Most no-water urinals have a trap or trap cylinder at the bottom of the fixture. One of the most common ones, and the one used in Waterless urinals is called the EcoTrap®.
They all play a very valuable role. Without the trap installed, sewer odors would escape into the restroom, marring indoor air quality. The trap is designed to prevent this and still allow urine to flow to the bottom of the urinal and on to sewer plumbing connections.
Finally, while prisons and correctional facilities were often not subject to water restrictions during droughts, that all changed with the last drought in California. Prisons, just like all other types of facilities, were required to cut water consumption by 25 percent. Unless cuts are made to the irrigation of vegetation or the number of showers allowed per inmate, it can be difficult to address this requirement. What administrators have discovered is that installing no-water urinals is not only a major step but may be the only step necessary for them to reduce water consumption by 25 percent or more.
Retailers throughout the country can all learn a lot from what has been happening in California over the past few years. The state has suffered one of the worst and most prolonged droughts in its history. For more than four years, citizens and industry have been asked to conserve water and to use water more efficiently, which takes things a step further and refers to long-term water reduction as we shall discuss later. When California’s winter storms were over in 2015 and it was clear the drought would continue, the state finally decided it was time to impose actual water restrictions forcing everyone to find ways to reduce water consumption by 25 percent or more.
EverPrime from Waterless Co. is designed for drains that dry out due to lack of use, keeping indoor air clean and healthy.
Totally biodegradable and freeze resistant, EverPrime eliminates sewer odors, minimizes plumbing and maintenance calls, and keeps pests away.
Use it in floor and shower drains, sinks, and even unused water fountains.
Great for schools, restaurants, stadiums, factories, empty/vacant buildings, marine applications, and other facilities.
Its freeze point is -20°, making EverPrime excellent for winterizing traps.
For more information, visit www.waterless.com or call toll-free: 800-244-6364.
Sometimes, finding the source of odors in facility restrooms can seem to take nothing less than a super sleuth like Sherlock Holmes. Most facility managers know that the most common restroom malodor culprits—tile and grout areas; porous floors; inadequately or improperly cleaned fixtures, walls, and floors—are places where bacteria develop. And when bacteria develop, so do restroom malodors.
It’s no secret that the last four years have been bone dry in California. People in the state have repeatedly been told to conserve water and, in 2015, were required to cut back their water use by 25 percent to even 35 percent in certain areas of the state.
Finally, some relief came in 2016 in the form of much needed rainfall, but drought conditions could return again next year, and California will be back in the same situation as before. But right now, the state has some breathing room, and it is looking at what steps it can take quickly to start averting another crisis.
One of the possibilities is to convert billions of gallons of wastewater that is now flushed right into the Pacific Ocean and recycle it into treatable, useable water for vegetation and other purposes. It is estimated that, each year, the state flushes about 1.5 billion gallons of water into the ocean, so over the past four years, this amounts to about 6 billion gallons or more of water.
Some water utilities in the state are already recycling and purifying wastewater and doing a pretty good job of it. They just have to expand their operations significantly. But ,interestingly, it is some of the state’s largest companies that are taking the lead in recycling wastewater. Not only are they finding ways to recycle wastewater, but they are finding it to be a way to cut costs as well.
For instance, beginning in 2009, Genentech, a biotechnology company located in South San Francisco, has implemented a suite of water-saving initiatives. These types of initiatives are often referred to as using water “more efficiently” because they are long-term programs, not temporary ones just to address a current drought.
One of these water-saving programs includes the installation of a centralized gray water recycling system. Gray water is wastewater that can be treated and then reused for a number of purposes. Once the system is up and running, the company expects to cut its water consumption—purchased from local water utilities—by approximately 60 million gallons of water annually. This water will then be reused in the facility’s cooling systems, for irrigation, and for toilets.
What many large and small companies in the state are also doing is removing traditional urinals, which each use about 35,000 gallons of water per year, and replacing them with no-water or waterless urinals. This can provide tremendous water savings.
As an example, Genentech has more than 13,000 employees working in its 750,000-square-foot research laboratory. Let’s say half of those employees are men and that the laboratory has 150 urinals. If each of those are water-using urinals, then Genentech is using about 5.8 million gallons of water annually just for urinals. If it installed no-water or waterless urinals, it would instead be saving 5.8 million gallons of water per year. That is a big water savings and one that can be achieved surprisingly quickly and inexpensively.
For more information on how to reduce water consumption, waterless urinals, and use water more efficiently, please contact a Waterless Co representative.
More and more building owners and managers in the U.S. are building and operating facilities that are greener and more sustainable. A key reason for this is they are finding that being more environmentally responsible often results in real cost savings, especially when it comes to reducing water consumption.
One way to ensure responsible water use is by determining where to install faucets based on the flow rate needed. The flow rate of faucets, measured in gallons per minute (gpm), should be higher in some areas of a facility and lower in other areas. For instance, in foodservice and kitchen areas gpm should be high – about 2 gallons of water per minute is standard.
However, this flow rate is not necessary in restrooms. For faucets in these areas, aerators can be installed that reduce the flow rate to as little as 0.5 gpm. In fact, the U.S. Green Building Council specifically recommends that faucets in public restrooms and other general hand washing areas use no more than 0.5 gpm. This reduces water use considerably and still allows for effective hand washing. It can also lower utility costs associated with providing water to a facility.
Toilets and Urinals
Toilet technologies have advanced considerably in just the past few years, further helping reduce water consumption and costs. For instance, pressure-assist toilets are becoming more popular. They rely on compressed air to remove waste and, in so doing, use little water – about 1.1 gpf (gallons per flush). These toilets tend to be more costly than traditional toilets, and the original systems were noisy. That said, costs are coming down, and they are also far quieter today.
However, their added costs should be balanced with the reduction in water consumption. Water rates throughout the U.S. are escalating, in some cases quite alarmingly. These toilets can help minimize the impact of those rate increases.
Another option is a dual-flush toilet. Dual-flush systems typically reduce water consumption to about 1.25 gpf. While that flow rate is not as low as a pressure-assist system, it still is lower than the federally regulated 1.6 gpf.
As to urinals, big changes are in store due in part to the California drought. Starting this year, new urinals installed in California facilities can release only 0.5 gpf. This is down from 1 gpf for new urinals and as much as 3 gpf for older urinal systems. We expect to see that most manufacturers, due to the size of the California market, will develop more urinals that use only 0.5 gpf.
But that’s not all. An issue with the 0.5 gpf urinals is that while they use far less water, they still cost about the same as traditional urinals; this is mainly due to the fact that they require a flush valve. Because of this, there has been a significant uptick in the installation of no-water or waterless urinals in California. These systems, as the name implies, use no water at all and typically cost far less than traditional urinals.
For more information on how to reduce water consumption and use water more efficiently, please contact a Waterless Co. representative.
Invariably, when we read tips on ways to save water, they are written for the consumer (i.e., the homeowner). While some of these tips—such as using the dishwasher only when there is a full load or watering lawns in the evening—can also apply to a correctional location, I am sure we can all agree that there is a big difference between a home, which may house 4 people, and a correctional location, which might house 2,500.
However, saving water is possible in a correctional location. In fact, many such facilities, especially in California, have implemented programs that reduce water consumption dramatically. While these facilities prove it is possible to save water, doing so is very dependent on developing a water-reduction strategy.
Read more: http://www.corrections.com/news/article/44005-how-to-develop-a-water-reduction-strategy
For more information on how to reduce water consumption and use water more efficiently, please contact a Waterless Co. representative.
Back in the 1970s, a toilet or urinal used as much as 3 gallons of water per flush – sometimes more. By 1992, manufacturers were legally required to reduce this to 1.6 gallons per flush for toilets and 1 gallon per flush for urinals. But then private industry stepped up to the plate. Realizing there was both a need and a market for more water-efficient products, companies developed an entire range of fixtures that use even less water than is mandated.
Hotels use a lot of water — for guest rooms, pools, landscaping, laundry and other uses. In total, this accounts for about 15 percent of total water use in US commercial and institutional facilities, according to the EPA.
As the price of water and wastewater services continue to increase — and drought conditions in the American Southwest spur water restrictions and conservation mandates — hotel owners and operators can save on utility costs and avoid regulatory fines by implementing water-efficient technologies and practices. McGraw-Hill Construction estimates suggest that implementing water-efficient practices in commercial buildings can decrease operating costs by approximately 11 percent and energy and water use by 10 and 15 percent, respectively.
A good place to start saving water is on-site laundry operations, which account for 16 percent of a hotel’s water usage, second only to guest rooms at 30 percent.
For more information on how to reduce water consumption and use water more efficiently, please contact a Waterless Co representative.
