Let’s Talk About Toilets.
Posted on | March 22, 2009 | No Comments
I know, I know – toilets aren’t very exciting, are they? There IS, however, a lot that goes on with toilets that you may not realize…
For one thing, if you live in a place that is experiencing or is prone to experiencing droughts, then you might want to think about how much water your toilet uses. The US Congress passed the Energy Policy Act of 1992 which mandated that from 1994 on, common flush-toilets should only use 1.6 gallons (6 liters) of water per flush. Many toilet manufacturers actually refined their designs into “high-efficiency toilets” which used less than 1.3 gallons per flush; but still, in a two-person household, with an average of 4 uses per person per day, you’re still flushing away 10.4 gallons (almost 40 liters) of water away PER DAY. That’s quite a lot of fresh clean water.
So, I have some suggestions for you:
- DON’T flush your toilet every time you use it. Flush it every other time. I know it sounds gross but it’s really not that big of a deal (unless you eat asparagus at every meal). If you are diligent about this, you could save a lot of water each day.
- If that doesn’t appeal to you, consider installing an ultra-low flush toilet in your home, which could use half as much water as a regular low-flow toilet.
- On the other hand, if you are very bold, you could install a composting toilet. This thing is awesome. It’s a closed system that does not connect to the public sewage system but deals with your waste on-site, while also saving water. I don’t recommend this for anyone other than the truly hard-core, though.
- If you’ve got time, money, and space, may I suggest creating a greywater system for your household. This essentially traps water from other sources, like your shower or your kitchen sink, and stores it for use in your toilet, or in irrigation. Because we don’t really need clean water in our toilets, do we?
Now that I’ve got your attention regarding recycling human waste into something usable, I think it’s a great time to mention this latest innovation from Treehugger (graphic instructions above) which turns your urine into a powder fertilizer. As I am not a chemist I will let you check out the article for an in-depth explanation, but the gist of it is, “look at how much urine we could divert from the waste stream and turn into fertilizer!” While reducing the waste stream we could increase our fertilzer stock. This is the type of progressive thinking that we need to take the next step in making a more sustainable society.
Hope you found these tips at least a little enlightening. Happy flushing!
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