January 7, 2002—The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), Charleston, has installed waterless urinals in selected bathrooms in a pilot project to reduce water consumption in the drought-threatened area. If the pilot project, headed by students sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation, is successful, the waterless urinals will be considered for new construction and replacement of older urinals. The cost for four new waterless urinals and supplies for one year was $2,032.20, comparable to standard urinals. They are expected to save about 1.5 gallons of water per flush. Maintenance costs should be considerably lower because they have fewer mechanical parts.
The benefits reported so far are: fewer unpleasant odors reported in the restroom, less exposure to bacteria because of the elimination of a flushing handle, and the periodic reminder to users of the need for water conservation. MUSC expects substantial savings if the waterless urinals are used in new construction, when there will be no need for running water lines or reinforcing walls. For more information about the project, contact Christine von Kolnitz. For more about waterless urinals, visit Waterless Co. To read about other NWF campus projects for saving water, visit NWF.
