St. Catharines’ new smart washroom now ready to go
The City of St. Catharines’ first automated, self-cleaning public washroom is now open for business.
The washroom, which began its installation in January on Geneva Street near fire service headquarters, is now fully programmed and became operational on Monday.
People can use the facility for free but loitering is not welcome. It’s been programmed for the door to automatically unlock after 20 minutes of use.
The city said when the door opens, the toilet flushes and after every 10 uses, a cleaning cycle takes place.
Water comes out of jets along the sloped floor and disappears through a gap between the floor and wall into an adjoining mechanical room with a floor drain.
City council agreed to install a new single-unit public washroom in the city after it became apparent during the pandemic that people out and about, and particularly the homeless, couldn’t rely on washrooms they normally used due to pandemic closures.
After community consultation and research, the city narrowed down the type of washroom to the self-cleaning, automated public toilet, which had higher capital costs at about $500,000 but the lowest maintenance costs of all options.
The location on Geneva Street at the Niagara and Queenston streets intersection was chosen after Positive Living and Niagara Regional Police provided input.
While the 6.3-by-3.6-metre facility was expected to open at the end of February, the city said there were delays as it underwent testing and upgrades.
The city said security and safety features include an emergency call button that will notify a monitoring company to dispatch emergency services. There’s also a mounted camera on the exterior.