A couple of people sent me this recent
NPR post on new urinal design that has a handwashing sink built right in so
that (1) it saves water and (2) it reminds men to wash their hands.
Source |
I’m a big fan of both things. Toilet-sinks have been around
for a while. (Check out instructions how to make one yourself here.)
They’re a marvelous use of water; the fact that we flush anywhere from three to
six liters of water every time we flush, then go and (hopefully) wash our hands
racks up huge amounts of water wastage. A single person may flush 6,400-12,800
gallons of fresh water per year.
Exactly.
As far as an in-your-face reminder to wash your hands, god
knows we need it. Scientists who’ve studied this know it too. One 2003
study by Johnson and colleagues looked at public restroom handwashing rates
at a Pennsylvania
State University .
Results? Out of 175 individuals (95 women and 80 men), 61%
of the women washed their hands (with soap) and 37% of the men. (The latter
percentage increases to 53% of men who just rinsed their hands without soap.)
When they put up a sign to remind people to wash their hands, 97% of women
washed their hands and 35% of men did. (55% of men just rinsed.)
Disregarding strange mental images of how this study were
conducted (I may need to do a post just on strange observational handwashing
studies), the numbers are abysmally low. So if this urinal helps increase that
number, all power to them. While as I’ve pointed out previously,
urine is relatively safe, that bathroom you’ve entered is basically covered
with fecal matter. And unless you’re randomly scrubbing during the day, your
time in the bathroom is going to be the only times during the day that you’ll
wash your hands of all the junk you’ve picked up from everywhere.
So 65% of men at Penn
State ?
Wash your hands. Or do we need to buy you rainbow urinals?
Love,
Everyone
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