Waterless Urinals

Waterless Urinals
By: chieforganizer Saturday October 17, 2009 6:09 am	Tweet

This article in The Times of India about the planning and preparations for the Commonwealth Games in 2010 is too good not to share. It has everything. It reminds me of that David Alan Cole number about the perfect country-and-western song. This is just about the perfect Indian article capturing in a vivid way part of the very special culture as well as the confusion and contradiction between public and private roles: city built latrines for the public that will pay off from the private sector and eliminate smells to boot!

Civic body plans to build 1,000 waterless urinals

New Delhi The MCD plans to upgrade 1000 public urinals to ‘waterless urinals’ in view of the Games. Two lakh litres of water will be saved by using the technology which will also take care of the problem of foul smell. A proposal in this regard was passed by the standing committee on Thursday.

These urinals will be ready by June 2010. Two waterless urinals have already been built near the Town Hall and the ISBT. The urinal near the Town Hall is used by 1000 citizens daily. While the civic agency’s engineering department will construct the urinals — at Rs 4.5 lakh each (450,000 rupees or about 10000 USD) – their maintenance and operation will be handed over to a private company. MCD expects to earn Rs 5 crore per annum by leasing out these urinals. The heart of the technology is the cartridge fitted in the ceramic pan. The cartridge is filled with biodegradable sealant that acts as a barrier between the rest room and the drainage system. Due to absence of water and contact with air, urine does not form any gas and the toilet remains odour free.

A lot of if’s, and’s, and but’s lurching in this short piece. I have a bad feeling a year from now, I’ll be reading (and smelling) something different.

4 Comments Recommend

4 Responses to Waterless Urinals

oregondave October 17th, 2009 at 8:43 am «

These plans were not supposed to be made public, but apparently there was a leak somewhere. ;>)
iremember54 October 17th, 2009 at 2:37 pm «

Waterless urinals are great have installed many of them, and the water they save could save our waters, and money.

They can’t stop the leaks though.

Like all the leaks in washington they can’t be flushed away, or the smell be heald down by a floating liquid.
wigwam October 17th, 2009 at 10:24 pm «

Per the Wikipedia:

Waterless urinals

A more recent innovation is urinals that do not use water at all. The innovation is secured with several patents. Models later introduced by Waterless Company in 1992[3] and others in 2001 by Falcon Waterfree Technologies and Sloan Valve Company, as well as Duravit, utilize a trap insert filled with a sealant liquid instead of water. The lighter-than-water sealant floats on top of the urine collected in the U-bend, preventing odors from being released into the air. Although the cartridge and sealant must be periodically replaced, the system saves anywhere between 15,000 and 45,000 gallons (approx. 55,000 and 170,000 liters) of water per urinal per year.[4]

Other companies do not use a cartridge; instead they have developed an outlet system that traps the odor, preventing the smell often present in toilet blocks. They can be installed in high-traffic facilities and in situations where providing a water supply may be difficult or where water conservation is desired. Due to high-level water restrictions, Brisbane has mandated conversion to waterless urinals and flush urinals are rarely seen.

In March 2006, the Associated Press reported that the plumbers union in Philadelphia had become upset because the developer of the city’s newest skyscraper, Liberty Property Trust, has decided to use waterless urinals in the Comcast Center. Many in the union decided that because of the decision that this would lead to less work for them. The developer cited saving the city 1.6 million gallons (approx 6.06 million liters) of water per year as its deciding factor.[5]

UNICEF and Stockholm Environment Institute supported “Waterless Urinal” project at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi IIT Zerodorhas sucessfully developed an odour trap for waterless urinals.The odour trap functions based on the principle of a ball valve. (See the pictures on the side) The trap has a removable perforated cap at top and an orifice smaller than its body at the bottom to allow flow of urine into the plumbing line for urine disposal. An odour sealing element made of LDPE, which is either in the shape of a ball or cone or a disc lower in specific gravity than urine and larger in size than the orifice provided at the bottom base, is placed inside the trap body to seal the odour emitted from the pipeline through the urinal seat. The cost of odour trap will be as low as $3 and it eliminates the need for consumables used in odour traps currently available in the market. Has very low maintenance costs because no consumables are needed. The trap fits into existing designs of urinal pans and converts them into waterless urinals.
wesgpc October 18th, 2009 at 6:21 pm «

The results would depend on the quality of material and work for any specific installation. But one place I work has had waterless urinals for several years now, and they work great, at least in terms of smell. The ones where I am are far less offensive that those with water, unless everyone is considerate and always flushes.

And of course, people who use public restrooms are always considerate and flush, right? Right? Especially men (though I have heard from reliable sources that women’s rooms have their own cleanliness issues that cannot be solved with waterless urinals.)

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