Q. It's always been my understanding that restrooms are required in bars because the primary activity in bars is alcohol consumption, which, bluntly, makes people need to use the restroom. I also thought that restaurants that serve more than a certain number of customers are required to have restrooms and that restaurants that seat fewer than that number are not required to have restrooms. Is that true?

A. Health Department spokesman Bryan Cheplic has thoroughly reviewed the restroom/restaurant/bar rules after readers followed up with a number of questions on this topic.

Any business that serves alcohol — bars, fine dining, family pizza place — is required to obtain a liquor license. Any business with a liquor license is required to have restrooms for its patrons, Cheplic said.

They are also required to have separate restrooms for their male and female patrons, he said. The law also contains a formula for how many restrooms are required depending on the number of customers served.

The only requirement for restaurants that don't have a liquor license is that the businesses must provide restrooms for employees, he said. But Cheplic said other businesses often provide restrooms to customers as a courtesy.

"I think it's pretty straightforward from an economic standpoint," he said. "Most restaurant owners understand they are less likely to see a large number of return patrons if they don't provide restroom facilities."

See the Health Department's rules at www.hawaii .gov/health/about/rules/ 11-11.pdf.

Q. Do churches and schools have to provide restrooms?

A. Yes, "churches, dormitories and schools" are required to provide restrooms, Cheplic said.

Q. When were these restroom rules set up?

A. Cheplic said the regulation dates back as far as 1937 and was last amended in 1981. He said the department's Sanitation Branch program manager, Rex Mitsunaga, said some of these regulations need to be revisited. That would require cooperation of the many different agencies on various levels of government, such as the Liquor Commission, the federal government as well as counties, he said.

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