Expert Advice on Green Buildings

Toilet Joke: Do Waterless Urinals Face a Bleak Future?

 
Question:

Ron asks: Please help me. I have been offered an opportunity to sell a top brand waterless urinal in California with a nice rebate from the department of water and power per urinal. My research of the industry is largely on things that happened a few years ago. Essentially my question is do you truly feel that waterless urinals are destined for significant growth and are their major obstacles in trying to market this product. Seems the plumbing unions are fighting this pretty hard, at least as of 2008. I know I can convince business owners to switch but I am unsure about unforeseen barriers or powers that be that would ultimately stop this from happening. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Answer:
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Thank you Ron for your question on the waterless urinal market.

Unfortunately, I think the outlook for waterless urinals is pretty bleak. I have personally seen a lot of push back against these types of urinals from maintenance technicians, building occupants, and owners during design charrettes. Nobody seems to want these in their building's restrooms for various reasons.

The major obstacles seem to be the maintenance and odor issues. The odor issue usually stems from units that are not maintained properly, but in some cases such as Chicago's City Hall, the undiluted urine corroded the copper piping causing the smell of urine to flow throughout the building. So the City of Chicago took out the waterless urinals in City Hall as well as at O'Hare International Airport recently where the pipes "clogged with fluids" because people poured coffee and other chemicals down the waterless urinals and these chemicals destroyed the plastic cartridge that is meant only for urine mitigation.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/02/stinky-waterless-urinals.php

In February of this year, the California Environmental Protection Agency actually took out all 56 of the waterless urinals it had installed in its Sacramento headquarters in 2001, citing "hundreds of complaints over the years about foul odors and wet floors" and high maintenance costs. The California EPA! They replaced them with low flow urinals that used 0.5 gallons per flush.
http://cbs13.com/local/waterless.urinals.the.2.1513745.html

In addition to this, just as you stated, the plumbers unions are still fighting against waterless urinals, citing "threats to public safety."

So my personal opinion, with so many organizations against waterless urinals, including the one major organization that one would think would be behind them (EPA), I don't foresee a bright future. I would invest in some of these low flow, 1/2 gallons/flush type units that are being installed in their place and try selling them instead.

Good Luck!

Expert Advice and Comments

While I have seen an

While I have seen an expansion of low flow option toilets of late, I don't believe that I have ever encountered a waterless urinal. The idea is intriguing, but it sounds like its trial run has halted with mixed results at best. According to the article, the energy benefits of having these is countered by the cost to address maintenance as well as environmental comfort issues. These costs may include janitorial,plumbing and the need to use bathroom ventilation fans(electrical usage) more frequently then with conventional toilets.

Overall, I would say that the idea sounds good, but in its current form, it just doesn't seem ready on a large scale. Maybe with some tweaks the next batch of waterless toilets can remedy some of the problems the current models seem to possess.

Waterless Urinals

I have read the comments on waterless urinals. However, there are companies out there that have solved the odor and pipe sludge problems. Why would the EPA be against waterless urinals if these problems have been solved?

rpfjr's picture

RE: Waterless urinals and LEED

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for your comment. Please let us know which companies have solved these problems as it would be good to provide an updated view based on this information.

Thanks again,
Rob

Rob is the founder of Green-Buildings.com.

Since everyone in our office

Since everyone in our office became LEED accredited a few years ago, we figured it would be a good idea to replace the only urinal in our office with a waterless version. After a living with the maintenance challenges and assoicated odor, we've recently yanked it out and replaced it with a low-flow urinal. I don't know if the issue was with the unit itself or our maintenance staff (probably a combination thereof), but it just got to be too much trouble with the clogging and/or slow flow. Hopefully future versions will resolve this.

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