Automatic Public Toilets

Lack of public restrooms real embarrassment for Beirut

September 28, 2011 01:57 AM
By Olivia Alabaster
The Daily Star



One of the only two free public restrooms in the capital. (Azakir/The Daily Star)




BEIRUT: Visit most capital cities around the world and you will probably notice strange pod-like capsules dotted throughout the streets: public toilets for those caught short while enjoying a day out.

Not so in Beirut, or other cities across Lebanon. By most estimates there are two free public toilets in Beirut, both on the Corniche that stretches from Manara to Ain al-Mreisseh. A facility at the Charles Helou bus terminal is for use at a small cost.

In Perth, Australia, which has a population similar to Beirut’s estimated 2 million, there are 833 public toilets.

A visit to one of the Corniche facilities, in the middle of the road by the American University of Beirut beach, [the others are by Riyadi stadium] revealed the site to be rather basic, with several urinals for men and one squat toilet for women, with no toilet paper or hand soap.

Campaigners say the lack of public toilets puts the capital at a disadvantage. Those who have to answer the call of nature must sneak into a cafe or restaurant, or, if uncomfortable with that, have to buy something from the establishment in order to justify using their facilities. Some even resort to urinating in public.

Last month the head of the Bourj Hammoud’s Merchants’ Association, Paul Ayanian, wrote to the government to demand action on the issue.

Ayanian told The Daily Star that it was essential for public toilets to be installed across the capital, and soon.

“It is immediately obvious to visitors that we don’t have any public toilets. We need them everywhere,” he said.

“And as soon as possible because there are so many visitors to Beirut, and they have to ask shops if they can use their toilets,” he added.

He has written to the ministries of health, environment and tourism and Beirut’s governor and mayor, arguing that the installation of public toilets would improve sanitation, and tourism.

Ayanian, who owns a lighting and electrical shop in Burj Hammoud, said that people come to his store every day, simply asking to use the bathroom, and it “just gets boring.”

He said if public toilets were installed across Beirut, it would help the image of the city as a tourist destination. “In Paris, London, and the [rest of] world, they at least have something,” he added.

Sandra Rishani, an architect and design teacher at the American University of Beirut, who specializes in urban space, thinks the lack of public toilets betrays the rather removed outlook of the municipality.

“I think it really shows an attitude from the municipality that they expect anyone who visits the city to purchase something [where they could use the facilities] and so they shouldn’t have to look after them,” Rishani said.

Not only does this discourage domestic tourists from visiting Beirut for the day, but it greatly affects taxi drivers and those who are out all day, without office facilities nearby.

“For cab drivers or Corniche vendors, the lack of public toilets means they have to plan their day around scheduled toilet breaks,” she said.

For women it is an even greater inconvenience, as women cannot resort to answering the call of nature, in nature, so to speak, Rishani added.

Ayanian advocates the construction of automatic toilets, as are common in Europe and elsewhere, even if it required a small charge of LL500.

Ayanian said he has received an enthusiastic response to his demand, although no concrete promises as yet.

“Everyone agrees that this needs to be done. It’s as essential as the electricity in Lebanon.”

Beirut’s mayor, Bilal Hamad, could not be reached for comment.


A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on September 28, 2011, on page 3.