The bathrooms in the airports of the cities that are to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ waste water and do not offer adequate conditions of comfort or hygiene to the users.
A study carried out by the H2C consultancy firm, specialized in the rational use of water, shows that thirteen out of the 15 terminals in the World Cup host cities have been given a general assessment mark lower than that considered acceptable (7 out of 10) in items such as maintenance, hygiene, and economy of water resources.
In addition, as is the case with check-in counters, in 12 of the airports the users have found queues to use the bathrooms, especially in the arrivals areas. The only airports to have a sufficient quantity of toilets, urinals and taps are those of Brasília, Cuiabá and Recife.
The fifteen airports analyzed handled 82.4% of the national air traffic in 2010, handling a total of 128 million passengers. These are the airports that shall handle the lion’s share of the three million Brazilian and foreign tourists which are expected during the World Cup.
Out of the airport terminals surveyed, São Paulo (Congonhas) and Recife (Gilberto Freire) are above average when it comes to hygiene, maintenance and economy of water, while the worst in this league table are the airports at Cuiabá (4.08) and Manaus (4.83), and the International Airport at Guarulhos-SP (5.08).
Consumption
The champions of wastage of water are the airports at Cuiabá (Marechal Rondon), Manaus (Eduardo Gomes) and Brasília (Juscelino Kubitschek). This is because of obsolete equipment such as the conventional flushing systems, which use between 12 and 20 liters of water each time they are used.
According to H2C, consumption could be lower with the use of an economizing model which uses only six liters of water. However, the most recommended equipment is the vacuum valve which only needs 1.2 liters of water each time it is used.
Also according to the study, other villains responsible for the high consumption in the bathrooms at Brazil’s World Cup airports include maladjusted valves or taps, and also the use of manual taps.
Responsible for the study, consultant Paulo Costa estimates that the airports for the World Cup could consume between 60% and 70% less water with the installation of new equipment or the modernization of the equipment currently in use.
“Depending on the airport, the reuse of rain water could lead to an economy between 20% and 30%, while the rest would be achieved through the standardization of the products.”
“Out of the airports we have visited, the best is that of Recife, being the only airport to use vacuum valves. However, no terminal got a perfect score, as the idea is that of using a washbasin with coupled box, as this does not consume any energy, using the force of gravity only”, the consultant says.
Please check out the full study by clicking here.
highlights
04/05 | News
