World Water Day with Sustainability Support

Each year, on March 22, the United Nations addresses the global water crisis. It is typically reported that approximately one billion people lack access to clean water; women and children spend an estimated 200 million hours a year carrying water home from distant wells and water resources; and there is a close connection between a lack of water and poverty.

This year, Waterless Co. Inc., manufacturers of no-water urinals and other restroom products, is taking a new approach to honor World Water Day 2019.

“Let’s imagine a world in which everyone has the water they need to live,” says Klaus Reichardt, CEO and founder of Waterless Co. “What would our world look like then?”

To read more on CleanLink, please click here.

Flying Urinals

Boeing is introducing a new generation of 737 narrow-bodied airplanes with one called the 737 MAX. Just so we are clear, the term “MAX” has nothing to do with making these planes larger, more comfortable, MAXurious, or in any way more spread out for the comfort of passengers. Instead, it is just the opposite.

The manufacturer of the 737 MAX increased the number of seats in this narrow-sized jet from about 150 to as many as 200 to even 230 seats, depending on the configuration. That’s quite a few more seats. A fair question to ask is where are engineers finding all this extra space? In the bathrooms, of course, which have been getting smaller and smaller and fewer and fewer for years.

Here is what engineers at Boeing and many other air carriers are thinking. More than 65 percent of their passengers are male. In some cases, and on some business flights, that number is even higher.

Because of this, the manufacturer wants to configure at least one restroom so that it does not have a toilet. Instead, it would have only a urinal and a sink to accommodate male passengers. There are a few airlines that even want to take this a step further. They want both rear restrooms to be urinals only. Just the front bathroom—located in business and first class—would have a toilet.

This second arrangement could cause some problems, however. Most first-class passengers don’t want economy-class flyers to use their restroom. Further, most carriers separate their bathrooms by flight class.

Installing urinals on planes has many benefits for carriers. The big one, of course, is that urinals can take up less room. Further, compared to toilets currently on planes, they are lighter, which can lead to fuel savings.

In addition, waterless urinals may be being considered. Waterless urinals, whether on land or a plane, need fewer connections, require less plumbing, and are less expensive than traditional water-using urinals.

Toilets, however, take up more room and are heavier than urinals. Further, compared to waterless urinals, they need more plumbing connections and likely need servicing more frequently.

As to when we can expect to see more urinals, traditional or waterless, flying with us, it’s right around the corner. Carriers intend to introduce them slowly to gauge the reaction of passengers. If all goes well, even reasonably well, we can expect that at least one restroom on many flights will have a waterless urinal installed.

For more information on land-based waterless urinals, contact a Waterless representative.

Low Water Rates, Are they good or bad for Consumers?

It’s no secret that the aging US water infrastructure requires significant modernization. Many of the approximately 1 million miles of pipe systems delivering water to homes and businesses in the US were built post-World War II with an average lifespan of 75 to 100 years, according to the 2017 Infrastructure Report Card. That aging infrastructure is wasting 2 trillion gallons of treated drinking water resulting from about 240,000 water main breaks each year, the report indicates.

In 2014, Congress authorized a federal credit program administered by the EPA to fund vital water and wastewater infrastructure improvements, known as the Water Infrastructure Finance and Innovation Act. In response to a notice of fund availability, the program received 43 letters of interest from water districts, utilities and entire cities and counties highlighting needed improvements to water infrastructure totaling about $12 billion. As WIFIA offers up to 49 percent of project costs, an additional $6 billion is needed from local agencies, private enterprise and private-public partnerships.

While that may seem like a hefty sum, it pales in comparison to the $1 trillion the American Water Works Association estimates it will take to maintain and improve water infrastructure in the US in the next 25 years.

Read more at Environmental Leader by clicking here

Why the Era of Water Efficiency Has Arrived

The Beverly Hills Waldorf Astoria opened in 2017. As you can imagine, no expense was spared to ensure its guests would enjoy some of the most elegant accommodations to be found, not just in Southern California, but anywhere in the world. Moreover, with room rates ranging from $700 to more than $4,000 per night, their guests expected nothing less.

However, along with the elegant accommodations, the hotel took some very practical design steps, especially regarding water efficiency. Considering that one traditional urinal can use as much as 35,000 gallons of water per year, planners called for the men’s rooms in the hotel to have no-water urinal systems. No-water urinals use absolutely no water and hotel administrators concluded they also meet the high expectations of their hotel guests.

To read more from this article on Green Lodging news, click here.