by Marc Morano – June 12, 2003 (CNSNews)
Forget the convenience and sanitation of the flush toilet that industrialized nations have enjoyed for most of the past century.
A growing number of environmentalists are now advocating the expanded use of compost or dry toilets worldwide to combat what they see as an international water crisis.…
Continue reading Flush Toilets Called ‘Environmental Disaster’Emma Ross, Associated Press – May 4, 2003
New scientific findings indicate that feces may be a more important method of spreading the SARS virus than originally thought, the World Health Organization said Sunday.
Although coughing and sneezing remain the chief means of spreading the infection, government scientists in Hong Kong have found that the …
Continue reading New findings indicate feces may be important method of spreading SARSDirk Beveridge, Associated Press – Thursday, April 17, 2003
HONG KONG – The biggest SARS outbreak in Hong Kong spread through the plumbing in an apartment complex after visits from a man sick with the disease, a health official said Thursday.
Water droplets contaminated with the SARS virus may have been sucked out of bathroom …
Continue reading Hong Kong’s worst SARS outbreak spread through apartment building plumbingby Robert Mader – Dec. 2002 – Contractor Magazine
October was the month for clashing toilet test results. First, Consumer Reports revealed its 1.6-gpf test results in an October issue story headlined, Successful Water Savers. Then, on Oct. 28, the National Association of Home Builders Research Center here released its own and quite different toilet …
Continue reading Toilet test results clashby Al Heavens – The Philadelphia Inquirer – Dec. 01, 2002
I realize I’ve already written about low-flow toilets once this year.
In case you don’t know what I’m talking about, low-flow toilets officially crossed the threshold of the U.S. home in 1992, with the enactment of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.
The act …
Continue reading Water savings over time key to toilet buyby James Brooke – N.Y. Times – October 2002
NARA, JAPAN — The toilet wars started in February, when Matsushita engineers introduced a toilet seat with electrodes that send a mild electric charge through the buttocks — and take a digital measurement of body-fat ratio.
Engineers from a rival company, Inax, countered in April with …
Continue reading Japan engineers focus on bottom lineby Mark Niesse – Associated Press Writer – July 4, 2002
MOUNT WILLING, Ala. — Several times a day, Gennie McMeans fills a bucket with water from the spigot outside his rickety plywood house, hauls it to the kitchen and heats it on the stove.
Occasionally, he’ll fill a wash pail with the heated water …
Continue reading Census: Plumbing a Luxury for SomeWASHINGTON, D.C. – In cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), In-Sink-Erator, of Racine, Wis., is voluntarily recalling about 252,000 half-gallon instant hot water dispensers. Water can leak from the metal holding tank, wet insulating material and cause electrical arcing and heat build-up. This poses a fire hazard.
In-Sink-Erator has received three reports …
Continue reading In-Sink-Erator Announce Recall to Repair Instant Hot Water DispensersJune 14, 2002 – By Barbara Demick; Los Angeles Times
SUWON, South Korea — As the tourists crowd in for a better look, Lee Pil Ung opens one of the stalls of the ladies’ room and, speaking through a hand-held microphone, extols the virtues of the toilet.
He demonstrates the plastic wrap that revolves to …
Continue reading South Korean city invests in lavish loosGreg Lucas, Carla Marinucci, Chronicle Political Writers – Tuesday, May 14, 2002
Gov. Gray Davis picked up a $260,000 contribution during the weekend from a trade union that won a key ruling this month in its fight to keep plastic water pipe from replacing copper pipe in homes.
The governor’s weekend fund-raising activities — punctuated …
Continue reading Pipe fitters’ gift swells governor’s war chest, recent ban on plastic is what union wanted