Flush and Brush with Care: Part 1

The average American uses about 100 gallons of water a day. Most of that water is used in the bathroom,, and much of it is used needlessly. There are some very simple things you can do to have almost half the water you use. Several of them take just a few minutes to accomplish.

Save water when flushing

Of the 100 or so gallons of water you consume a day, about 40 are used to flush the toilet. The typical toilet uses from 5 to 7 gallons – which is why flushing uses more water than anything else in your apartment or house. Here are some suggestions for conserving water when flushing:

• The easiest way to cut down on the amount of water used is to flush less often, but most of us do not want to do that. Another way is to fill a large plastic container with water, put on the cap, and insert it in the toilet tank. Depending on the configuration of your tank, you might want to use several smaller containers instead of one large one. Experiment to see what works best and to determine how well the toilet flushes with the bottle(s) in place so that if it disintegrates, particles will not clog the toilet. How much water will you save? The amount you displace. A one gallon bottle will save one gallon of water each time the toilet flushed.

• An alternative to the plastic bottle is a displacement bag, a plastic pouch that you fill with water and hang inside the tank. Plumbing and hardware stores have them. Also available at these sores are toilet dams, plastic barriers that you wedge inside the tank on either side of the flush valve. The dam prevents the water in that section of the tank from running out when you flush. A typical dam saves 2 gallons of water.

• More expensive ($20 - $30), but also more effective at saving water us a device that provides a short flush (1.6 gallons) for liquid waste and paper and a fuller flush (3.5 gallons) for solid waste. The kit can be installed without special tools.

• An adjustable float assembly lets you reduce the water level in the tank. If you do adjust the float, test to make sure that wastes will still be carried away with a dingle flush.

• The single best solution is the state-of-art low-flush toilet. These use only 1 to 1.5 gallons per flush, and if you or your landlord is putting in a new toilet, this is what should be installed. It has been estimated that is the entire southern coast of California installed low-flush toilets, 5,000 acre-feet of water (1.6 billion gallons) would be saved a year.

• Finally, check for leaks. A leaky toilet could be wasting 50 gallons or more per day. Add a few drops of food coloring to the tank, then wait 15 minutes. If the tank is leaking, the water in the bowl will change color.