By Robert Brubaker, Program Manager, American Restroom Association

A State code expert from Kansas,  Eirene Oliphant,  has submitted potty parity code change proposals that address some of the ‘long line’ problems women face waiting to use public restrooms.  State delegates will take up her proposals at the International Code Council’s Code Development Hearings in Baltimore, Maryland in late October 2009.  Now is the time to contact state legislators to urge support for these simple, sensible changes in the plumbing code.

Finding an available restroom is an issue that speaks to women.  Women live longer, experience pregnancy and menstruation, and are more likely to be caregivers of children or elders who also need toilet facilities. As researchers such as the University of Illinois’ Kathryn Anthony have demonstrated, moreover, women simply require more time, thanks to anatomy and clothing.    This explains why often lines form at the women’s restroom but not at the men’s.

Male:Female Ratios

There are two ways to address this issue of Potty Parity.   One is the establishment of female:male ratio for the number of fixtures.   For example, New York City requires twice as many toilets for women as men.

Legislation requiring a female:male ratio usually conflicts with existing State-mandated building codes, which set a number of required fixtures based on occupancy and use.  Ratios, in fact, can result in an undersupply of toilets for women.

Plumbing Code Change

A more promising way to achieve potty parity is through code change.  Changing the plumbing code can mandate building design with restrooms that meet the evolving needs of contemporary society.

Plumbing codes, a subset of the building code, traditionally require minimum number of toilet fixtures and are based on complex formulas and tables.   Older code typically mandates an equal number of fixtures for women and men rather than an optimal number based on research. This requires amendment.  Furthermore, code needs to be updated to address surge periods in toilet use at large venues, such as the 7th inning stretch at a baseball stadium.   Most states also need to adopt code to rectify problems women face in small stores or restrooms with a single women’s toilet.  While attending to two toddlers, a mother may lock others out for 10 minutes or so, causing queuing at the door.

Ask your state legislators to support code change that brings real potty parity.

Most states have adopted either the International Plumbing Code (IPC) or the Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC).  Three proposed code changes, if adopted at the state level, will bring relief to women.

Require that ‘minimum number of toilet fixtures’ in the latest building code provide the needed toilet facilities for everyone.  The proposed 2009 version of both the IPC and UPC should eliminate queuing and rectify remaining weaknesses in the building code for popular public venues. (For a restaurant that can legally accommodate up to 150 people, the IPC currently requires only 1 toilet for women (the UPC requires 3).  For a store with an occupancy of 1000, the IPC still mandates only 1 female toilet (the UPC requires 4 to 8).

Ensure that even older buildings to have the ‘minimum number of toilet fixtures’ required in the latest code.

Increase the use of  unisex or family toilets as these provide intrinsic potty parity.   Small restaurants, for example, usually have .  Making both the one men’s and the one women’s in a restaurant unisex would make it less likely that anyone would have to wait.

Want more Information?

Find contact information for state legislators.

The proposed changes and the case for them, in the necessarily technical language of codes.

The Code Development Hearings and the 2009 International Code Council Annual Conference

Examples of building code implementation and a discussion of distortions caused by ‘ratio’ legislation are found in “New Ballpark Statistic: Stadium’s Toilet Ratio,” a New York Times front page story on April 12, 2009.

Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human, or PHLUSH, has been invited to make two presentations to the prestigious World Toilet Summit in Singapore in December 2009.

Old Town Chinatown?s public restroom advocates are busy preparing 20-minute presentations entitled Public Restroom Design for 21st Century US Cities: The PHLUSH Principles and Innovations in Sustainable Design: Case studies from Portland, Oregon.

The invitation came as surprise to PHLUSH, a committee of the Old Town Chinatown Neighborhood Association whose efforts have focussed on downtown Portland. World Toilet Summit organizers had noticed the group?s work in urban restroom design on their website www.phlush.org . In order to participate, PHLUSH must now raise funds to permit two of its Co-Founders to travel to Singapore.

Tax-deductible donations are being received by Neighbors West-Northwest, a coalition of twelve Portland Neighborhood Associations that serves as fiscal sponsor for PHLUSH. Neighbors West-Northwest is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit organization accepting donations on line ( add special instruction “PHLUSH” before hitting send ) and by check (to Neighbors West-Northwest, 2257 NW Raleigh St., Portland, OR 97210; put PHLUSH in memo line).

For the past four years, PHLUSH has worked to increase public restroom availability through well-focused citizen advocacy and practical, informed collaboration with local officials. The only organization of its kind in the United States, PHLUSH now has the opportunity to promote Portland and its acclaimed urban design and livability. Furthermore, participants will become familiar with the latest sustainable sanitation technologies and gain access to technical experts on issues ranging from composting toilets to proposed amendments to plumbing codes.

Please help PHLUSH take advantage of this extraordinary opportunity to exchange expertise with participants at the 2009 World Toilet Summit.

The Pearl District, Portland’s icon of New Urbanism still does not have a single public restroom on its pedestrian friendly streets!   How can this be?

We’re not talking about Starbucks here.  We’re talking about the commons: toilet facilities that serve residents and visitors in shared spaces such as sidewalks and public parks.

Jamison Square, the lovely, whole block, city park with an interactive fountain located in the heart of the District now has the opportunity to have a Portland Loo.

According to Neighborhood Notes, the Planning, Transportation and Design review Committee of Pearl District Neighborhood Association has been working with the city to identify a location adjacent to sewer lines, to sun for the solar panels and where the Loo will not block lines of sight from nearby restaurants.

The proposed corner of NW 11th and NW Johnson seems ideal to us.   The Loo would take the place of a parking space if this can be worked out with the Portland Bureau of Transportation.

Unfortunately there is push back.  Some people don’t like the idea that it will be available 24/7.   Pearl District residents should take a look at the prototype Loo on NW Glisan between 5th and 6th.   It the Portland Loo can work so well at this Old Town Chinatown location, it can work at Jamison Square.    But the neighboring community must take ownership and make it work, as the Old Town Chinatown community appears to have done.