SEATTLE -- Those fancy, high-tech public toilets in Seattle may be getting flushed by the city council.

A new report released Monday recommends that the city cancel its contract for five automatic public toilets and use the millions in savings to provide "a more practical range of public sanitary services."

The council approved the toilets in 2001 and Seattle Public Utilities placed them into service in 2004 at five locations around Seattle's downtown and urban centers.

But evidence mounted over the years that the unattended toilets had become a magnet for drug dealing, alcohol use and prostitution.

A KOMO 4 News undercover investigation in November, 2006 caught one man loading a crack pipe and then disappear inside the toilet with another man.

For weeks, our undercover cameras captured drug deal after drug deal at the toilet in Hing Hay Park. And sometimes so many people gathered inside the toilet, it was hard for the doors to close.

We saw women duck inside, followed by men carrying cash. And, it happened again and again.

Park regulars who couldn't get in simply urinated outside.

Monday's report said without constant monitoring, the city has been unable to control these negative behaviors.

The city originally signed a 10-year deal for the five toilets at a cost of more than $650,000 a year. The report says opting out of the contract today will save the city an estimated $4.5 million over a five-year period.

Instead, the report proposes granting access to toilet facilities in nearby buildings and using the contract savings to provide attendants for monitoring those areas with public restroom agreements. They would also provide signs and maps to public toilets.

You can read the city's report on the public toilets at www.seattle.gov. This is an Adobe PDF file.