A town in Poland has found an unusual and novel way of getting the local population interested in the sewer system - an app that tracks their poo.

The software gives users in Jaworzno the route, time and distance travelled by their stool, and allows them to track it in real time and even race their friends to the water treatment plant.

Jozef Natonek from water company MPWik said: "The application was supposed to raise people's awareness and it did just this.

"Thanks to this many people are talking about the sewers. How can you get people to start talking about the sewers, how can you get young people to speak about it? It's very difficult but we did it thanks to using something that interests them."

He added: "It's something that you can use on your phone or your computer. They can compare with one another about the differing speeds that their packages reach their destination, so they talk about it. I am convinced that in a few years these young people will take part in some of the decisions that are made in this city, for instance about the sewage network."

Despite its bizarre subject matter, the app is already a hit. One user told reporters: "I would never think about how long it takes for this to get there, how long the distance is in the sewers, what speed it is going but this application simply shows that. It's interesting."