User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Maine

Public toilets in Maine, commonly called washrooms, are found at a rate of around ten public toilets per 100,000 people. Biddeford received a grant to make their public toilets  compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Public toilets
washroom is one of the most commonly used words for public toilet in the United States. Euphemisms are often used to avoid discussing the purpose of toilets. Words used include toilet, restroom, bathroom, lavatory and john.

A 2021 study found there were ten public toilets per 100,000 people. There were 30 public toilets in Portland in 2022. Sixteen of them were portable toilets, nine were flush toilets and five were permanent waterless pit toilets.

History
As the Prohibition effort began to take more shape in the 1910s, large cities in the Northeast and Midwest had women's groups advocating for the creation of large numbers of comfort stations as a way of discouraging men from entering drinking establishments in search of public toilets. This was successful in many places in getting cities to build comfort stations, but the volume of new public toilets built was rarely enough to meet public needs.

The AARP has given grants of over USD$70,000 to cities and towns including Biddeford in Maine, Delaware County in Ohio, Boulder County in Colorado and Fairfax in California to make their public toilets more accommodating to older members of their community by making them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.