Community Volunteers Flush With Pride At Arena

About 60 people had to go to the bathroom Wednesday to get a sneak peek at Spokane’s new arena.

They hurried into the arena, flushed toilets and urinals over and over for several minutes, all for the chance to view the new building.

Organizers of the “Great Flush” wanted to test the arena’s plumbing system to ensure that toilets wouldn’t overflow during an event.

“Keep flushing,” Hollis Barnett told a group in one men’s room.

Except for minor problems, such as water splashing out of a urinal, the plumbing system worked fine.

“It should be ready for the first event,” said Barnett, a project engineer for Garco Construction.

A radio advertisement lured many of the people into coming to the arena for the flushing event.

Great Flush organizers hoped for 100 people. About 60 showed up. Another 30 to 40 employees helped out.

Kristina Maas, 19, thinks the arena was worth building.

“It’s great. It’s a lot better than the eyesore back there,” said Maas, referring to the Spokane Coliseum, which was demolished this summer.

The new arena has 188 toilets and 60 urinals. Of those, only 28 toilets weren’t tested during the Great Flush.

The arena holds five women’s bathrooms, four men’s rooms and an interchangeable bathroom. In addition, eight single-toilet family bathrooms have been installed.

The interchangeable bathroom and the family lavatories are an effort to prevent the notorious long lines in women’s bathrooms.

The new arena also has a higher ratio of women’s stalls to men’s urinals and toilets, said Sue Lani Bonstrom, an architect involved in the construction.

The interchangeable restroom typically will serve as a men’s room unless more toilets are needed by women.

“In the old arena, the women’s room would have a line around the corner,” she said.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo