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Victoria gives drunks a pot to pee in
Thu Dec 27 2007

By Carolyn Heiman

URILIFT INTERNATIONAL PHOTO

Pop-up urinals can be retracted into the ground so that they appear like manhole covers by day.
VICTORIA -- Ever hear of toilets that pop up out of nowhere?

Victoria is about to make its mark in North America as the first to install pop-up public urinals for drunken bar patrons.

A Dutch company will deliver two pop-up urinals -- each with three stalls -- in the new year. By day, the devices -- installed underground and connected to the sewer system -- appear much like manhole covers. At night they are raised.

Mike Hill, Victoria's downtown co-ordinator, said the commitment to installing the devices "is great."

"We are doing something innovative that no one else is doing. It shows the level of concern the city has for the (public urination) problem."

A report to city council said pub patrons, not homeless people, account for most of the instances of public urination.

"We are confident in the relationship between the bar crowd and public urination," Hill said.

Bar and cabaret owners have agreed to put up posters in their premises reminding customers not to urinate in the streets.

Other North American cities, including Seattle and Vancouver, have installed large, expensive self-cleaning public toilets, but found they were easy prey for vandals.

Hill is confident the pop-up toilets will reduce the amount of public urination after the city studied the problem using portable stalls.

They were well-received by the public and the city's public works yard documented a reduction in the number of calls for cleaning up streets and alcoves.

Hill said he isn't concerned about criticism from women wanting similar conveniences.

"We are trying to curb a problem primarily caused by males in the late evening hours."

After the pop-up toilets arrive it will take several weeks to get the certification necessary to use them, but "we have no reason to believe they won't work here," Hill said.

The tender for the devices closed recently, with only one company, Urilift International, making a $151,000 bid.

-- CanWest News Service