Taking a leak may soon involve far less trickle of precious water, that is. A California-based company has developed the waterless urinal, saving facilities thousands of gallons of water per year. James Krug of Falcon water-free technologies, says that Californians have plenty of experience of water shortage.

"There are 55 million urinals approximately around the world. And if you multiple that by the 40,000 gallons, also that they are using for water, there is an opportunity to save billions and billions of gallons of water. And the idea of just flushing fresh water down a urinal is seemed to make no sense to me."

A traditional urinal uses water to flush urine. But the folks at Falcon believed that because urine is already liquid, gravity, not water is needed for flushing. They developed a plastic cartridge filled with biodegradable liquid sealant that traps gases and odors as urine flows through it. One $40 cartridge lasts about 7,000 uses, and an average facility only needs 2 to 3 replacement cartridges a year. But surely no water means more bad smells and germs.

"The answer is actually much more hygienic. We know that we need water for life. So when you have a dryer system, when you have less water moisture in the urinal, you do not have the growth of bacteria."

The famous Hollywood Bowl Concert Venue has installed waterless urinals, saving them about 3 million gallons of water a year, according to COO, Avon Manoucher.

"I think it's important as a major venue and an icon in the city that we helped take the lead, and are trying to do things that are good for the environment and forward-looking, and for water-free technology it's just one aspect of our program."

Krug's company has installed 200,000 urinals worldwide, 100,000 in the US alone, insuring that this is one idea that won't be flushed down the toilet.

Tara Cleary, Reuters.