Savings Follow with Waterless Urinals

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.

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.”