Illustrating how engineering and design creativity can patch together effective synergistic systems and technologies, Bullitt Foundation opted for a waterless approach\u2014but with flushable urinals. Leveraging the high-tech ventilation mechanisms installed for Bullitt Center\u2019s rare composting toilet network, the design team went with modified traditional flushing urinals rather than investing in another complicated system.<\/p>\n
As Bullitt Center spokesman Brad Kahn explained, the exhaust system constantly draws air from toilet and urinal drains into composting machines in the building\u2019s basement\u2014 and eventually through the heat-recovery ventilator. Hence, rather than sourcing a system requiring traps and sealants to keep odors from restrooms, the Bullitt Center team opted for standard Kohler urinals\u2014but with flush handles removed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe day porter just adds a bit of water down the bowl to rinse it as needed,\u201d Kahn related. In fact, the developer did not extend water pipes to the urinals in the six-story Bullitt Center\u2014nor is the building even hooked up to the local sewer system. The urine (along with low-flow toilet flush fluid) gets siphoned from composters into leachate tanks for eventual tank-trucking of the nitrogen-rich fluid to King County\u2019s nearby composting facility.<\/p>\n
In certain jurisdictions, developers such as Bullitt that opt for waterless systems can save on first-cost plumbing expenditures because they don\u2019t need to pipe water to urinals, noted Alex Herceg, the analyst heading Lux Research\u2019s Efficient Building Systems practice. However, in the huge California marketplace and elsewhere, water lines still must be extended to walls behind each unit (thanks in part to heavy plumber lobbying)\u2014eliminating that potential waterless cost advantage.<\/p>\n
And as might be expected with new technologies, some developers tapping waterless urinals have gone ahead and plumbed the fixtures to the walls to allow for easy replacement with flush units if unexpected issues arise, Herceg noted.<\/p>\n