Women stand up for new loos
URINALS REDUCE EXPOSURE TO DISEASE The invention saves up to 9% of water per flush, is a safer option to replace pit toilets.
Awaterless technology company, LiquidGold, believes it has found a way to save water, improve sanitation and maintain dignity, by allowing women to stand while using the toilet. LiquidGold calls it Weestand (We Stand), a female-friendly urinal that saves up to 9% of water per flush.
According to a study published by the Water Research Commission, female urinals could be an option to reduce queues in public places. Urinals are also a welcome, safe option to replace pit toilets in schools.
The commission explains that urinals significantly reduce exposure to disease, as there is no toilet seat or flush handles. In addition, urinals are one-size-fits-all. They also reduce odour, as urine is completely eliminated from the pit, while resulting in drier sludge, which makes it easier to manually empty the urinal than cleaning a pit toilet. Burdens on toilets will also be eased, as toilets can be used strictly for defecation, and urinals for urinating.
Urinals are also easily assembled, and can be an economic alternative while toilets at school facilities are improved.
The study also found that 47% of students found the female urinal to be “excellent”, while 32% thought it was “pretty good”. The students cited the main reason for their experience as being the cleanliness of the urinal.
With the current toilet ratio at one toilet per 36 girls, and one toilet per 37 boys, it means the need for an effective alternative is pretty dire. And this alternative could come from the Weestand, or something similar.
The study explains: “If urinals are provided for girls, girls will be forced much less frequently to use pit or full-flush toilets, which at schools, often put their health and safety at risk.”
Female urinals are not a new idea, and South Africa is not the first country to embrace the idea. It can be argued that these drew inspiration from bidets, which are traditionally used to help clean off after toilet use.
Islamic toilets also use a similar concept, namely to squat over a toilet-like device in the ground.
Last year, Berlin’s state government created a 99-page “toilet concept”, which seeks to create a nondiscriminatory way to relive nature’s call.
“In the future, urinals which can be used by all genders should be offered,” reads the paper.
Another platform that has embraced female urinals is festivals, where queues are long and toilet conditions rather deplorable.
Inventions such as the “Shewee” have also flown off the shelves, originally for women to urinate more freely in the great outdoors.