The First Facility Management Blog

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 36 states will experience non-drought-related water shortages in the next 10 years. And, increasingly, facility managers are implementing ways to reduce water consumption in their buildings. This includes plumbing fixtures that use less water to function than in previous years. In terms of toilets, the The National Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) required plumbing fixture manufacturers to reduce toilet water consumption from 3.5 gallons per flush (gpf) to 1.6 gpf. This helped the movement to reduce water usage.

However, there is another toilet technology that uses even less water per flush–High Efficiency Toilets (HETs). These fixtures — defined as a toilet that consumes a minimum of 20% less water than the 1.6 gpf models mandated by EPAct, that is, a maximum of 1.28 gpf — entered the U.S. market in 1998. And with the ongoing pressure to continue conservation efforts, facility managers may want to look at HETs (available from some manufacturers in dual flush models) for their next restroom renovation or new construction project.

When shopping, the EPA’s WaterSense voluntary product-labeling program can be a starting point. The program, launched in 2006, contains a specification for HETs. There are currently HETs from 25 manufacturers that have made the WaterSense list; among this list are American Standard, Kohler, TOTO, and Zurn.

American Standard has made available a white paper “High Efficiency Toilets (HETs): Why ‘Flushing with Confidence’ is Here to Stay”, which provides an overview of why HETs were developed, how American Standard developed its models to achieve powerful flushing performance, and how these low-flow fixtures can aid in water conservation efforts.

Authored by C.J. Lagan, compliance engineering manager for American Standard Brands, the 3-page document can be downloaded, free of charge, at this Web link.

The paper reviews the flushing technologies developed by American Standard, including the company’s methods to harness gravity, use larger flush valves and trapways, efficiently size water spots and well contours, and create water flow dynamics that contributed to performance of the company’s HET collections.

Do you have HETs in your facility? Have they performed as well as previous models? If you don’t have them in your facility, would you consider them?

The small town of Nipomo, CA in the southern end of San Luis Obispo County on California’s central coast has just announced that before any business or residential property may be sold in the city, it must be retrofitted with water saving plumbing fixtures.

This is a trend being seen throughout the country. Even water rich areas of the country are requiring that low and no water toilets, urinals, and faucets be installed before a property is sold. Others are offering tax rebates to encourage their installation.

Saving water is the goal of these programs. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an older, conventional toilet can waste up to 4,000 gallons of water per year. And a urinal may use more than 40,000 gallons of water annually.

But what should can be done with the old toilets and urinals that are being replaced?

Fortunately, toilet and urinal recycling programs have sprung up around the country, and the old fixtures are being used in a myriad of applications.

“What typically happens is the toilet or urinal’s porcelain is crushed,” says Klaus Reichardt, founder and managing partner of Waterless Co., LLC, manufacturers of no water urinal systems. “The pebbles can be added to asphalt for paving roads or used in drainage projects.”

This, according to Reichardt, not only eliminates the need to discard toilets into landfills, but reduces the need to mine for gravel, a cost savings that benefits the taxpayer and the environment. 

Other uses of crushed porcelain from recycled urinals and toilets include:

• Building foundations: Facilities have earned LEED certification points by using recycled toilets and urinals in this way.
• Nature trails: You will be walking on old toilets and urinals when exploring San Antonio’s Calaveras Park Nature Trail. More than a thousand recycled toilets and urinals were used to pave the park’s trails.
• Mulch: Botanical gardens have found that crushed toilets and urinals are a welcome addition to mulch.

Waterless Co. encourages building owners and facility managers to recycle their old toilets and urinals and to contact their local recycling center for more information.

Earlier this summer, a major new attraction was grabbing headlines at Mount Rainier National Park in Ashford, WA. What was it? You guessed it…a toilet.

Whether it was the highly publicized ribbon-cutting ceremony, the price tag ($70,000), or the fact that the toilet was donated by its manufacturer (Toyo Kogyo) and a popular Mount Rainier drink producer (Morinaga Milk Company), the celebrity composting commode has been doo-ing doing its sister toilet in Mount Fuji proud since early June. Representatives from Mount Rainier National Park and the Japanese non-profit organization Groundwork Mishima activated the new “bio toilet” at Cougar Rock Campground on Monday, June 9, 2008.

The high-tech toilet was donated to the park last fall by Groundwork Mishima, which works with citizens, local governments, and businesses to address environmental issues and promote volunteerism in Japan. The group is active at Mount Fuji, which has a “Sister Mountain” relationship with Mount Rainier National Park.

“We are pleased to continue our long standing relationship with the people of Japan,” said Superintendent Dave Uberuaga (pictured above, along with representatives from Groundwork Mishima and the Japan Volunteers-in-Parks Association). “This bio toilet will be a practical contribution toward our goals of environmental stewardship and sustainable design in Mount Rainier National Park.”

The toilet was installed in late August of last year with the help of students from the Japanese Volunteers-in-Parks Association, who have been contributing volunteer services at Mount Rainier since 1993. Due to the lateness of the season, the toilet was not activated last fall. Its unique design uses cedar chips and natural composting techniques to operate efficiently with very little water and with no odor.

Photo courtesy of Mount Rainier Volunteers.

(Apologies for the potty puns in this post. It’s a Friday Funny, after all, isn’t it?)

While perhaps more in the realm of weird than funny, a story out of Beijing recently illustrated how cultural differences can apply to most anything and everything. A Reuters report in March reported on the fact that Olympic organizers in the host city have had to refit toilets at several Olympic venues. This was in response to foreign athletes’ complaints about having to squat, rather than being able to sit, on the toilets.

Shown here is the National Aquatics Center (nicknamed Water Cube) in Beijing, which is one of the venues where toilets were an issue.

To read the rest of the story by Liu Zhen, click here…

Last Friday, FacilityBlog featured a story about running toilets. Today, toilets are in the news once again, but this time, they are the subject of a legal controversy in Italy.

Here are the facts, presented by Eileen Jeng of fNews:

Two artists, Eleonora Chiari and Sandra Goldschmied, have created a toilet that flushes to the sound of Italy’s national anthem, according to BBC News Online. The toilet was on display at the Bolzano Museum of Modern Art in Northern Italy when it was impounded by the police.

The museum is currently fighting to get the installation piece back. A museum spokesperson was quoted on artinfo.net explaining that a right-wing political party complained to local authorities about the piece. Prosecutors said that the national anthem is a “national emblem, which should be protected and should never be open to ridicule.” Perhaps their interpretation is that as the toilet flushes to the national anthem, Italy is being ridiculed. It is as if Italy is going down the drain.

The defense attorney for the museum stated to the BBC that while the national anthem “does have patriotic and sentimental value, it is not a national symbol.” Thus, the ownership of the national anthem is one of the questions for the court. The Association of Italian Modern Art Museums supported the museum and “its professional authority.” Artinfo.net described the Museum as a victim of censorship.

Please rise.

According to Christian Fraser of the BBC, a ruling on the case was expected quickly, but because of the questions of patriotism it sparked, the work was removed from the museum and the artists were under investigation.The story broke back in October 2006, but no updates on the case or a final ruling could be found after an extensive online search.

Meanwhile, the controversy has inspired Bloggers across the Internet to pose some fairly serious questions about the concept of art, symbolism, and freedom of expression. Who owns the national anthem? And is it unpatriotic to play it in a context in which it could be ridiculed? A decree issued by the former Italian government of Silvio Berlusconi defined the national anthem as an emblem and the property of the state.

While these are not directly facility management issues, they could have an impact on any building that displays a corporate art collection. Should the collection be vetted for any offensive messages? Or should art be left uncensored, to evoke response and reaction?

You may now be seated.