Public Toilets In Different Countries

Since 1990 new regulations and toilet designs have been aimed at reducing the amount of water used in each flush. Furthermore, dual flush toilets, developed in Australia, are in increasing use. A dual flush toilet has two flush options: one button or handle flushes the entire tank, for solid waste, and an alternate handle or button uses only part of the water in the tank, for smaller loads. Unlike the yellow mellow system, this does not decrease the frequency of flushes, but instead decreases the quantity of water used by flushing for smaller loads.
Etymology
The word "toilet" came to be used in English along with other French fashions. It originally referred to the toile, French for "cloth", draped over a lady or gentleman's shoulders while their hair was being dressed, and then (in both French and English) by extension to the various elements, and also the whole complex of operations of hairdressing and body care that centered at a dressing table, also covered by a cloth, on which stood a mirror and various brushes and containers for powder and make-up: this ensemble was also a toilette, as also was the period spent at the table, during which close friends or tradesmen were often received. The English poet Alexander Pope in The Rape of the Lock (1717) described the intricacies of a lady's preparation: