a large part of the city's apartment dwellers and office workers to lose the ability to flush. Since the average person did not know how to properly deal with human waste, after ONLY three days the resulting lack of wastewater services quickly escalated into a sanitation nightmare.

When people were actually confronted with such a situation, they "went" wherever they could - they filled the toilet, then the toilet tank, the tub, the shower, the sink - when the bathrooms became uninhabitable, they "went" in corners, boxes, bags, closets...most however left by the time they were using the tub.

Guess how long that took? THREE DAYS!