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November 23, 2002
Rose
Bowl makes stand to save water
Rose Bowl
flush with water savings
By
Gary Scott
Staff Writer
PASADENA
-- It started with a modest proposal: to conserve water, take
the flush out of the men's urinals at the Rose Bowl.
After today's game
between UCLA and USC, city officials estimate 1 million
gallons of water will have been saved from the drain.
They attribute this to
259 Falcon Waterfree urinals installed in public restrooms at
the Rose Bowl. Four months ago, Pasadena Water and Power
removed the 28 trough-type toilets that required a constant
flow of water to wash away waste.
The city paid $75,000 to
install the urinals at the Rose Bowl, said Jess Waiters,
assistant general manager at the stadium. He expects they will
shave between $20,000 and $25,000 off of their annual water
bill.
"Stadiums are a
great place to have them because of the tremendous use,' said
Jeremy Bernard, spokesman for Falcon. In the Rose Bowl alone,
the urinals have been tested about 650,000 times over five Los
Angeles Galaxy matches and four UCLA football games.
"Aside from some
initial wonderment as to why the urinals don't flush, the
public's response to the water-free urinals has been
outstanding,' said Darryl Dunn, general manager of the Rose
Bowl Stadium.
The water-free urinal
uses a cartridge designed to eliminate odor and the need for
water. Inside the cartridge, a chamber retains a small amount
of liquid waste while the rest drains down the sewer. A
lighter-than- water sealant floats on top of the trapped
waste, keeping odor from escaping. When urine is added, it is
able to pass through the sealant, displacing the waste already
collected. The sealant then emulsifies to recreate the
barrier.
"The tough part was
getting the exact science for how it all works,' especially
the the sealant's chemistry, said Bernard.
Cartridges last 7,000
uses and then must be replaced, he said, but save about 40,000
gallons of water in the process. The cartridges are
recyclable.
Traditional urinals
"flush down water with water,' said Bernard. "Urine
is sterile. The mixture of water with urine creates ammonia,
which creates more bacteria and odor. UCLA did a study and
found that the water-free urinals had a smaller bacterial
count.'
Falcon has sold its
urinals to stadiums and commercial companies worldwide,
Bernard said. Locally, they can be found at the Pasadena
Hilton, Parsons Corp., SBC Communications and the Lake Avenue
Congregational Church.
Each urinal costs about
$300, not including installation, said Jane Raftis, water
conservation coordinator for Pasadena Water and Power. She
said the city is considering installing them in City Hall
during the retrofit project.
"There is also a
rebate for commercial customers who are Pasadena Water
customers available now,' she said.
Falcon has yet to
develop a water-free toilet for use by women, Bernard said.
-- Gary Scott can be
reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4458, or by e-mail at
gary.scott@sgvn.com. |
