Two South Korean cities bag best public toilets award

Nov 3, 2008, 2:50 GMT

Manila - Two South Korean cities have flushed away competition and won a best public toilets contest in Asia, the World Health Organization (WHO) said Monday.

WHO said Seongbuk, which is part of Seoul, and the city of Jinju bested other cities in Asia in providing well-maintained public sanitary facilities.

The mayors of Seongbuk and Jinju will receive their awards at the World Toilet Summit & Expo 2008 to be held in Macau starting on Monday.

WHO, which co-sponsored the contest with the Alliance for Healthy Cities, cited Seongbuk for investing a significant amount of money in rehabilitating and upgrading government-operated toilets in the area.

'The number of public toilets has grown from 129 in 2003 to 201 in 2008, for a population of 460,000,' the WHO said in a statement. 'At the same time, Seongbuk has introduced measures to ensure safety of its facilities and to make them more accessible to disabled people, the elderly, children and foreign visitors.'

WHO also praised Jinju for increasing the number of public toilets in the city and for keeping these facilities well-maintained.

'A programme custodian training and regular inspections ensured that the facilities were well-maintained and hygienic,' it said. 'A recent survey showed that among users of Jinju's public toilets, more than 80 per cent reported satisfaction with the state of the facilities.'

WHO stressed that the provision of public toilets is not just a service to the public but promotes a cleaner and more healthful urban environment.

'On the other hand, a lack of toilets may, to some extent, discourage some people from leaving their homes for long periods of time or visitors from venturing far from their hotels, with a loss of income for local businesses,' it added.