I’m serious.

Don’t believe me? Go and have a close look at it. Yes, get up from wherever you are reading this and go do an inspection of your bathtub. I won’t mind. I’ll be waiting for you when you return.

Didn’t see any?

I’m not surprised.

But they are there. They are swarming around in that tiny pool of water at the far end, which never drains properly. The soap grime around the sides is awash with critters. They have regular banquets on the tiny pieces of flesh, and hair, that sloughs off your body and never quite makes it down the drain every time you bathe. Oh, the drain! Have you seen the gunk in your drain?

Bacteria. Microbes. Nasty things.

Face it, your tub is a whole “micro-environment” teaming with life.

But it’s not the only example. They are all around you.

Notice your kitchen sink. Imagine all the food that gets caught on the surface each time you rinse the dishes. A garbage disposal should be enough to make you shudder.

The basin in your bathroom is the same. As is your shower with the ever-persistent mold that wants so desperately to take hold in the grout between the tiles and serve as a buffet for the hordes of miniscule creatures it will attract.

Don’t forget your toilet bowl. But let’s not go there. I am sure that I can trust your vivid imagination to take care of the details about that particular location without me having to spell it out.

And this is the very reason that you periodically clean your tubs and your basins, your showers and your toilet bowls (though some of you should probably consider cleaning yours more regularly).

This chore however, is unattractive manual labor using chemicals and cleaning agents that may very well eat wholes in your hands if you don’t don a pair of gloves. Unless you have a cleaning service to do the dirty work for you, which is then only an annoying drain on your wallet.

What if I told you that a better solution was on the horizon?

And that it would actually involve putting bugs in your tub?

Are you familiar with the fields of sciences called Nanotechnologies?

Not really?

Put really simply, they are all characterized by the fact that they focus on working at a scale that is equivalent with molecules.

Here, to illustrate what I am talking about, take a strand of hair from your head and pull it out. Don’t worry, you’ve got plenty more where that came from (unless you are bald or heading in that direction, in which case you may just want to pretend you did).

Now look at the width of that strand of hair. Most hair is approximately 75,000 nanometers in width. Most nanotechnologies concern themselves on a scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.

So we’re talking small.

Really small.

Research and development in the fields of nanotechnologies is being carried out every day in all sorts of branches of science from medicine to biology, physics to computing. However in the future I foresee a more… domestic… application.

And this is where we get back to bugs in your tub.

Imagine being able to dispense with those caustic cleaners and replacing them with a container of miniature machines. Thousands, if not tens of thousands of miniature machines.

Those machines are our bugs.

The instructions on the container are simple: Open container and leave in bottom of tub for 45 minutes. Discard when done.

What you can’t see, and what is so amazing about this product is the legion of bugs that are now working for you, scouring the surface of your tub. Scraping up and possibly even consuming every scrap of refuse like they were a ravenous pack of dermestid beetles. They even kill off and destroy those nasty bugs. Then as the progress down your tub they head into your drain where their work continues. And then down on through your pipes (reducing the risk of pipe blockages from building up). Finally, their task complete, they head down into the sewage system where they are extracted at the local plant.

That’s the disposable version that will supplant products such as Scrubbing Bubbles and the like.

Following quickly on the heels will be the more upscale innovations where the bugs are actually part of new bathtubs, showers and toilets. These models will have containment areas for the bugs. And they will be programmable to clean on a schedule that matches your life style. Perhaps twice a week after 2am, when you are unlikely to be using the facilities…

The benefit with this application is that the bugs would return to the containment area once the work had been complete and require minimal replacements.

Of course there are certain risks that will need to be developed around, as with any new technology. It would be disastrous if our industrious little workers got into the drinking supply. It would also be prudent to, in some way, prevent usage of the facilities in question, lest you be discovered weeks later lying in your tub, a perfectly polished skeleton.

Still, I predict that you can look forward to a time where you discard all those fancy swivel headed toilet brushes, those nasty chemicals, and even those drain de-cloggers. Having a sanitary environment to live in will be as simple as putting bugs in your tub!