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Dubai Municipality has installed nearly 500 water-free urinals across the emirate

Dubai: Next time you use a urinal in a public park or government building in Dubai, just leave and don’t look for the flush. That’s because the Dubai Municipality has installed nearly 500 water-free urinals across the emirate.

Jodi Bantug, managing director of Design International, the Middle East distributor of US-based Falcon Waterfree Technologies, said their urinals are already installed in 45 locations. They are found in most of the public parks, buildings and public toilets under the municipality - potentially saving up to 52 million litres of flush water per year - or about Dh600,000 in annual water bills, said Bantug.

Before the project was completed, a survey done by his team found that two out of three urinals within the municipality’s facilities used cistern-based flushing, which squirts water every few minutes whether it is used or not.

Big savings

"This kind of urinal wastes a lot of water," said Bantug, adding that companies like McDonalds are phasing out their use of flush urinals globally.

By contrast, the water-free urinal uses a replaceable cartridge filled with a lighter-than-water sealant liquid that floats and acts as a trap and filter on top of the urine collected in the U-bend. This prevents the release of odours.

Bantug said they train clients’ staff on how to clean the urinals and added that maintenance is straightforward and his company checks the urinals monthly for free.

The water-free urinal is a patented technology first introduced in the early 1990s, but it is only now that it is catching up in the Middle East.

Bantug said their growing list of users include labour camps, construction sites, cinemas, restaurants, airports and hotels.

•45: locations in which the urinals will be installed including 14 parks, seven public markets, five government buildings, 17 public toilets and the dhow wharfage
•52: million litres of water will be saved per year by the new urinals