The Mathematics of Poo

The annual general meeting of the Mathematical Association of Victoria was held on Thursday, 17 April 2008, at the Ian Potter Auditorium, Scienceworks, 2 Booker Street, Spotswood Victoria.

Dr. David Shallcross, Associate Dean (Teaching), School of Engineering at the University of Melbourne made a very special presentation, titled The Mathematics of Poo.

Until the 1960s the Spotswood Sewage Pumping Station was a key feature of Melbournes sewage system. Designed with ingenuity and some simple mathematics this station pumped Melbournes effluent to the Werribbee Treatment Farm. Today Scienceworks stands on the site of this fascinating facility.

This lecture explored the mathematics and engineering of pumping vast amounts of sewage, and looked at the way in which liquids flow and how the engineers of the nineteenth century built such a facility.