Over the next several years, there will of course be style changes in the way restrooms look, but if you look a little closer the changes may be much greater, Greener, and more sustainable than many people imagine.

A good example of how far things may go is the Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT). This totally renovated building is now LEED certified. Although the restrooms do not look that much different from other restrooms, they have these unique features:

• Instead of metal partitions between stalls, the partitions are made of recycled egg cartons, milk containers, and cardboard.

• The restrooms’ wall and floor tiles are made from recycled glass, tile, porcelain, and ceramic materials.

• Paper and electric hand dryers are installed; managers hope the electric systems will gradually catch on.

But it may be what you cannot see that is most telling. For instance, the toilets are dual-flush, high-efficiency toilets that use .8 and 1.25 gallons of water for liquid and solid waste respectively,  compared to 1.6 to several gallons per flush depending on their age and the urinals are totally waterless, using no water at all.

Installing water-conserving fixtures will definitely be the shape of things to come and it may even be healthier too.

According to the Microbiology Department of the University of Arizona, flush-type urinals are far more likely to be colonized by bacteria because of the greater presence of moisture [serving] as reservoirs of disease-causing microorganisms.

And, as to fixtures that conserve water, when you realize that more than 1 billion people, or nearly one-fifth of the world's population, live in areas of water scarcity with another 500 million people approaching this situation, it becomes very clear why water conservation is not only necessary but really should be mandatory.

Klaus Reichardt

Waterless No-Flush Urinal

www.waterless.com