I am struggling with how to save water on our wasteful toilets. If it’s yellow, then let it mellow. If it’s brown, then flush it down. Sitting here I feel like I am drifting into a third world country. There has to be a better way to do this...
I am struggling with how to save water on our wasteful toilets. If it’s yellow, then let it mellow. If it’s brown, then flush it down. Sitting here I feel like I am drifting into a third world country. There has to be a better way to do this.
I just learned that technology has already solved this issue. For the past 10-20 years many countries have required more than just the low flow variety of toilets. In Europe, Australia, South East Asia, China and Israel, dual flush toilets are required in all homes.
Dual flush (two levers) uses 0.8 gallons per flush (gpf) and 1.6 gpf for solid waste. The Sterling Company, a subsidiary of Kohler, estimates that in a normal household with children dual flush technology can save up to 6,000 gallons of water per year per toilet. Retrofit kits are available for many brands of existing toilets at a reasonable price.
When I discuss this issue in my neighborhood groups, it is not received very well. They remember the disaster of the introduction of low flow (1.6 gpf) toilets and the need to flush not once but up to three times for solids. This is very unfortunate in that all of these initial problems have been solved and the newer low flow toilets work very well.
I have no confidence that our elected leaders will solve our water crisis any time soon. I do pray that some elected leader has enough technological savvy to understand this issue and the dramatic impact that it can have on our water conservation. Will he/she take a stand for Georgia?
Danny Wyatt
Canton, Georgia