# Waterless urinals have been installed - Answer to my prayers? or My worst nightmare? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 9, 2003, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450 "2003-10-09T07:46:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/21 "2003-10-09T20:50:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > \*\*I’m confused. It’s supposed to be water free, but you have to add water to the cartridge? \*\* I think how it works is that you add water once (to perhaps activate the gel crystals or something). Water is used, but the difference with their system is that it’s about 2 cups (or what have you) per 7,000 uses vs a flush each time. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/22 "2003-10-09T21:24:02Z")
I like the Dutch solution to general urinal hygeine: paint a [fly](http://maddog.weblogs.com/stories/storyReader%2468) on the inside. ---
**Author:** ![TaxGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@TaxGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaxGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/23 "2003-10-09T21:49:10Z")
That canister would be pretty cool on a boat or small airplane, though, you know. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/24 "2003-10-09T22:02:49Z")
Well, I am sorry but our American thinking that urine is “dirty” is something that is costing us billions and helping ruin the environment. Urine is usually sterile. YOU, by flushing a cup of sterile urine with 7 gallons of water are wasting about 6.9 gallons of clean water- and note that water has be to clean enough to drink, which costs a bundle, and releases lots of chlorine & stuff into the eco-system. Then there are the COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS that flush & flush & flush through-out the entire urination- thus using 30 gallons of water for their pathetic cup of pee. If we ALL did not flush after we urinate, we’d make a significant difference in the environment. I don’t. “In this land of Sun & Fun, we don’t flush for #1” and “If it’s brown, flush it down- it it’s yellow, let it mellow”. 😃 Really, urine is not “dirty” and it is only our wierd American puritanical upbringing that makes you think it so. I salute the manufacturor, and I commend your company for their 21st century thinking. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2003, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/25 "2003-10-09T22:12:09Z")
Snappy beat, you can dance to it, A+ ---
**Author:** ![d\_redguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@d\_redguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d_redguy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/26 "2003-10-10T01:15:27Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > \*\*Well, I am sorry but our American thinking that urine is “dirty” is something that is costing us billions and helping ruin the environment. Urine is usually sterile. YOU, by flushing a cup of sterile urine with 7 gallons of water are wasting about 6.9 gallons of clean water- and note that water has be to clean enough to drink, which costs a bundle, and releases lots of chlorine & stuff into the eco-system. Then there are the COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS that flush & flush & flush through-out the entire urination- thus using 30 gallons of water for their pathetic cup of pee. > > If we ALL did not flush after we urinate, we’d make a significant difference in the environment. I don’t. > > “In this land of Sun & Fun, we don’t flush for #1” and “If it’s brown, flush it down- it it’s yellow, let it mellow”. 😃 > > Really, urine is not “dirty” and it is only our wierd American puritanical upbringing that makes you think it so. > > I salute the manufacturor, and I commend your company for their 21st century thinking. \*\* All of the above points are good, and that is the source of my own personal conflict. It seems like a good idea in theory. It really does. And I’m all for conserving water. I really don’t like the people who flush through the entire process. One flush should be all that you need. I’m just waiting to see if the theory actually pans out in practice. As sterile as urine is purported to be, it sure can stink when it’s stale. Please, Og, don’t let them stink. That’s really all I ask. Don’t let them stink. Please. please? ---
**Author:** ![Jervoise](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d2c977/32.png) [@Jervoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jervoise)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/27 "2003-10-10T01:20:26Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DrDeth \* > **Well, I am sorry but our American thinking that urine is “dirty” is something that is costing us billions and helping ruin the environment. Urine is usually sterile. YOU, by flushing a cup of sterile urine with 7 gallons of water are wasting about 6.9 gallons of clean water- and note that water has be to clean enough to drink, which costs a bundle, and releases lots of chlorine & stuff into the eco-system. Then there are the COMPLETE FUCKING IDIOTS that flush & flush & flush through-out the entire urination- thus using 30 gallons of water for their pathetic cup of pee.** Don’t be silly. Urine is sterile in the bladder. Out in the open, it provides a rich breeding ground for bacteria because it is both moist and warm. And who flushes “through-out the entire urination”? Do you mean they pee with one hand and continually hit the flush button with the other? While your “wierd American puritanical upbringing” may be cause for all sorts of national complexes, rest assured that aversion to smelly, dirty stale piss is not a custom confined to your nation alone. With good reason. ---
**Author:** ![d\_redguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@d\_redguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/d_redguy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/28 "2003-10-10T01:24:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jervoise \* > **And who flushes “through-out the entire urination”? Do you mean they pee with one hand and continually hit the flush button with the other?** Actually, **Jervoise** , I have seen this. Never understood it. Seems to me it just increases the chances of getting your pants wet. But some weirdos do it. ---
**Author:** ![Black\_Train\_Song](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4da419/32.png) [@Black\_Train\_Song](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Black_Train_Song)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/29 "2003-10-10T01:33:22Z")
Hey man, I was a sewer and drain cleaner and you wouldn’t see me going near that nasty thing. Also, the water the you use to flush helps to carry all that STUFF through the pipes. Urinal lines get nasty as it is. ---
**Author:** ![istara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e79b87/32.png) [@istara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/istara)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/30 "2003-10-10T14:24:19Z")
Where is the Flash animation? I only found an animated gif ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/31 "2003-10-10T23:39:52Z")
You’re correct, it is an animated gif, not a Flash animation. [http://www.jmgwaterfree.com/cartridge\_presentation.html](http://www.jmgwaterfree.com/cartridge_presentation.html) When that vibrantly yellow stream appeared, I jumped about a foot in the air. I know I’m a urinophobic bourgeois American, but still. _That’s just not right!_ (And the hypothetical urine producer better see a doctor, quick!) ---
**Author:** ![hermann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b487fb/32.png) [@hermann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hermann)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/32 "2003-10-11T14:16:17Z")
But he has damn good aim. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2003, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450/33 "2003-10-11T14:29:54Z")
There is a shockwave animation here: [http://www.falconwaterfree.com/overviewSW.htm](http://www.falconwaterfree.com/overviewSW.htm) Ironically enough, it made me want to urinate. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/waterless-urinals-have-been-installed-answer-to-my-prayers-or-my-worst-nightmare/206450.md?page=1)