We have all heard the expression “too much of a good thing.” In January of 2012, a school district in Florida experienced exactly the opposite, too little of a good thing, as in- water. In an effort to save money, and water, the district decided to replace all of the urinals in the men’s rooms with the newly popular, waterless urinals. While this seemed like a can’t-miss idea at the time, has proved to be a financial nightmare. Like most new ideas before much thought is given, it seemed like a no-brainer, but ultimately is never as good as the time tested method of the present. The lack of fresh water that was no longer being flushed down the drain lines, led to a very corrosive, acidic condition inside of the pipes, causing most of them to develop leaks. To be fair, it was not necessarily JUST the fault of the waterless urinal, but the waterless urinal combined with the copper drain lines. Unlike PVC or cast iron drain lines, copper drain lines are prone to failure from one thing, high acidity. The school district is now faced with hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of damages and repairs to the walls and drain lines. Waterless urinals are now not permitted to be installed anywhere where copper drains are serving them. The very thing they were trying to save is what ultimately came back to bite them.
While I do support some of the efforts to “go green”, I also think that just like anything else, we need to use caution, use our heads, and not be so quick to dismiss time tested practices.
