A high school science fair project set out to see if waterless urinals stay cleaner, have less bacteria buildup, and are overall more hygienic than traditional water using urinals. Their hypothesis, or what they were trying to determine, was if waterless urinals have less bacteria compared to water using urinals.
To determine this, they did the following:
· Collected 10 petri dishes, numbered A1 through A5 and B1 through B5.
· Petri dishes A1 to A5 were used for the waterless urinals.
· Petri dishes B1 to B5 were for the water using urinals.
· Five installed waterless urinals were swabbed using a sterilized swab. They were dabbed on the interior walls of the urinals and then those samples were dabbed on the surface of the agar inside the petri dishes.
· The same was performed using five water using urinals.
· Bacteria growth in all 10 dishes was monitored for five days.
According to the student researchers, after five days, “the results show that petri dishes in Group A which contain samples from waterless urinals have a smaller amount of bacterial growth compared to petri dishes in Group B which contain samples from water based urinals.”
As to the actual numbers, bacterial growth in the waterless urinals averaged 58 millimeters – about 3 inches – in diameter after five days.
On the other hand, bacteria collected in the water using urinals averaged 234 millimeters – almost 10 inches – in diameter after five days.
The conclusion of the student scientists was the following:
The hypothesis that waterless urinals have less bacteria compared to water based urinals is proven to be true.
“Waterless urinals help to reduce water wastage and also help to lower the cost of treating waste water,” said their report. “In addition, they are more hygienic and are odor free. Moreover, since there is no need for flush valves and external water sources, the maintenance cost is also lower.”
For more information on how to reduce water consumption and use water more efficiently, please contact a Waterless Co representative.
