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17th Jun 2015

There’s An Important Reason Behind This See-Through Toilet At Glastonbury

WaterAid will install a "loo with a view" at the festival.

Megan Cassidy

International development charity WaterAid will reportedly install at least one “loo with a view” at this year’s Glastonbury. 

The idea behind the project is to give festival-goers a taste of what it is like for the 2.5 billion people across the globe who do not have access to a safe, private toilet.

Fans enjoy the music as US singer Dolly Parton performs on the Pyramid Stage, on the final day of the Glastonbury Festival of Music and Performing Arts on Worthy Farm in Somerset, southwest England, on June 29, 2014.  AFP PHOTO / LEON NEAL        (Photo credit should read LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)
Some 175,000 people are expected to attend the festival this year. 

The WaterAid loo experience will entail the user taking care of business while looking out over the Pyramid stage.

However, thanks to a clever two-way mirror system, the user can see out but the festival goers will not be able to see in.

MANCHESTER, TN - JUNE 14:  Florence Welch of Florence and the Machine performs during the 2015 Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 14, 2015 in Manchester, Tennessee.  (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
Florence and the Machine will headline the festival this year. 

Chris Wainright of WaterAid said in a statement: “This installation will allow a brief glimpse into the lives of those who have nowhere safe to go to the toilet and often suffer the indignity of being stared at, harassed or even attacked.

“This is an issue that particularly affects women and girls who often have to wait until dark to defecate in the open, making them more vulnerable to abuse.”

Toilets, Tents, Crowds, and Mud at Glastonbury, 26th June 2009. (Photo by Martin Godwin/Getty Images)
The installations will boast the only mirrors at the festival. 

WaterAid will be campaigning at the festival from Wednesday 28th June and hopes to collect 40,000 signatures that will call on the government to sign up to support a “dedicated Sustainable Development Goal on water and sanitation” at the UN General Assembly in September.