New high-tech toilets at the Civic bus interchange will set off alarms and flashing lights if anyone stays in them longer than 10 minutes, to try to deter illegal activity including drug-taking and under-aged drinking.
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The first of the two toilets - each costing $150,000 - was opened this week. And vandals promptly covered the inside with graffiti on its first day of operation.
Territory and Municipal Services place management unit manager Jane Carder said the graffiti had since been cleaned off but it would always be difficult to stop wanton destruction in public toilets.
''We're just trying to make them as robust as we can,'' she said.
Ms Calder said the Exeloo Titan toilets were set at a 10-minute time limit. With one minute to go, an alarm would go off, lights would flash and an automated voice would warn people to vacate the toilets. At the end of the 10 minutes, the toilet doors would automatically open.
''So if someone is drunk or unwell or has overdosed and has passed out, it's also opened for safety reasons,'' she said.
The unisex toilets allowed only one squirt of soap to avoid past experiences when people would deliberately run the soap all over the floor.
Similarly, the amount of toilet paper that could be dispensed at any one time was limited to about 60cm. There was no need to touch the toilet to flush it, as that happened automatically when people ran their hand under the tap. The toilets also have automated floor washing and drying. Maintenance and cleaning of toilets in the city costs about $100,000 a year.
Ms Calder said staff still inspected and cleaned toilets up to six times a day and in response to requests from the public, but it was still hoped the new toilets would reduce some of the cleaning bill.
The first toilet near the Mort and Alinga streets intersection was opened this week. Another closer to Mort and Bunda streets would open soon.
The Exeloo Titan toilets will also be put in at the Hughes and Chisholm shops by early next year. Unisex toilets, of a type still to be determined, will also being installed by June at the Cook, Hackett, Campbell and Scullin shops and at Mulligans Flat.
