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A toilet, loo, lavatory or WC is a plumbing fixture and disposal system primarily intended for the disposal of the bodily wastes: urine and fecal matter. The word "toilet" can be used to refer to the fixture itself or to the room containing the fixture, especially in British English. In North American English the word "toilet" refers solely to the fixture itself and not to the room that contains it, thus asking for the "toilet" is seen as indecent; the euphemisms bathroom, restroom, washroom, men's room or ladies' room are preferred. However, the word "toilet", meaning the fixture itself, is also originally a euphemism (as are the great majority of the words for this particular fixture) and it remains in entirely polite usage in British English.

The cities of Harappa and Mohenjo-daro had flush toilets attached to a sophisticated sewage system, and a form of flush toilet was used in the Indus Valley Civilization. Although a precursor to the modern flush toilet system was designed in 1596 by Sir John Harington, the toilet didn't enter into widespread use until the late 19th Century, when it was adopted by the English upper class as a means to stratify themselves from the lower classes.

Types of toilets

The flush toilet was originally invented in the Indus Valley Civilization. The modern flush toilet was developed by Sir John Harington, but due to slurs published by himself and being ridiculed in England for his invention, his toilet was never mass-produced.

Then, Alexander Cummings, a watch-maker, patented his design for a flush toilet, which was the basis for the modern sitting toilet that a large part of the human population uses today.

There are also many different ways to clean oneself after using the toilet. A lot depends on national mores and local resources. The most common choice in the Western world is toilet paper, sometimes used in conjunction with the bidet. (See Toilet paper and Anal cleansing for a discussion of the many alternatives used through history and in different cultures.) In the Middle East and some countries in Asia, and South Asian countries such as India and Pakistan, the custom is to use water, either with or without toilet paper. Traditionally, the left hand is used for this, for which reason that hand is considered impolite or polluted in many eastern countries.

Some toilet areas (otherwise known as "stalls"), are specially adapted for people with disabilities. These are wide enough to allow the entry by a person in a wheelchair, and often feature hand-holds bolted to the wall, enabling the person to maneuver onto the toilet, if necessary.

The most common type of toilet in modern cities is the flush toilet, in which water takes away the waste through sewers to a waste treatment plant. In rural areas where sewers are not practical, septic tanks may be installed instead.

The most common design in first-world countries is the sitting toilet. Many other countries use the squat toilet, especially in public restrooms, finding it both cheaper to install and more hygenic to maintain.

Toilets in private residences

In the developed world, almost all residences have at least one toilet.

In the home, a toilet may or may not be in the same room as a shower, bathtub, and/or wash basin. Some toilets are still outdoors. One type of toilet is the tippler toilet or 'long drop'. These are based around Lancashire, England, and are flushed from a scullery. Water goes down a narrow channel or gutter and flushes the toilet, which is in an out-building.

Toilets on fire-resistance rated floors

Toilets in multi-storey buildings, located on fire-resistance rated floors typically require at least two through-penetrations, which can compromise the rating of the floor if left untreated. One opening is for the fresh water supply to flush and/or fill the water tank. The other through-penetration is for the drain pipe. The fresh water supply line requires routine firestopping. The drain pipe, however, is exempt from firestopping in many building codes, particularly when noncombustible piping is used, because the penetration terminates on the unexposed side in a ceramic bowl filled with water, which can withstand significant fires. Intumescent firestops are often used, in the event plastic pipes are used for toilet drains, so that the melting plastic pipe is choked off in the event of an accidental fire. It is, however, customary to fill the metallic drain pipe annulus with rockwool packing. Even with the best of intentions, it would be difficult for the firestopper to install a sealant, because he is not allowed or inclined to remove the flange, which is what is partially used to support the drain pipe below during the installation process.

Public toilets

Public toilets, public lavatories, or public conveniences are toilets that are accessible to the general public with common access from the street. Conveniences being the collective term for male and female designated toilets, convenience (singular) usually acquiring a gender attribute.

A public toilet may or may not cost money to use; for those that do, see "pay toilet". Between the categories of outright free and outright pay toilets, there is a grey area of toilets where a fee is expected, but not enforced. A charge levied in the UK during the mid-20th century was one British penny, hence the generally adopted term "spend a penny" meaning to use the toilet.

Public facilities often have several toilets partitioned by stalls (US) or cubicles (UK). Facilities for men often also have separate urinals, either wall-mounted fixtures designed for a single user, or a constantly-draining basin or trough for collective use. Wall-mounted urinals are sometimes separated by small partitions or other obstructions for privacy, i.e., to keep the user's genitals hidden from public view.

Outdoor public toilets (in the street, around parks, etc.) are a form of street furniture. For mixed sex arrangements, there are cubicles varying from simple devices with little or no plumbing to more luxurious versions that automatically clean themselves after every use (for the latter, see Sanisette). Facilities without walls all around are typically for urination only, and for men only; although passers-by can see the urinating men from the back, they cannot see the genitals. These street urinals are known as pissoirs after the French term (see Urinal).

Some facilities are mobile, and can thus be put in place where and when needed, e.g., for a weekend at an entertainment venue. Additionally, some can be sunk into the ground (and thereby made inoperable), for the periods that they are not needed. The idea behind this is that some people do not like the sight of a public toilet in the street, and they are more easily hidden than repeatedly moved. This type is typically installed in entertainment areas and made operational during weekend evenings and nights.

A portable toilet is an outdoor public toilet with walls which can either be connected to the local sewage system or store the waste and be emptied from time to time. Many toilets can be cleaned on the spot, or at a central location in the case of a mobile toilet or urinal. In Europe, public toilets are also set up for cities as a compensation for advertising permits. They are part of a street furniture contract between the out-of-home advertising company and the city council. The reason for this combination is the shortage in city budgets.

Terms used to identify a public toilet will vary from region to region. The Gents and The Ladies are commonly used British terms meaning the male and female toilet respectively. Some European public toilets may be marked "WC" (Water Closet); while in the Philippines the label "CR" (comfort room) is common.

Some public toilets have begun to be provided with flushable paper toilet seat covers which allow the user the comfort of knowing that they are not in contact with a surface previously used by a stranger. There is however no medical evidence that these prevent the spread of disease.

Gender and public toilets

Separation by sex is characteristic of public toilets to the extent that pictograms of a man or a woman are used to indicate where the respective toilets are. These pictograms are sometimes (e.g., in California) enclosed within standard geometric forms to reinforce this information, with a circle representing a women's toilet and a triangle representing a men's facility. Pictograms depicting men and women in traditional dress (men in pants, women in skirts) have been criticized for perpetuating gender stereotypes; however, there may be no practical alternatives. Standard gender symbols are rarely used.

Sex-separated public toilets are a source of difficulty for some people. For example, people with children of the opposite sex must choose between bringing the child into a toilet not designated for the child's gender, or entering a toilet not designated for one's own. Men caring for babies often find that only the women's washroom has been fitted with a change table. People with disabilities who need assistance to use the restroom have an additional problem if their helper is the opposite sex.

Sex-separated public toilets are often difficult to negotiate for transgendered or androgynous people, who are often subject to embarrassment, harassment, or even assault or arrest by others offended by the presence of a person they interpret as being of the other gender (whether due to their outward presentation or their genital status). Transgendered people have been arrested for using not only bathrooms that correspond to their gender of identification, but also ones that correspond to the sex they were born with.

See also: SVG symbols of restroom symbols

Many existing public toilets are gender-neutral. Additionally, some public places (such as facilities targeted to the transgendered or LGBT communities, and a few universities and offices) provide individual washrooms that are not gender-specified, specifically in order to respond to the concerns of gender-variant people; but this remains very rare and often controversial. Various courts have ruled on whether transgendered people have the right to use the washroom of their gender of identification.

A significant number of facilities have additional gender-neutral public toilets for a different reason — they are marked not for being for females or males, but as being accessible to persons with disabilities, and are adequately equipped to allow a person using a wheelchair and/or with mobility concerns to use them.

Another recent development in public toilets is the "family restroom". Family restrooms are unisex but unlike other unisex bathrooms that allow only one user at a time, the family restroom contains multiple stalls designed for maximum privacy and communal washing area for use by both genders. The family restroom is designed so that a parent with a young child of the opposite gender can bring the child into the restroom with them without the concerns associated with single-gender restrooms. Family restrooms have started appearing in newly-built sports stadiums, amusement parks, shopping malls, and major museums.

Toilets in private homes are almost never separated by sex. However, the size of a home or facility bears on the availability of options. Small facilities are limited by their space to the toilet options they can offer; it is more common to find a higher number of choices in a large facility. The same is true for homes; in more affluent households in the USA, where the homes are usually larger, bathrooms are also often more spacious than average, and more numerous. In such homes, bathrooms (especially master bathrooms) are increasingly being designed with a small adjoining room exclusively for the toilet, as well as separate washing basins. This makes it easier for couples who share a bathroom to maintain their desired level of privacy and personal space. In Australia, it has long been the case that the toilet is in a separate room from the bathroom. However, a refinement not seen often in Australia is to provide a small washbasin in the same room so that users need not emerge with unwashed hands.

Toilets in public transport

There are usually toilets in airliners, regional rail trains, and often in long-distance buses and ferries, but not in metros, school buses, trams, and other buses. Many newer trains have a waste reservoir, but, in older trains and still in some newer ones, the contents simply fall on the tracks, hence the notice which appears in many train toilets: "Please do not flush while the train is standing at a station".

Lavatories on aircraft consist of a sink, a waste bin, and a toilet. On many newer aircraft the toilet does not flush with water; rather, suction removes the waste into a collection bin below cabin level. This type is generically known as a vacuum lavatory. Older aircraft use a lavatory tank below the toilet (normally hidden by a hinged "flapper valve" at the bottom of the toilet bowl) and a pump to filter and recirculate lavatory fluid to facilitate flushing.

See also: Passenger train toilets

"High-tech" toilets

Advanced technology is being integrated into toilets with more functions, especially in Japan - see Toilets in Japan. The biggest maker of these toilets is TOTO. Such toilets can cost anywhere from US$2,000 to $5,000. The features are operated by control pads (sometimes with bilingual labels), and even hand-held remote control devices. Some of these features are

• Automatic-flushing mechanisms, operatad by a photocell or other sensor. Typically these flush a toilet when the user stands up, or flush a urinal when the user steps away.
• Water jets, or "bottom washers" like a bidet, as an alternative to toilet paper
• The "Portable Washlet", Toto's portable hand-held bottom washer
• Blow dryers, to dry the body after use of water jets
• Artificial flush sounds, to mask noises such as body functions
• Urine and stool analysis, for medical monitoring. Matsushita's "Smart Toilet" checks blood pressure, temperature, and blood sugar.
• Digital clock, to monitor time spent in the bathroom
• Automatic lid operation, to open and close the lid
• Heated seats (Some of these toilets have been known to catch on fire)
• Deodorizing fans
• Automated paper toilet-seat-cover replacers, which automatically replace a paper toilet-seat cover with the push of a button.

"Lo-tech" toilets

According to The Global Water Supply and Sanitation Assessment 2000 by the World Health Organization, 40% of the global population does not have access to excreta disposal facilities, mostly in Asia and Africa. There are efforts to design toilets that are easy to build and maintain with simple materials, that are also hygienic. The World Toilet Organization has created some designs.

Toilets for people with disabilities

Toilets for people with disabilities have a number of alterations to help people with a disability, most notably for people who use wheelchairs. These toilets may include lowered fixtures such as sinks and water fountains; adequate space and grab bars for maneuvering. In the United States, most new construction for public use must be built to ADA standards for accessibility.

Grey water

In some areas with water shortage issues, in order to conserve levels of potable water, some installations use grey water for toilets. Grey water is waste water produced from processes such as washing dishes, laundry and bathing.

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History

Toilets appeared as early as 2500 BC. The people of the Harappan civilization in Pakistan and north-western India had water-flushing toilets in each house that were linked with drains covered with burnt clay bricks. Around the 15th century BC, toilets started to appear in Minoan Crete; Egypt in the time of the Pharoahs, Persia, and ancient China. In Roman civilization, toilets were sometimes part of public bath houses.

Roman toilets, like the ones pictured here, are commonly thought to be used in the sitting position. But sitting toilets only came into general use in the mid-19th century. A strong case has been made for the squatting hypothesis.

Etymology

The word "toilet" came to be used in English along with other French fashions (first noted 1681). It originally referred to the whole complex of operations of hairdressing and body care that centered at a dressing table covered to the floor with cloth (toile) and lace, on which stood a mirror, which might also be draped in lace: the ensemble was a toilette. The English poet Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation:

And now, unveil'd, the toilet stands display'd Each silver vase in mystic order laid.

Through the 18th century, everywhere in the English-speaking world, a toilet remained a lady's draped dressing-table. The word was adapted as a genteel euphemism for the room and the object as we know them now, perhaps following the French usage cabinet de toilette, much as powder-room may be coyly used today, and this has been linked to the introduction of public toilets, for example on railway trains, which required a plaque on the door. The original usage has become indelicate and obsolete, and has been replaced by dressing-table.

Vestiges of the original meaning continue to be reflected in terms such as toiletries, eau de toilette and toilet bag (to carry flannels, soaps, etc). This seemingly contradictory terminology has POOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOP

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1. http://www.harappa.com/indus/12.html
2. http://www.the-south-asian.com/April2004/toilet_museum.htm
3. http://tampub.uta.fi/index.php?tiedot=79
4. http://www.infoweb.co.nz/toilet
5. http://www.victoriancrapper.com/Toilethistory.HTML
6. http://www.amazon.com/Poop-Culture-America-Grossest-National/dp/193259521X Poop Culture: How America is Shaped by its Grossest National Product by Dave Praeger ISBN 1-932-59521-X
7. MIT medical Ask Lucy archive on paper toilet seat covers. June 28, 2006
8. A History of Technology, Vol.IV: The Industrial Revolution, 1750-1850. (C. Singer, E Holmyard, A Hall, T. Williams eds) Oxford Clarendon Press, pps. 507-508, 1958
9. http://naturesplatform.com/health_benefits.html#antiquity