In times of drought water suppliers urge consumers to be thrifty.

In California we've experienced the comparative scenario with respect to electrical energy. (E.G., during a heat wave the energy companies urge consumers to be thrifty in their consumption of energy and reduce energy use during peak hours.)

I know people who said they were so thrifty in the 70's that they regularly caught the cold water in a bucket while waiting for warm water to shower. That cold water would be used for flushing the toilet or to water plants.

Does anyone know someone who actively engages in water collection like this? I imagine homeowners are more likely to care because use of water doesn't commonly affect a renter. (Most people who rent pay a flat fee for the apartment which includes water and garbage).

I'm just wondering if it's a new trend or not.

The problem is that most people wrongly assume that there is an infinite supply of fresh water when nothing could be further from the truth. Water is an important commodity and should be used with prudence.

There are home products as well out there that help people to conserve water, such as the Toilet Tank Bank that Greeniac826 blogged about, or the Chilipepper which works by quickly pumping hot water from your heater to a distant sink/shower fixture desired when a demand switch is pressed, and ensures that hot water is quickly available, but only when needed, so you don't have to use energy to heat water the rest of the day and since it pumps hot water up to the sink/showerhead, it returns the unused cold water that was in the pipes back through the cold water line.

I also remember a bunch of commercials earlier in the fall about California's dire water situation (it made life seem quite bleak and not worth living actually) that I believe was to gain support for a new Bond bill? These commercials actually made me much more aware of the need for water conservation, as has the publicity surrounding Atlanta's water troubles. Perhaps there need to be nationwide educational campaigns, as I am reminded that when I recently shared a hotel room with a friend who lives on the East Coast, I was shocked to see her not even think to turn off the water. In fact, she found it rather amusing that I did turn the water off while both brushing my teeth and washing my face (no need to run water during the lathering process, right?).

I have friends (who are roommates) who unscrewed the pipe that collects the water from the sink drain so that the water flows into a bucket, and use the water to flush the toilet.
But they are the only people I know who do that.

Education is important. I don't even have a clear idea of where the water goes once it goes down the drain.

It also seems that our houses could be designed to reuse water better. For example, couldn't the waste water from the shower and sinks be automatically piped to the toilet to flush it. This wouldn't have to rely on buckets and people remembering.
Are there any homes being built this way?
It seems so obvious. (although I guess maybe the water would have to be filtered somehow so that hair and dirt doesn't end up in the tank of the toilet)
Maybe water should be heavily taxed. Combined with education on how to conserve, a tax might give people enough motivation.

wow, really!? that's cool.

I can see the immediate benefit of catching everything that goes down the sink is that if you drop something down the drain, you can catch it in the bucket instantly! ...of course you also get to reuse the grey water in the toilet. but man, that could get cumbersome.

who wants to struggle with a bucket each time.

Someone should invent a retrofit tank to store grey water...i'm sure there's something that SOMEone is using in a totally green home somewhere where water catchment is more of a necessity.

I did some googling and came up with a couple of examples of systems to use greywater to flush a toilet without the hassle of a bucket. Aqus
is a system that you can buy and install on an already existing toilet. Although, judging by the instructions, it doesn't look simple to install.
This system filters the water and treats it with chlorine tablets so that pets won't be harmed when they drink from the toilet bowl.
The Ecoplay that includes the toilet and storage system together. It also employs a filtering system but does not seem to use the chlorine tablets.
I'm sure there are other similar systems, but this is what I found first. Is anybody using something like this?

Interestingly I also found a paragraph on The Natural Home Builder website explaining why they do not recommend using greywater to flush toilets.
Hope this helps, let us know if anyone has more information.

Post edited by: greeniac19850, at: 04/27/2008

Post edited by: greeniac19850, at: 04/27/2008

Post edited by: greeniac19850, at: 04/27/2008