Looking back into the history of restroom, ancient Babylonians (around 2400 B.C. to 2100 B.C.) used squat toilets with a flushing mechanism made of sun-dried bricks. In ancient Egyptian cities, people are said to have used in-door toilets and, among the remains of the Place of Knossos in Crete Island, flush toilets were discovered. Also, the Roman Empire is said to have had one of the best restroom culture in ancient history. Each home had a flush toilet as evidenced by the 144 flush stone toilets found in one ancient remains. However, the European restroom culture began to degenerate in the Middle Age.

It is said that high-heels and trench coats, both symbols of beauty, grace and social status, actually were designed to cope with poor toilet culture. Even the famous Palace of Versailles did not have a restroom, which is why a noblewoman had to wander in the bushes to handle her business. As was the case, the roads were wet and filthy with bodily wastes, requiring people to wear high-heels to prevent their dresses from getting dirty. It is very ironical that the origin of high-heels, a symbol of female beauty and attractiveness, is linked to a toilet. The origin of trench coats and gentlemen hats in Europe is not very much different. In medieval Europe, people threw away their bodily wastes every morning through an open window. That is why men had to wear black coats and hats and, when escorting a lady, had her walk along the sideline of the road.
 In Korea, then, how did the royal families take care of their wastes? No toilets have been found in the old palaces that exist today. Changdeokgung had a similar place called "Gyeongungak" (a small installation on an elevated floor with a hole in the middle). Under the hole, there is a small vessel called "Maewooteul" to contain the waste in which a female servant brought to the palace doctor for analysis and medical monitoring for the king and his family.
 It was in 1956 by Sir Harrington of England that a flush toilet was invented, but his invention had problems including back flowing stench. So, in 1775, a watchmaker in London worked on it to make it more like a modern flush toilet and was widely distributed, but it caused pollution of the Thames. Later, people installed sewer systems for cities and studied advanced ways to treat wastewater, hence improving toilets for modern life.
 Flush toilets are common now but not all of them have a septic tank to properly treat wastewater, which presents a serious environmental headache to urbanites. Plus, it requires too much water to flush down a toilet.
Although a modern flush toilet is known to be the more pleasant and hygienic way to handle bodily waste, inappropriate wastewater treatment is a critical problem that must be addressed to prevent major environmental issues such as pollution of rivers. Ceaseless improvement and development efforts are needed to protect the environment since it is linked directly to human survival.