{"id":36836,"date":"2022-12-09T18:37:37","date_gmt":"2022-12-10T01:37:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/just-how-bad-are-colorados-public-toilets-terrifying-cu-boulder-researchers-say\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T02:33:53","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:33:53","slug":"just-how-bad-are-colorados-public-toilets-terrifying-cu-boulder-researchers-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/just-how-bad-are-colorados-public-toilets-terrifying-cu-boulder-researchers-say\/","title":{"rendered":"Just how bad are Colorado\u2019s public toilets? Terrifying, CU Boulder researchers say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A laser-illuminated aerosol plume ejects from a commercial toilet during the first 8 seconds of the flush cycle, illustrating the energetic flapping of the chaotic jet emanating from the bowl, as well as the rapid spread of the aerosol plume. (University of Colorado Boulder)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Apologies in advance: After reading this story and clicking on the accompanying multimedia horror show, you may never use a public restroom again.<\/p>\n

At least not until somebody invents an impermeable toilet lid with an unbreakable seal.<\/p>\n

You see, intrepid and iron-stomached researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder are using laser light and green dye to show the cloud of aerosols that erupts when you flush a high-powered public toilet.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s almost beautiful. But it\u2019s definitely not pretty.<\/p>\n

Toilet plumes emit a cloud at once putrid and pathogenic. The CU researchers are not just gunning for special effects jobs on the next \u201cSaw\u201d franchise installment, though it\u2019s a good audition tape. They hope the alarming images will help nudge public health officials and seasoned plumbers to design better ventilation, pipes and water flow to contain the noxious clouds.<\/p>\n

Our jaws dropped. Honestly, we all kind of started laughing. You\u2019ve got to be kidding me \u2013 that\u2019s what happens when you flush the toilet? \u2013 John Crimaldi, CU professor<\/div>\n

The toilet-launched particles exit the bowl atmosphere at a rate of 6.6 feet per second, reaching just under 5 feet high in 8 seconds. The smallest droplets, one-millionth of a meter in diameter, can stay in the air for long minutes.<\/p>\n

Particulates containing the COVID virus as well as other infectious diseases such as C. diff have been shown to linger on surfaces for days.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it\u2019s something you can\u2019t see, it\u2019s easy to pretend it doesn\u2019t exist. But once you see these videos, you\u2019re never going to think about a toilet flush the same way again,\u201d said John Crimaldi, a CU professor of civil, environmental, architectural and horror-show engineering, who co-authored the study. \u201cBy making dramatic visual images of this process, our study can play an important role in public health messaging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crimaldi\u2019s paper is entitled \u201cCommercial toilets emit energetic and rapidly spreading aerosol plumes.\u201d (And you\u2019re welcome for multiple possibilities for the name of your nephew\u2019s emerging punk metal band.)<\/p>\n

Part of the ingenuity in the research involved new combinations of precision camera equipment and green laser light.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have known that toilets emit aerosols, but they haven\u2019t been able to see them,\u201d Crimaldi said. \u201cWe had expected these aerosol particles would just sort of float up, but they came out like a rocket.\u201d<\/p>\n

CU\u2019s news office helpfully points out that it\u2019s not just your own business you have to worry about. \u201cMany other studies have shown that viruses can persist in the bowl for dozens of flushes, increasing potential exposure risk,\u201d a news release says.<\/p>\n

Other things you did not ask and probably shouldn\u2019t: The researchers used water alone in the toilet bowls, declining to \u2026 um \u2026 complicate the research with objects commonly associated with restroom culture.<\/p>\n

In case images alone are not enough to reflect the undeniable science of the lingering public toilet threat, we\u2019ll leave you with these words published in this week\u2019s edition of \u201cScientific Reports\u201d:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flow is surprisingly energetic and chaotic, and exhibits strong jet-like behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crimaldi says the researchers working on the study all knew from past science that droplets spread throughout bathrooms. But seeing was disbelieving.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur jaws dropped,\u201d he said. \u201cHonestly, we all kind of started laughing. You\u2019ve got to be kidding me \u2013 that\u2019s what happens when you flush the toilet? I don\u2019t think anybody really expected to see that much energy coming out.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the scientists involved are public health experts, Crimaldi said, and they don\u2019t want to risk bad health advice on how to handle the plumes. Most public bathrooms don\u2019t even have lids, just a seat. The problem right now is in things the public can\u2019t control.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s opportunities here to rethink the way toilets function,\u201d Crimaldi said.<\/p>\n

Keep the COVID masks on during bathroom breaks? Crimaldi is fully comfortable with that tip.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certainly going on the record saying that\u2019s a great idea,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The Colorado Sun is a reader-supported, nonpartisan news organization dedicated to covering Colorado issues. To learn more, go to coloradosun.com<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Researchers use lasers to light up bacterial plumes emanating from every flush<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36837,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[120,289,28,61],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36836","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-colorado","tag-disease","tag-headlines","tag-health"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36836","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36836"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36836\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83472,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36836\/revisions\/83472"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36837"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36836"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36836"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36836"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36836"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}