# saltwater toilets **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 8, 2001, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282 "2001-11-08T21:41:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cainxinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@cainxinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cainxinth)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/1 "2001-11-08T21:41:22Z")
has any government ever tired constructing a sewage system based on oceanic salt water, as opposed to fresh water? ---
**Author:** ![Engineer\_Don](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e95f7d/32.png) [@Engineer\_Don](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engineer_Don)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/2 "2001-11-08T22:22:46Z")
Avalon, the main city of Santa Catalina Island, off the coast of California, has salt water toilets. They work fine but require lots of maintenance. My Dad has a rental house there, and we replace the mechanisms about once a year, and try to clean them frequently. I am not sure how or if they blend the fresh sewer water with the salt water efluent, but they have had it for quite a while now. Fresh water is not plentiful, and the salt water for toilets seems to have saved quite a bit of fresh water. They have, in the past, had some fairly serious fresh water shortages. Now they have a desal plant that they use when rainfall doesn’t provide enough fresh water. I think other communities in the channel islands do this too, but I am not certain. ---
**Author:** ![robby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robby/32/11048_2.png) [@robby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robby)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2001, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/3 "2001-11-08T23:51:46Z")
There was some related discussion about this a few months ago… [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82258](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=82258) ---
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/4 "2001-11-09T01:57:37Z")
Wouldn’t the saltwater sting if it splashed back on you? ---
**Author:** ![Hemlock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Hemlock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hemlock)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/5 "2001-11-09T02:21:27Z")
Most neighborhoods in Hong Kong have two water supplies - one being sea water for toilet-flushing. No stinging, in my experience. However, the water does smell a bit metallic, though not actually “fishy”. Apparently, they put some sort of antiseptic in it, so it’s biologically pretty inert. And it’s filtered, so you don’t get bits of seaweed, mermaids, etc in the loo. It seems to cause pipes to rust quickly. ---
**Author:** ![mmmiiikkkeee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/edb3f5/32.png) [@mmmiiikkkeee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mmmiiikkkeee)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/6 "2001-11-09T04:24:31Z")
It wouldn’t sting anymore than when you swim in the ocean. I’ve had my eyes open under salt water before; doesn’t do anything painful. ---
**Author:** ![sultanp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3bc359/32.png) [@sultanp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sultanp)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2001, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saltwater-toilets/92282/7 "2001-11-09T15:09:55Z")
I spent some time on some small islands in the Pacific, and they do have a saltwater toilet system since fresh water is so hard to come by, and they don’t want to use it on sewage. The toilets worked fine, and I never felt any stings. Only headache I could see was for the plumbers who have to install two sets of in-flow pipes.