Posted on 02/23/2010 10:23:05 AM PST by NormsRevenge
Sacramento, Calif. (AP) -- A state agency in charge of environmental regulation has flushed its six-year experiment with waterless urinals.
According to California Environmental Protection Agency spokeswoman Lindsay VanLaningham, the agency has removed all 56 waterless urinals at its 25-story headquarters in downtown Sacramento.
...
But VanLaningham says CalEPA has received hundreds of complaints over the years about foul odors and wet floors. Maintenance costs also grew high.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
There are a number of issues with any technology provided to replace low tech solutions across the board.
Reducing the old style flushing mechanisms from 3 gallons per flush to 1 gallon per flush is probably a better solution. It still allows the user to flush again if the first time was insufficient.
Waterless urinals don’t get a fresh water supply. So the next problem is bring water or other liquids in to clean the urinals.
Next comes an issue of concentration of urine. Waterless urinals do not dilute the urine. They provide a lighter density fluid to act as a trap, with the heavier urine sinking below their fluidline. If that basic trapping mechanism fails, odors arise.
Another problem comes with splash or other urine not washed down around the area.
Another problem comes on the sewer system. In arid or desert regions, the waterflow might also be beneficial in general maintenance of the sewer system keeping things from getting clogged up.
last of all comes the maintenance or cleaning portion. When replacing the cartridge, it is much more likely to get one’s hands dirty, than with a water flush system, where the bulk of the area may be flushed and generally cleaned with water prior to fully cleaning the system.
Most people who clean toilets have no qualms with cleaning a relatively clean urinal, but a thoroughly filled urinal doesn’t attract many people to clean it.
I don’t recommend them and where possible prohibit their installation due to increased maintenance and costly repair solutions.
If people insist upon a waterless solution, then give them a pallet of empty plastic bags, then figure out where to take them. Rebuild the wheel, then figure out whay some low tech solutions are the most practical.
Utilities are named such because they provide the most economically efficient provision of a commonly used commodity. Go figure. (Same applies for those who refuse to drink tapwater but want bottled water from New Zealand, which has been sitting like Petri dish for months to years before consumption, with lesser codes or regulations than tapwater.)
Man, that was one long, weird, post.
On a schedule based on average traffic, the cartridge is replaced on a schedule, which can be months apart. Someone puts on a glove or not, removes the cartridge and pops the new one in, just like they do with the ammonia cakes and the cigarette screen
Every night the janitor sprays it as you are supposed to and wipes the porcelain just like he did the old urinal and the toilets.
The toilets, lavatory sinks and the ladies room all supply plenty of water for the sewer line.
You were describing nothing and trying to make it sound like something huge.
Not everybody has a janitor on a nightly basis. Many clean on a weekly basis.
On most urinals the wash down is not all that great any way, it doesn’t cover much area so there is much surface left, plus many guys don’t bother to flush a urinal, which means your nose is directly above a urine filled p trap and often the water to the urinal isn’t on anyway so again, no benefits.
If you don’t clean the bathrooms anyway, then the tiny additional unwashed surface of a waterless urinal with a barrier blocking the p trap is about the same or even better than a typical urinal.
My experience is that the waterless urinals are in bathrooms that do receive janitor service though, I have yet to see one in a dump.
Can you imagine the stink? I can. The sad part is that anyone with a brain would know those things wouldn’t work properly.
OK....
How many millions of dollars got wasted on THIS feel-good liberal idea???
Reminds me of the days in Germany when the urinals was a trough in the floor along one wall and the toilets weren’t much better. When you walked into some of those public toilets you almost fell over from the stink.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.