Alberta students' portable pooper a much-needed amenity for ice fishing

Some Alberta high school students havedeveloped a solution for human waste while ice fishing.

The group of 10 students from Grande Cache Community High School, located around 400 kilometres west of Edmonton,designed a portable toilet, which they call the "portable pooper."

It's one of a number ofprojects funded by the Calgary-based Centre for Affordable Water and Sanitation Technology (CAWST), which awards grants toAlberta school projects that find innovative ways to deal with local water issues.

Most of the students involved in theGrande Cache project are avid ice fishers and hunters, teacher Johanna Dalton told the Calgary Eyeopener. While there are many ice fishing shacks on Victor Lake the town's water source finding a place to use the washroom isn't as easy.

"They spend a lot of time on the ice," said Dalton, who teaches social studies and environmental stewardship.

The students got a five-gallon pail, built a wooden frame around it, and topped it with a toilet seat, handlesand a toilet paper holder. A bag goes inside the bucket, which can then be removed and disposed of.

Dalton acknowledged the "invention" isn't necessarily anything new.

"It is a bucket in a box," Dalton said, laughing. "We'd found a couple [other] things there was a five-gallon pail with a toilet seat on itand we'd also seen something called a 'poop tube' that apparently climbers use. But we thought this would be a cool way to use their skills and interests to protect our water source."

Many people who ice fish on Victor Lake will stay in their shack all weekend, Dalton said, sothey often will simply use the washroom on the ice rather than driving into town.

"Sometimes, poop happens," she said.

Dalton's students built three of the portable poopers and raffled them off.

World Water Day

Wednesday marks World Water Day. In celebration,CAWST is lighting up four Calgary landmarks in blue,including the Calgary Tower, Reconciliation Bridge, TELUS Spark and the Galleria of Trees on Stephen Avenue.

The organization's World Water Day will take place from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. at TELUS Spark.

• MORE ALBERTA NEWS |Notley looking to federal budget for help with 'struggling' Alberta
• MORE ALBERTA NEWS |Passenger's odd behaviour forces Greyhound to pull over east of Calgary

With files from the Calgary Eyeopener