Saturday, February 6, 2010

Pee-yew! Epic Fail of Waterless Urinals in Chicago


They’re ripping out the “eco-friendly” waterless urinals installed in Chicago’s City Hall only four years ago. Why? Because the smell of backed up urine was drifting into the City Council chambers.

What caused the urine to back up?
“While we don't know for certain, anecdotal evidence has pointed to the heavy traffic, combined with the disposal of additional liquids, such as juice, coffee, etc. being poured down the urinal drain that caused issues that were unforeseen,” [Environment Department spokesman Larry] Merritt said.
Guys pouring coffee down the urinal? Who could possibly have anticipated that?

In fairness, City Hall’s problem—that the urinals were connected to copper drain pipes which corroded and blocked outflow—may be specific to that building. But judging from my experience at Newark airport even properly installed waterless urinals are remarkably stinky. Of course, nothing says “welcome to New Jersey” like a bad smell in baggage claim.

Then there’s this:
In 2005, five waterless urinals also were installed in O’Hare Airports Terminal 2, only to be removed three months later.
Hmmm . . .

The “green” urinals in City Hall were the brainchild of Mayor Daley’s “chief environmental officer” Sadhu Johnston. And what does he have to say about the problem? Well, nothing! He quietly slipped out of town last September and is now deputy city manager of Vancouver, WA.

See you, Sadhu--and as they like to say up North: Piss off!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Sorry to hear that they had to pull these out. Water free urinals have caused alot of problems but much of that has to do with the way traditional cartridge technology works...

These "chemical" cartridges prevent any water or cleanser from going through the cartridge, into the urinal housing and down through the plumbing.. This is not a good design..

There is a product on the market that is the greenest of them all, the most cost effective and makes water free urinals work as they are inteded..

It fits into all types of water free urinals such as falcon / sloan, zero flush, ecotech, waterless co, zurn, american standard, etc..

Before you give up on water free urinals give The Green Cartridge a good look. It is manufactured by LiquidBreaker and you can find more info at www.LiquidBreaker.com. Make them prove that it works to you and you will be happy with the results!

Waterless urinals have such a great intent. Before you give up on the idea try this cutting edge technology!