What do Harvard and Yale Universities, Eastern and Western Connecticut State Universities, the Vermont National Guard, Delta Airlines (in Logan Airport, Boston), and Camelot Cruise Lines based in Haddam, CT, all have in common?
If you said they are all in New England, you’d be right. But all of these entities share something else as well, although not quite as obvious. They’ve all gone waterless—that is, they have installed waterless urinals in some if not all of their men’s restrooms.
The installation and use of waterless urinals is slowly spreading throughout North America as more and more facilities, large and small, seek new ways to cut costs, improve hygiene, use less water and energy, and become more sustainable. And in most situations where they have been installed, facility managers and building occupants have come to appreciate them and their many benefits.
Consider the fact that the average urinal in an office building or school is flushed approximately 2,000 times per month. Each flush of a recent-model urinal requires the use of about 1.0 to 1.5 gallons of water. This means that just one urinal uses as much as 35,000 gallons of water per year—enough to fill a large swimming pool.
And this is even less water than urinals used to use. Before 1990, most urinals installed in North America consumed about three to four gallons of water per flush. Federal, state, and local laws enacted about 15 years ago, limited the amount of water a urinal can use per flush significantly.
But many of these older urinals are still in use, and even the newer, less-water-consuming urinals use huge amounts of potable water. This is becoming less and less sustainable, especially in often drought-stricken areas of the country such as Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Southern California, and, as of late, some states on the East Coast as well. In addition, all of that water and urine must be disposed of. It takes energy to deliver and remove water from facilities.
Waterless, or no-water, urinals have benefits other than just saving tremendous amounts of water and energy:
· They cost less to install because they require no plumbing supply lines.
· There are no handles to touch, preventing the possible spread of germs and bacteria.
· They do not require electronic sensors.
· They are less likely to be tampered with or vandalized compared to traditional urinals
· They have no moving parts.
Waterless urinals also tend to be easier to clean and maintain. Most are made of very smooth surfaces. Because urine is softer than water and does not adhere to these surfaces, and because no water is used, there are fewer deposits or stains left on the urinal, which can require scrubbing to remove.
For more information on the benefits of waterless urinals, contact a Waterless Co representative here.
