Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Greywater Toilet Flushing

I've already written about my greywater lightbulb (using sippy cup dregs to water plants) but haven't shared my adventure down bathtub-water road. Imagine saving gallons of water at a time, and never needing to use clean water to flush nearly ever again! You, too, can achieve this water reuse nirvana. All it takes are a bunch of gallon milk jugs, a wide container for sloshing, a fairly high threshold for bathroom, er, chaos, and good aim.

Imagine my joy when I discovered this video from Going Crunchy in my reader! Right when I was about to give up. Don't tell my mathematician father, ok? But I hadn't realized that the physics of the slosh would be all wrong from a milk jug. You really need the bucket.

So, yeah, you don't ever drain the tub anymore. And when you take a shower? Stick buckets on the floor. That should go over well with the more organized amongst you. You could line them up in a neat pattern? Anyways, now that you have your recycling materials scattered across your bathroom floor, prepare to save all that precious water. Think of it this way: do I need pristine, clean water that's been purified within an inch of its life just to flush my waste? As CBoy would say... naaaaaaaw.


*Photo courtesy of fishmonk at sxc.

7 comments:

EcoBurban said...

I wrote a couple of days ago about using my dehumidifier water to water my plants and trees. Does that count as greywater? I sure as heck wouldn't want to drink it or anything. But, point taken, that water could be used to flush toilets in the winter time. None of my boys take baths anymore, showers are much faster and baths are for little boys, you know, so I don't have tub water. But, the more I think about it, I bet there are lots of areas in the house where I could collect water!

Mrs. G. said...

I'm not sure how my flowers would like my leftover bath water.

Cindy Fey said...

That video is so cool! Thanks for passing it on.

Cindy Fey said...

That video is so cool! Thanks for passing it on.

Unknown said...

I was *just* telling E about this today and saying, "What is it like to go through your day always thinking of the green option?" Now you've got me thinking about it too -- it's a virus! A better one than this one, I might add:
http://weblogsky.com/2008/05/the_multitasking_virus.html

Going Crunchy said...

I use leftover bath water for flushing - - -the toilet doesn't matter if it has a little soap. If we shower in the tub/shower combo I can just save it and scoop, and regular shower warm-up water goes in a bucket.

The shower warm up water is good for plants, and I also save water scraps in my kitchen now for plants. It is easy to do once you just get in the swing of it.

Spokane Southie said...

that would take a pretty big commitment, but I will think about it. I bet my little guy would be into. Hey, he may even remember to flush!