By Patrick Starr, Pennsylvania Environmental Council, and Jill Kowalski, Delaware Valley Green Building Council

Note: This opinion piece addresses a recent controversy in Philadelphia over putting waterless toilets in the 57-story Liberty Property Trust Comcast Center building, the largest green building project in the United States so far. The issue was resolved this week.

Waterless urinals are part of the green-building movement across the nation, one that seeks to reduce environmental impacts and save money.

Many cities, from New York to San Diego, use the technology to reduce cost and conserve water. Desert-based Phoenix, Ariz., turned waterless urinals from a good idea into legislation by requiring waterless-urinal installation in all state buildings. San Diego, Raleigh, Orlando and Pasadena all use waterless urinals at major venues, such as airports, sports arenas or local attractions.

With some thoughtful caveats on installation and maintenance, the board of directors of the National Association of Plumbing, Heating and Cooling Contractors is in agreement with the concept of waterless urinals.

But before we become too critical of Pennsylvania for not adopting this technology, let's remember that there are waterless-urinal installations in private offices and public buildings here (in Philadelphia).

The state Turnpike Commission, the Department of Environmental Protection, the headquarters of Liberty Property Trust in Malvern, and the W. S. Cumby & Son office building in Springfield, Delaware County, are some examples.

Harrisburg is on board, so what's going on with Philadelphia?

In other locales, this green-building technology wasn't embraced overnight. Like most successful environmental solutions, this approach required an education component and more than a few successful demonstrations before becoming widely accepted. But being in the vanguard is not easy.

We should be thankful that Liberty Property Trust is willing to exemplify sustainable business practices in Philadelphia by seeking to install 116 waterless urinals. It may be instructive that, in spite of the Department of Licenses and Inspections' review of Liberty's permit request, Philadelphia already has two buildings with waterless urinals: the Police Forensic Center and SEPTA's Market Street building. Those installations inadvertently got by the plumbing review board.

Organizations such as the Delaware Valley Green Building Council and the Pennsylvania Environmental Council have been working with developers and architects to encourage the use of sustainable building features such as green roofs, energy-efficient windows and machinery, and nontoxic, local materials. The Philadelphia region boasts several of these green buildings and buildings certified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED, the national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings).

Licenses and Inspections, city contractors and tradesmen need to prepare for a tidal wave of these types of buildings. As energy costs escalate and consumers clamor for economical buildings that don't lay waste to our air and water, the demand for green building practices will swell. We need to scour the building code now to remove barriers to these environmental and economical practices.

Waterless urinals can contribute to a sustainable Philadelphia by conserving billions of gallons of water annually. They require about the same amount of maintenance as regular urinals, plus they are safer for installers, maintenance workers and users.

We also need to preserve the competitive advantage of our labor force.

Unions have an opportunity to embrace this new product, which could lead to the additional work of replacing the more than 50,000 urinals throughout Philadelphia in the next 10 years. Either unions can lead the way, or nonunion workers, who already have installed green technologies, can lead the way.

In our experience, encouraging collaboration between unions, architects, developers and environmental organizations is vital to ensuring that we best meet the needs of our growing city, manage our limited resources, and maintain standards we've set for today. The stage is already set. The membership of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council includes several union representatives and has developed Green Advantage for Commercial Construction, a green-building training program for contractors.

The Urban Sustainability Forum, of which the Pennsylvania Environmental Council and the Delaware Valley Green Building Council are partner organizations, brings Philadelphians together to set an agenda for making ours the greenest, most livable city in America.

Only through continued cooperation can we hope to make green-building initiatives a success in Philadelphia. We shouldn't let the idea of waterless urinals go down the drain.

Patrick Starr is vice president of the Pennsylvania Environmental Council.

Jill Kowalski is executive director of the Delaware Valley Green Building Council.

NewsClips: Truce Over Waterless Urinals

Plumbers’ Board Approves Waterless Urinals

Editorial: Flushing Away an Opportunity

Take a Stand on No-Flush Urinals - Anyone?

4/7/2006