One Member's Opinion

WATERLESS URINALS

Recently I read a new article by Joshua Davis with an interesting title: "Pissing Match: Is the world ready for the Waterless Urinal?"

We discussed in this column, several issues earlier, about this subject. The fact is that due to good intentions to save water and energy, many consultants are specifying waterless urinals and contractors are installing them in ever increasing pace.

United States Green Building Council (USGBC), which is promoting environmentally friendly structures, accepted waterless urinals as a way to save water and energy.

The article by Mr. Davis is quite interesting, because it reveals several unknown details of how this fixture was introduced on the market at the right time, when everyone is in search to conserve water and energy.

Advertising states that each waterless urinal will save an average of 40,000 gal. of water a year.

Of course a waterless urinal, which is not using any water, and promises to operate properly for transporting the urine in the sewer system, appears as a winner, compared with other models using 1 GPF, 0.5 GPF or even 0.3 GPF (gallons per flush).

As you know, model Plumbing Codes and several local jurisdictions, approved installation of waterless urinals, with the condition that the water supply be brought behind the wall where the waterless urinals will be installed, and capped for future installation of flushing valve, in the event that waterless urinals will not perform properly.

The article written by Mr. Davis refers to Mr. James Krug, the CEO of Falcon Waterfree Technologies who together with Mr. Ditmar Gorges, a German engineer, who appears to be the inventor of waterfree urinal, introduced on the market this product.

My information, from another source is that a similar urinal, using a cartridge as trap, was invented in 1894 by a Swiss engineer named Fritz Ernst. But this is a different subject, not intended to be discussed here and now.

The key of this waterless urinal is that in lieu of a standard "P" trap, used by the traditional urinals to maintain a water sealed separation between restrooms and sewer gases, this product relies on a patented replaceable cartridge, which must be replaced after 7,000 uses.

In addition waterless urinals do not use a flushometer valve, and therefore the possibility of contamination of people who will touch the valve will be completely eliminated.

We read many articles from people who are against this new product because of the associated smell and on reports that concentrated urine will attack the sewer piping and will crystallize and block the flow of the liquid.

Mr. Mike Massey, Executive Director of PIPE (Piping Industry Progress Education & Trust Found), a labormanagement cooperation Committee, who looks out for plumber’s interest, advised that the waterless urinals "are a threat to public health".

Both sides, waterless urinals manufacturers and PIPE, hired environmental consultants to demonstrate and substantiate their point of view. As you expected, each hired consultant came out with a different and contradictory conclusions. Each consultant concluded that the entity, who hired him/her, is right. What a surprise!

If you want to read the complete article by Joshua Davis, please look in ASPEPIPELINE of July 2010.

For now, as far as specifying urinals the burden is on the engineers, designers and contractors, until Code regulators, academia or other entity will tell us what to do. Good luck!