Self-cleaning downtown washroom in St. Catharines ready to take all numbers
Published May 2, 2023 at 4:11 pm
While the city was originally hoping it would be open by the end of February, St. Catharines announced today (May 2) that the new self-cleaning public washroom facility was open for business.
The washroom was originally lowered into place by a crane on January 24 small lot adjacent to the parkette where Queenston, Geneva, Niagara and St. Paul streets all meet.
At the time, the city announced it would take some time to be hooked up to hydro and the wastewater system and today they announced it “has been fully programmed and commissioned, and is now operational.”
So what exactly is a automated washroom facility?
The city explained back then, “It has the functionality to clean itself after every use and is not solely reliant on staffing for cleanliness and the hours of operation can be varied to meet the needs of the community via automated programming.”
Today, they elaborated a little, noting, “Every use is timed to a maximum of 20 minutes, after which the door will unlock. Every time the door opens the toilet flushes and a cleaning cycle is after every 10 uses.”
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“The cleaning cycles turns on water jets along the end walls at the floor, the floor is sloped to the back wall where it goes under a gap between the floor and wall into the mechanical room into a floor drain.”
They noted there were also some security and safety features installed, “including an emergency call button which will notify a monitoring company which will dispatch emergency services; as well as security systems and a mounted camera on the exterior.”
The public washroom project was originally approved by Council in the spring of 2021 with its location decided by Council in the fall of 2021, following community engagement, “including input from some of our outreach partners such as Positive Living and Niagara Regional Police.”
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