ALTERNATIVES TO THE FIVE-GALLON FLUSH

Article Tools

Image Gallery

Print

E-mail

Comments

RSS

The following article describes several approaches that can be used to reduce water consumption for waste disposal and—in a few cases—turn that waste into useful products. While some of these techniques do a more thorough job of protecting the environment than others, any one of them would be a significant improvement over the conventional high-volume toilet.

QUICK FIXES

As many people know, there's no reason why five gallons of water must be wasted to flush a conventional toilet. With bricks (or water-filled plastic bottles) placed up right at each end inside the tank, adequate flushing pressure—which is a function of the level in the reservoir-can be maintained while less water is consumed. Commercial dams that can be inserted around the outlet from the tank serve roughly the same purpose. These simple methods can cut the water used in flushing by 20%.

Another worthwhile approach is to tune to each situation the amount of liquid that's flushed. Two-stage valves can be manipulated to discharge a much smaller amount of water when there are only liquids to be disposed of. You'll be glad to know, too, that none of these "remedies" requires a cash outlay of more than $ 10 ... a sum that the water savings provided by such devices should pay back in short order.

LOW-VOLUME FLUSHERS

If you're in the market for a new toiletor if you feel so strongly about the wasteful nature of your present throne that you're willing to replace it—one option is to purchase a low-volume conventional water closet. Almost all bathroom fixture manufacturers are now offering what they call "water-saving toilets". Be wary, though ... the best of these products can get by with as little as a gallon of water per cycle, but many of them still dispatch as much as three and a half gallons per flush.

Furthermore, when compared with composting toilets—which use no water and recycle the waste-low-volume commodes don't rate high on the environmental chart ... but using one or two gallons per flush certainly does compare favorably with wasting five. (Besides, these conventional—looking thrones are more likely to meet with approval from building inspectors and future buyers of your home than are composters.)

RSS | Comments | E-mail | Print