Imagine, you just finished going to the restroom, you stand up to pull up your pants, and the toilet’s flushing. You just finished buckling your belt, and oops, looks like the toilets flushing again. You go to grab your bag off the hook, you unlock the door and step out, and, yet again… the toilet is flushing. And you can’t help but think to yourself, “Is all this flushing really necessary?” No, no it’s not.

The restrooms in the current Sierra college buildings have automatic flushing toilets. Sierra college is currently building 4 new structures and plans to build, modernize, or expand 7 more on the Rocklin campus. The bathrooms in these new buildings should not have automatic flushing toilets. I have experienced firsthand the unwanted advances of the automatic flushing toilet. And have done a great deal of research comparing manual flushing to automatic flushing toilets. Automatic flushing toilets cost more money, waste significantly more water, could be a danger to students during an active shooter situation, can be harmful for people who are on the spectrum or have sensory issues and aren’t worth the supposed “good” things that they do offer.     

According to multiple online building sites, such as Home Depot, Build with Ferguson, and the Plumber’s Stock, automatic toilets cost on average around 100-200 dollars more than toilets with a manual flush. Imagine what we could do will all that saved money. Better Wi-Fi and cyber security, murals, extended free lunch program for students, field work opportunities, pretty much anything would be better than spending it on the unnecessary automatic flushing toilet.

Not only do they cost more money, but they also waste significantly more water. According to a study published on CA.gov, sensor-operated toilets used 54% more water than their manual counterparts. This is heavily due to ghost flushing. Which is when the toilet flushes at unnecessary times, like how I described earlier. This phantom flushing not only wastes water but could potentially be dangerous.

How many of you have gone through an active shooter drill, whether it was in middle school or high school, or so on? During these drills, we are told that if you can’t get into a classroom in time, the best option is for you to hide in the bathroom. We are told to go into a stall, lock the door, and stand on the toilet. Now imagine if it wasn’t a drill this time. There is an active shooter on campus and look around frantically to see that all the classroom doors are shut, so you quickly make your way to the closest bathroom. You go into the stall, lock the door, and step onto the toilet. A few minutes have passed, and all of a sudden you hear noises right outside of the bathroom, you’re panicking, hoping they won’t come in. You accidentally shift your body slightly, and oh no, the automatic toilet just flushed. Now the shooter is aware of your presence in the bathroom. Automatic flushing toilets could give the location of innocent people to an active shooter, that otherwise might not have even stepped into the restroom. Unfortunately, today, this is something that we must be aware of, something that we have to plan around. Because a simple thing like a manual flush toilet, could save a life.

This isn’t the only way sensor-operated toilets could be harmful for students. Has anyone ever been startled by the unexpected flush of an automatic toilet? I know I have. Now put yourselves in the shoes of somebody with autism or someone with a sensory processing disorder. They already struggle with EXPECTED loud noises, so an unexpected one could send someone into a breakdown. According to multiple online discussion websites for parents with autistic children, such as myautismteam.com, many people with autism will refuse to use public restrooms if they have automatic flushing toilets. While there is some work around to the sensors, like draping toilet paper over them so they don’t flush, this doesn’t always work and can’t be the main solution. According to another online discussion board for adults with autism, when using manual flush toilets many people will choose to cover their ears to prevent themselves from getting overwhelmed or overstimulated by the loud noise of the toilet flushing, however with automatic flushing toilets, they can’t really do this. They can try to cover their ears in time, but it’s far too unpredictable. For people with autism and sensory processing disorders, manual flushing toilets are the far more accessible option.

 So, if automatic flushing toilets have so many cons, why were they even installed in the first place? There are a couple reasons. First and foremost, they are supposed to help stop the spread of germs, but how effective could it actually be? Sure, you don’t have to touch the handle to flush, but most of the people I have spoken with tend to push the lever with their foot in most cases. And even if we are avoiding touching the lever with the sensor-operated toilets, we still have to touch and unlock the stall door, which would theoretically be just as dirty as the lever. And does it even matter that we are touching a lever if we are washing our hands after using the restroom like you are supposed to, then it doesn’t really matter what you touch in the stall beforehand. Because your hands are getting cleaned immediately after. Another reason for there installation is the idea that it would keep the bathroom cleaner. It creates a lower chance of bodily fluids being left to sit in the toilet, but is that a good enough reason to waste gallons of water? Janitors and maintenance workers already do regular checks of the restrooms, so nothing would be sitting in the toilet for too long anyways. Overall, the cons far outweigh the pros.

And because of this Sierra College should refrain from installing automatic flushing toilets in their new developments. Imagine, you go to the restroom, you stand up to pull up your pants, all you hear are the noises you’re making, you’re about to head out of the stall, you turn around and YOU flush the toilet just once. You are able to make it out before it starts spraying water everywhere, and you don’t feel startled because you knew it was coming. You were in charge. Imagine, so much money and water saved, potentially lives and people with autism and sensory processing disorders having a better chance at predicting the loud, egregious noise of a toilet flushing. All of this could be our reality, but only with your help. I urge you all to sign my petition, to tell the school that we don’t want automatic flushing toilets. Share the petition with your friends, tell them what you learned today. Together we can make this happen. We can stop the installation of these automatic flushing toilets.

In conclusion, sensor-operated toilets are far more hassle than they are worth. So once again I’d like to strongly URGE you to sign and share this petition. We can stop this. Together we can make local change happen.