For those of you who actually flush the toilet, I am aware that some people tend to do this while sitting down. I don't know why. Anyway, flush a clean toilet in a public restroom, and you may see droplets on the seat afterwards, or, if unlucky, you may find droplets on your clothes if the toilet is a particularly violent one! We know all about the ideosyncracies of our home toilets, but we can't know how some random public toilet will behave.

I propose that, posted behind each toilet, is a sign bearing the toilet's Splashback Rating, as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, or some other official government body. They perform at least 100 flushes on each public toilet, under varying degrees of fullness and content, and assign the toilet a SR based on the observed height and lateral distance of the resulting droplets. The scale is:

4.5 - 5.0 - SAFE, 4.0 - 4.5 - MARGINAL, 3.5 - 4.0 - UNSAFE, 3.0 - 3.5 - DANGEROUS (open door & be prepared to run), 2.5 - 3.0 - VOLCANIC (do not flush without protective raingear), 2.0 - 2.5 - DO NOT FLUSH

These signs will soon be as familiar as the "Employees Must Wash Hands" warnings (which I also believe would be better located near toilets and in front of urinals -- not near the sink where an employee who forgot would never be reminded)
-- phundug, Apr 14 2003

Use the sole of your shoe, just in case.
-- snarfyguy, Apr 14 2003


Perhaps the rating should be in ml/flush?
-- rambling_sid, Dec 08 2004



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