5 Ways to Save Water While on the Can
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Here I sit, broken-hearted, because we’re using up too much of our supply of clean water unnecessarily.
One of the worst offenders is the way in which most of us flush away our bodily waste. We take for granted the convenience of pulling a little lever and having gallons of clear, crisp, drinkable water transport our leavings far away.
But consider this: clean water requires huge amounts of energy to be chemically treated and pumped into our homes; it uses up groundwater, which puts stress on woodlands and causes damage to wildlife habitats in wetlands and rivers; and although it may seem abundant, many regions will need to keep a substantial supply on hand to stave off water shortages and summer water rationing.
This precious resource is literally going down the crapper.
Here are some facts about water usage, from Water: Use Less—Save More by Jon Clift and Amanda Cuthbert:
- Over a quarter of all the clean, drinkable water you use in your home is used to flush the toilets.
- Older toilets can use 3 gallons of clean water with every flush, while new toilets use as little as 1 gallon.
- Many people in the world exist on 3 gallons of water day or less. We can use that amount in one flush of the toilet.
Here are 5 steps you can take to reduce your water usage (also excerpted from Water):
1. Remember the rhyme: “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down.” You will save a lot of water!
2. If you have an old toilet, you can reduce the amount of water it uses by putting a “displacement device” in the tank. Use small plastic bottles filled with water or a displacement bag designed for toilet tanks. Displacement bags may be available free from your local water department or can be purchased from a hardware store.
3. Avoid flushing anything down the toilet that has not previously passed though your digestive system, apart from toilet paper – it’s a waste of water and might block the sewer. Bag it and bin it.
4. Choose a slimline toilet rather than a full-size toilet; they use a lot less water per flush.
5. When you are buying a new toilet, look for a dual-flush toilet, or a low-flush toilet, which uses only 1.6 gallons per flush.
January 30th, 2009 at 9:22 pm
I’m surprised you did not mention the harvesting of rainwater for use in flushing toilets OR the use of graywater recycling systems that direct your shower/bath/sink water to flush your toilets… The rest of the world is completely hip to rainwater catchment and the amazing new technologies for graywater recycling (check out the BRAC sysytem). If Americans start harvesting the rain that falls freely from the skies to fall on our roofs, then we will build a bridge towards sustainably living on this planet. But it has to start NOW — we are rapidly depleting our aquifers and water scarcity means that water is the oil of the 21st century. Rain harvesting also reduces polluted stormwater decreasing nonsource pollutants in our rivers, creeks and lakes. It’s time we got serious about this issue. Water is life!
January 31st, 2009 at 1:32 pm
I just wanted to remind people that composting toilets don’t use ANY water. I am not talking about the high tech expensive ones you buy. I am talking about the bucket toilets. We started using a composting toilet over two years ago and my family loves knowing that they are making a positive change for our planet and our limited resources. We actually built an composting outhouse (collection facility). It is pretty amazing, it is not smelly or bad for the environment. Cleaning our buckets is done with collected rainwater. We had built two other composting outhouses for friends and got such a great response, we turned it into our business. It is awesome to know that we’re helping people on such a level to really become self-sufficient. So much goes into planning about alternative heating,food/water supply and the like for emergency preparedness,yet little thought goes into something that is a daily necessity for us all. Most importantly, we feel great that we are able to educate others on how such a small change in the way you do things can have such a positive impact for the earth. Water is life, and we ALL should make such changes.
Deb Dimond
bigwoodsdeb4@iamnow.net
February 2nd, 2009 at 5:38 am
I agree with Kym’s comment re value of harvesting rainwater. We put in rainwater tanks when we did an extension. They sit under the house so you cannot even see them. They are connected to our washing machine and toliet and we also use the water on the garden. Its also a great way of actually seeing how much water goes down the loo as we can see the tanks getting lower and lower.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:32 pm
I love these great ideas thank you. For the people who want to save and yet do not want to go to the major extreme of rainwater harvesting and composting toilets you can do some simple modifications to you existing toilet to convert it into a dual flush toilet. The conversion can be done for a fraction of the price of a new toilet but will save around 40% of the water. You can find them on google by typing in dual flush conversion kits. A popular kit is selectaflush at http://www.dualflushkit.com
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