New toilets could leave council flush!

Eight new water saving toilets have been installed in the Royal Pavilion Gardens.

Brighton & Hove City Council is trialling the new toilets in a bid to save water, cut costs and bring the well used public loos up to date.

The environmentally friendly Propelair toilets use just 1.5 litres of water, compared with around 10 litres in some of the city’s older loos. 

Estimates show that the eight new toilets could save around 1.6 million litres a year.

The Propelair system combines an air pump with the water cistern, and works when the lid is closed. The combination of air and water means the loo can be flushed more efficiently using a fraction of the water needed in a traditional toilet.

The system also improves hygiene by reducing the spread of germs by 95%.

The toilets in Royal Pavilion Gardens were chosen for the trial as they are extremely well used, and fully attended all year round and were in need of replacing. If successful, the new loos could be used to replace other older public toilets in the city.

Councillor Ollie Sykes, Deputy Chair of the Environment, Transport and Sustainability Committee, said: “This council is recognised as the top local authority in the country for providing and maintaining our public toilet facilities, and we are constantly looking for new ways to update and improve this service, whilst keeping within our budget restrictions.

“These new toilets have the potential to save huge amounts of water, cutting costs, increasing sustainability and improving hygiene.”

The Royal Pavilion Gardens toilets are among 43 public loos owned by Brighton & Hove City Council and maintained by Wettons.