Exploding toilet injures woman

At the General Services Administration building, restrooms are back in service after a toilet exploded and injured two federal workers, reports the Washington Post.

After two department employees were injured due to exploding toilets, the bathrooms sat the GSA Regional building were declared off-limits.

An internal memo issued to the employees warned them to not go to the restroom.

"DO NOT flush toilets or use any domestic water," said the memoir, reports WUSA News Channel 9. "Due to a mechanical failure, there is high air pressure in the domestic water system that resulted in damage to the toilets."

By Tuesday night, the toilets had been repaired.

GSA spokesman William Marshal JR. declined to be interviewed about the incident, although it is "under investigation."

According to the Huffington Post:
Water flowing through a city's pipe systems is sent at a higher pressure because it often travels long distances. This water needs to be slowed down once it reaches its destination, so a malfunction in the pressure-reducing valve can lead to some messy results.

And according to Chuck White, Vice President of Technical and Code Services for the Plumbing-Heating-Cooling Contractors Association, exploding toilets aren't a myth.

"If you're not careful about how you release pressure, the contents of that bowl will come up like old faithful," he said to the Huffington Post.