One of the most pressing issues that the United States and the rest of the world are going to have to face in the not so distant future is a shortage of clean water. We tend to think (especially us Americans) that we will always have access to clean water, both to drink and to use for things like bathing, watering the lawn and washing the cars.
However, if this past summer is any indication - remember the news story regarding a town in Tennessee where the mayor limited water supply to just several hours per day - it looks like we're going to have to deal with this issue much sooner than many of us had anticipated.
Now, before I get too far into a suggestion on a simple way for us to conserve water, I just want to take the opportunity to say that while some of you may turn your nose up to my suggestion, the Atlanta Falcons recently had to resort to this tactic for one of their home games during their recent drought.
So without further ado, here's the tip:
If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.
In less Dr. Seussian like terms, essentially I'm saying if you go number one, don't flush, but if you go number two flush.
In an attempt to get away from the subject at hand, let's look at some math to see how much water can actually be saved by implementing this idea.
Toilets built before 1982 usually use between five and seven gallons of water per flush, while newer toilets are required to use no more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush. For the sake of argument, let's assume that most toilets in the U.S. are newer, and that the "average toilet" uses roughly 2 gallons per flush.
From personal experience, I'd be willing to bet that the average person goes to the bathroom about six times per day; five times to go number one, and another time to go number two. Obviously, this is going to vary from person to person, but let's just stick with this guestimate.
So, if we followed the "if it's yellow, let it mellow - if it's brown, flush it down" mantra, the "average" person could save about 10 gallons of water per day. Multiply that by 300 million people in the United States, and that's over 3 billion gallons of water saved each day. Over a year, that's over 1 trillion gallons of water.
Even if you're dealing with the most abundant natural resource on the planet, that's a lot of water saved with very little effort.
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13 comments:
Sounds sensible. Although another alternative would be to update the toilets in the US with flush buttons as standard throughout Europe.
Press the small button for a number one (releasing water for as long as pressed), and the big button for a number 2 (releasing the full tank).
most people will not press the small button for too long.
it helps Specially if your number 1 is smelly....
You can also use some lower capacity tanks or decrease the tank's capacity by placing some volumes inside (like a bottle of something).
I personally just pee in the sink and wash it down when I wash my hands. I mean, pee sitting in the toilet, that's really gross.
This wouldn't even be an issue if people didn't go nuts watering their lawns. Let's talk about sensible alternatives to grass and those water hungry plants.
This is a great post! I found it while looking for data to post on my own earth conservation blog ...
www.preservationcreation.blogspot.com.
Love it. We always follow the mellow yellow rule.
Not everyone can afford to replace their toilets with those high efficiency dealies...
And in no time at all, you'll have a toilet bowl stained beyond any hope of ever being white again. Moreover, while urine is indeed sterile as it comes "out of the pipe," it doesn't stay that way. A toilet bowl full of diluted urine is a fine Petrie dish for breeding all sorts of nasty little critters.
Are you kidding me?! Do you know how pungent the smell of stale piss is, especially in hot weather?
What absurdity.
I'm all for conserving water but there are other ways of doing it. As an example, recycle your shower water and use it to sprinkle the lawn, wash the car or, for that matter, flush the can.
There's a few better alternatives, even though the one you suggested does serve it's purpose. Most people flush the toilet subconciously, and any attempt to manage something like that would be a constant hassle, as well as embarrassing in social situations, and could prove to make awkward smells. HOWEVER, an excellent alternative (one that we, in my household use) is a 1 liter soda bottle, filled with sand, sitting in the tank. This tricks your toilet to think it's completely full when it's actually not. It cuts approx 1.1 liters per flush, and goes virtually unnoticed. Also, as mentioned in an earlier comment, recycle your shower water. People spend entirely too much water on their lawns, washing their cars, animals, etc etc etc. It would obviously be suggested not to recycle your shower water for drinking water, but it's definitely sanitary enough to be used in a multitude of other everyday tasks! :]
Another approach would be to put an old plastic tub (e.g. 1kg margarine tub) in the bowl. Pee into that until its full (or too smelly), then flush. Gents will have to sit down to prevent too much splashing.
If you need to go for a #2, then turn out contents of tub first and flush after you have been. This approach means that you don't have a nasty looking toilet. In addition, removal of the tub by taking it outside or throwing it away means that the toilet smells clean and looks fine quickly.
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Well, yellow, I think is a mellow color! And so both words rhyme, huh!
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