Australians are bombarded with information about our dry climate and concerns of drought. Ri Industries contributes by encouraging water conservation and providing tips to conserve as much water as you can. One method of water conservation that we have not touched upon is the waterless urinal. Now don’t be frightened of what a waterless urinal might look like, or worse even, smell like, after a number of uses. Let us explain the process before you make up your mind.

Let’s start with why one must flush a urinal. After all, isn’t the item deposited into the urinal a liquid that will just go down the drain? Of course the answer to that is yes, but that liquid most likely has a certain odour attached to it and without flushing the shiny porcelain with water, that odour may linger. In a regular urinal, water pools in a U-shaped trap under the drain, forming a seal against sewer gases below. In contrast, a cartridge of liquid sealant sits on top of the drain in a waterless urinal. The liquid is lighter than the urine, which sinks through the cartridge and drains out. The sealant keeps any sewer gases from backing up. Such a simple solution that can make a great impact in our efforts to conserve water.

It seems the biggest hurdle in using waterless urinals is us: humans. We’re not always easy to retrain. Old habits die hard and we don’t like change. Reports show that most of the problems seen with waterless urinals are due to human error during maintenance. One of the largest manufacturers of waterless urinals is now developing a product which eliminates the need for humans to get involved, except for changing the cartridge every so often, so improvements should be seen.

What do you think? Do waterless urinals sound like a good conservation tool? We do!