Toilet Talk: How Far Would You Go to Save Water?
Water shortages across the US have prompted me to re-examine the water usage in my own home. My findings? While we are doing a lot of things right (low-flow showerhead, utilizing grey water, no lawn watering, etc.) there are still a lot of things that we could be doing to save water and money.
Image courtesy P. Winberg
Of particular concern to me is the amount of water that our toilets are using. According to a recent article in the Times Herald-Record, the average family uses 75,000 gallons of water a year just flushing the toilet!
Fortunately, there are a lot of ways to cut that number (and I'm not just talking about the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" rule or the brick in the back of the toilet trick. Check out some of these modern solutions to the water waste problem:
- Low-Flow Toilet
Uses 1.6 gallons per flush instead of as many as 7 - Dual-Flush Toilet
Allows you to choose between a 1.6 gallon flush and a .8 gallon flush - Flushless Toilet
Uses no water; waste is composted in a holding tank - The Frugal Flush Flapper
Cuts the water use in high volume toilets (3.6 gallon and above) in half. Only costs $5 - Fill Cycle Diverter
Saves a half gallon per flush by ensuring that the tank and bowl fill at the same (or close to the same) rate
If it’s yellow let it mellow.
It is not necessary to flush with every toilet use.
Another common way to save water is to use “gray water” to fill your tank. Gray water is the water left over from other washing tasks – such as rinsing out your delicates in the sink, or the water from your tub bath. There are lots of sites on line to learn more about gray water and water recycling!
The smell of a mellow toilet is very disgusting. The chemicals needed to clean the mellowed toilet will cost more $$$ and poison the environment. I would get a composting toilet before letting my 1.2 gallon toilet go mellow.
RE: “mellowing”
It really depends on the health and diet of the person who has deposited whether it smells. Baking soda is a great cleaner — swish a day.
We let it mellow more in the winter, or during the day when no heating is on, so there isn’t any smell. If one of us uses the loo and the other knows they are using it soon, we yell “Don’t flush!”….although obviously not when we have visitors!!! It’s perfectly reasonable to adapt “rules” 0f frugality/eco-friendlyness to the time/situation or to take on an idea to a limited degree.
When showering, put a bucket under the tap, and use the water collected to flush the toilet – just pour it into the bowl. Also, for the men out there, you can copy the truckers and use a 4-gallon capped jug to pee in, emptying it into the toilet when full. This helps those who find a “mellowing” toilet offensive – the cap keeps any odor from escaping. This may work for women as well, but certainly the male “external aiming apparatus” makes it a bit easier.
I live in a single-person flat in the UK and my water bill is £17 per month. I try to re-use water whenever possible – shower water, bath water, washing-up water can all be used for flushing. I only wish it were possible to reclaim water from the washing machine.
Mellowing is not for me. I have low-flush toilets. I take short showers. Water from air conditioner condensation is used to water plants. Water doesn’t run while brushing teeth.
Hubby and I now have an empty nest. The central bathroom toilet is flushed after every use, because we seldsom use it. Our powder room toilet is flushed only when solid waste is deposited or when the water appears colored. This had made a difference. When the boys moved home for a few months, they also adopted the policy … unless we had company. Many of our friends and family do the samething.
It’s myopic to focus on toilets as a method of saving water. Most water usage is via showers, the dishwasher, and watering of lawns. Saving a few gallons a day is not going to save much money, and you’ll have a net loss when you include the time spent finding a solution to save water from your toilet.
Always flush, don’t be someone’s stereotype of a disgusting poor person.
I agree with everything that you are saying but no flush toilets?? That is just Disgusting!!!
As a land-owner and organic gardener, I have decided to divert pee (or “high-nitrogen human soil amendment”) to the compost pile. I go in a tightly lidded plastic bucket, which is kept on the floor beside the toilet bowl and emptied onto the compost pile every few days. If I cover the spot immediately with a shovelful of dirt, no neighbor needs to complain about the smell. This results in less-frequent flushing and happier plants. Only real negative has been the loss of reading time in “the library”.
Pissin’ in the sink works fer the menfolk…
Get a dual flush toilet. Eliminate all the descision making of whether to “flush or not to flush”. Go to http://www.macustrade.com get a cool looking dual flush toilet. 1.6 gallon per flush for solid waste and 0.8 gallon per flush for liquid waste. Saves a regular household up to 20000 gallons of water per year.
Saving a precious resource is invaluable to a future generations