Luke Yoder

English 145

Research Paper Final Draft

Professor Marx

6/13/07

Sustainability in the Restroom

When we were babies, we went to the bathroom in our diapers. After that, we became potty trained and started using the toilet when we had to go to the restroom. Then boys started to use a urinal in public restrooms when we had to pee. All of this shows a process of new and better things. People don’t like to go to the bathroom in their diapers so they learn to use a toilet. The same thing is occurring in the restroom. There are new inventions in restroom technology leading to the conservation of water. We have evolved from the typical urinal to waterless urinal and now something even more advanced. We have come from the regular toilet to a dual flush toilet. All of these new inventions lead to the same goal—sustainability.

The first time I used a waterless urinal occurred this year on a baseball trip to Las Vegas. I looked at it awkwardly because it was a small bowl-shaped urinal with no handles. I looked at it as if this was a big joke and I would be on the MTV show “Punked.” I finally realized I would actually have to use this thing. I felt like I was younger and saw a urinal for the first time. I had my father there to tell me what it was and how to use it. Now my father was nowhere in sight. I approached it cautiously and then I saw a sticker that said ‘Falcon WaterFree Technologies.’ This sticker explained how this urinal would save thousands of gallons of water per year. Reading this made me feel more at ease to actually use the urinal because I understood its purpose.

Waterless urinals work in a distinctive way. According to Falcon WaterFree Technologies, the shape of the bowl allows all the urine to run down to the bottom of the urinal perfectly. Once it reaches the bottom it passes through a sealant that sits above the water underneath it and once the urine passes through the sealant it displaces the urine already there, up and out into the drain. This new sustainable technology has sparked Cal Poly’s interest in adding them to the campus.

Dennis Elliot, the chief engineer of facility services, was the one who oversaw the entire operation of deciding to install these waterless urinals based upon their sustainability. He mentioned how Cal Poly tested out both a Falcon waterless urinal and a Waterless waterless urinal in their own office bathroom. Elliot said, “Each urinal saves approximately 40,000 gallons of water a year.”

Currently, Cal Poly only has 25 of these waterless urinals and they are located in the science building. When asked about the addition of more waterless urinals on campus, Dennis replied with, “No.” When I heard this answer I was confused. But once he further explained he proved that there is a sustainable reason behind this. Dennis said, “The reason for Cal Poly not going to add more waterless urinals is because we are looking into adding an even more sustainable urinal. We are currently testing a urinal that only uses a 1/8 of a gallon of water per flush.” Hearing this I asked, “How is using a 1/8 gallon of water per flush more sustainable than a waterless urinal?” He responded with giving me several drawbacks about waterless urinals.

According to Dennis, “Waterless urinals require a specific replaceable plastic device which costs about $45 and is replaced about once a month.” I did some math on my own and if we were to replace the plastic once a month it would cost Cal Poly about $540 a year to maintain just one urinal. If you take that number and multiply it by the number of waterless urinals Cal Poly has on campus, that comes out to be $13,500 just to replace a piece of plastic. That is not the only drawback about waterless urinals. According to Dennis Elliot, they require more maintenance, special training of the custodians, and they are not recognized by the building codes which require each urinal to have a water line to it whether it is a waterless urinal or not. So a company still has to pay for the waterline to the unit. With all this negative information on waterless urinals I got curious about the new 1/8 gallon flush urinal.

Denis Elliot spoke very highly of the new Zurn 1/8 gallon flush urinals. He mentioned how much money Cal Poly would save in maintenance costs, how much money Cal Poly would save in training the custodial staff properly and how they would be cheaper to operate in general. In addition, a new dual flush toilet is coming out and Cal Poly is considering having one installed in the faculty warehouse building where they can test the new technology out. Dennis Elliot stated that they have two different flush valves: “The dual flush toilets have a button with a one and a two on it. If you go pee, you simply push the number one button which releases only one gallon of water. If you go number two, you push the number two button and it flushes with 1.6 gallons of water.” According to Green Building Supply these dual flush toilets can save up to 67% more water than the conventional toilet (1). However, these toilets are more for females because to install this toilet in men’s restroom would be pointless due to the fact that men usually use a urinal in a public restroom if they have to go pee and use a toilet if they go poop.

As this evidence shows, Cal Poly is taking many steps in the right direction towards sustainability. Cal Poly has lowered the flush of the toilets on campus from 3.5-6 gallons of water per flush to 1.6 gallons of water per flush (Elliot). Cal Poly has replaced regular urinals with waterless urinals which are more environmentally friendly and they are in the process of replacing more urinals with 1/8 gallon of water per flush. These steps all show Cal Poly’s commitment to sustainability not just outside but in the restroom as well.

Bibliography

""Dual Flush" Water Saving Toilets Never Clog." Green Building Supply. 30 May 2007 <http://www.greenbuildingsupply.com/Public/Energy-WaterConservation/WatersavingToilets/CaromaDualFlushToilet/index.cfm>.

Elliot, Dennis. Personal interview. 23 May 2007.

Falcon Waterfree Technologies. 23 May 2007 <http://www.falconwaterfree.com/flash.htm>.

"Waterless No Flush Urinals." Waterless. 23 May 2007 <http://waterless.com/>.