Vista, Calif. — A survey by Texas A&M University, et al., asked 79 facility managers about their experiences using waterless urinal systems, such as those produced by Waterless Co., LCC. To report and explain their findings, the researchers created an “imaginary” elementary school with 300 males.

The university compared waterless urinals to those using one gallon of water per flush. The imaginary school was open 180 days per year, and each male used the eight urinals approximately twice per day.

These were the results:

• The water-based urinals used approximately 864,000 gallons of water per year.
• With water and sewer costs charged at $5 per 1,000 gallons, these costs amounted to $4,320 per urinal.
• As for maintenance, when using the EcoTrap trap inserts from Waterless Co., replaced twice per year at $6.50 per unit, the annual charge would be $104.
  

Based on their findings, the school would save nearly 900,000 gallons of potable water per year using the waterless urinals. And, the difference between the cost of water and sewer charges vs. the cost of the trap inserts would result in more than a 90 percent savings. Further, the study assumed the conventional urinals would also need to be repaired during the course of the year, adding more to the maintenance costs.

Conclusion

The study concluded that widespread use of waterless urinals “can produce a domino effect of conservation. Since no water is required, water utilities will not need to treat and pump as much water…and the absence of flushing means that less wastewater is generated that requires treatment. Smaller quantities of water pumped leads to energy savings as well. Therefore, water is conserved as are resources needed to generate electricity.”