Last Thursday in my local newspaper The Chico Enterprise-Record there was an editorial about saving water through bureaucracy: Editorial: Toilet police don’t want job. It was was of those “only in California” type things about a new law with good intentions, but eye rolling implementation that only policy wonks could dream up.
I agreed with the complaint about bureaucracy part, but the editorial came off as saying water use and water conservation wasn’t all that important an issue, and that gave me cause to introduce the PDO to local readers as well as something I learned about toilets in Australia when I visited there, adopting for my home and office, and wrote about in A green product worth recommending. Here’s my letter to the editor, where I crammed as much into the 250 word limit as I could, and following that, the reaction from the editor.
Chico Enterprise-Record Posted: 01/11/2014 09:52:52 PM PST
I read your Thursday editorial on the “toilet police” with amusement, but also with concern. Saving water is an important issue, especially since the Pacific Decadal Oscillation flipped to cool phase in 2008. We are now seeing effects manifested as cooler, drier, winters, with little rainfall; yes, drought.
Visiting Australia in 2010 (where low rainfall is much like California), I noticed that all toilets were “dual flush” with two buttons; number 1 and number 2. Number 1 uses 50 percent less. Seeing drought coming here, I’ve since retrofitted my home and office toilets to dual flush. It’s easy to do, and under $25 at any home improvement store.
The value to dual flush toilets is not only saving water, but also saving on your water bill. Since California Water Service Company seems hell bent on raising rates to cover pensions (because we’ve used less water, providing lower revenue), here’s your chance for payback by reducing water consumption even more.
Since California greens routinely challenge more reservoirs, and state government planned poorly to meet growth, this next drought will likely be harder than the big one in the 1970s, the last time the Pacific Decadal Oscillation was in cool phase for an extended period. In 1977, the Pacific Decadal Oscillation switched to a warm phase, and the drought eased, but 1985 to 1991 saw another drought.
Here’s your chance to get ahead of the bureaucrats before the “toilet police” come knocking. Meanwhile, pray for El Niño in fall 2014.
— Anthony Watts, Chico
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Here’s the reaction from the editor – he made it his Sunday column.
David Little: Save water without toilet cops
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For those of you that want a dual flush toilet retrofit, here is what they look like.
The kit is pretty simple, and assembles without any need for tools. Pictorial instructions in English and Spanish are provided.
Price? Less than $20, and at that price it will pay for itself in a few months, depending on usage. This system is guaranteed for five years, so I’m pretty sure I’ll not only get my investment back, but a significant return on it. Plus, my kids like it and they were fascinated watching dad replace this thing and now having a pushbutton 1/2 instead of a handle.
Want one? Available here at Amazon Get it, highly recommended.
Update: For those that like the traditional handle rather than the button, see this model.
And finally here’s everything you ever wanted to know about the Pacific Decadal Oscillation: http://wattsupwiththat.com/tag/pacific-decadal-oscillation/
And the WUWT reference page for that and other oceanic oscillations:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/reference-pages/ocean-pages/oceanic-oscillation/
Hopefully, per this ensemble NINO 3.4 SST Anomalies Forecast, we will be out of La Niña soon:
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) – Climate Prediction Center – Click the pic to view at sourceDiscover more from Watts Up With That?
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I’ve been in the residential building industry since the early 90’s, just about the time the original low flush toilets were came about. These toilets should have come with a plunger because they worked so poorly – stopped up toilets was the number one complaint (pun intended) we received. However I recently remodeled my bathroom and tried out the latest design that uses 1.28 gallons per flush (mine is a Delta model) and I’ve been extremely pleased with it’s operation, particularly since I’m a high output kind of guy. I’m amazed at how much material can be moved with so little water. Great for water conservation and also if you’re on a maxed out septic system.
1.28 gallons per flush and it works. Hallelujah! I’m so pleased about it I’m not even going to worry about the two button system.
climatereason says:
January 12, 2014 at 4:51 am
It’s a matter of the additional cost to build/retrofit a house. You have to bring in a second feed from the main and a second meter and then you have to have separate inside plumbing for the grey water. I think it would take quite a while to pay back that investment. Virtually every US residential area already has a grey water main, in the form of the fire hydrants, but I suspect fire departments would resist tapping it for residential toilet use.
Wow, Anthony, the Dual Flush is a basic installations in ALL toilets here in Israel for decades!
I believe you could not find a mono system at all.
And the cost of a basic system is around 30 USD.
Mind you it would be a useful step forward if ‘grey’ water could be used for toilet flushing. UK water is cleaned to a very high standard and it seems a shame to flush it down the toilet
It’s a matter of the additional cost to build/retrofit a house. You have to bring in a second feed from the main and a second meter and then you have to have separate inside plumbing for the grey water.
It’s worse than that, because ‘grey’ water systems need to be VERY reliable to stop any possibility of leaking between the two (since they are actually joined to allow for emergency potable water use). And the ‘grey’ system needs constant filter change and chemical maintenance. So they are very expensive to buy and operate.
I once did a back-of-the-envelope calculation, and found that, in the UK where water is readily available, it was 70x more expensive to use a two-tier grey system than to simply store everything in one big reservoir and use potable water for flushing, as we do now.
The entire world of ‘water-saving’ is a complete con in the UK. It may make sense in a low-water environment where the infrastructure is not in place, but it is totally pointless in the UK, and a very expensive way of forcing a worse, more expensive service on everyone.
Dual flush here in socialist europe for long, long time
Doug Huffman
January 12, 2014 at 8:14 am
I envy you. Unfortunately I’m trapped where I’m at. However, at this stage in my life I’m not particularly concerned with what happens in society in the future. It does bother me though that, whereas my generation and the immediately preceding and succeeding generations were generally left better off by our forebears, we (and I don’t mean you, Mr. Watts, or the contributors and visitors to this blog) seem to be bent on refusing to extend the same courtesy to future generations. And what’s sad is that the only courtesy we (and, again I don’t mean…) had to extend was simply standing to the side, admitting we really don’t know what the future could possibly hold, and doing nothing other than impart our wisdom about the past, and otherwise leaving future generations free “to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of (their) labor the bread it has earned.”
BTW: Doesn’t it get rather cold up there? Ah, but the summer must make it worth it.
champion 4 with the 4″ flush valve.
never (and I am a ….power…..user) have had to flush twice.
lots of the ‘problems’ people cry about are not found in the countryside because they are really population density issues.
flush toilets are not the most efficient nor effective nor economical – they are merely convenient for centralizing and monopolizing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting_toilet
flush if you love the idea of government control of your bowel habits and a monthly fee.
These things usually don’t supply enough water for #1s, so you want to flush twice anyway. We’ve had them in Oz for ages but who needs them. At home I use rainwater (when available) for the washing machine and the wash-water for flushing.
I installed my dual flush (a) as a replacement for a balky one flush system; (b) to reduce my water bill; and (c) to reduce the throughput on my septic system. Conserving water is not an issue per se in Massachusetts. I would be interested in a simple system that recycles laundry water for garden usage.
Whatever other motives one may have for saving water, saving money will not be one of them in the big scheme of things. During a recent drought, Sydney Water imposed drastic usage restrictions. After the first billing period they realised that they weren’t generating enough revenue to cover unchanged overheads so the rates went up. We got the same bill for less usage. Naturally when dams filled and restrictions were eased, there was no reduction in rates.
BTW, in Australia, long before these new cisterns arrived on the scene, it was common practice to place a house brick or two in the cistern to save water.
We have a dual flush toilet. Even the ‘big’ flush is inadequate to deal with the solids, and so we have to flush at least twice.
POS.
@bernie1815
Conserving water is not an issue per se in Massachusetts. I would be interested in a simple system that recycles laundry water for garden usage.
If you, and everyone else, simply uses potable piped water for all usage, including flushing, then you will be putting pressure on the infrastructure authorities to spend money on more reservoirs, assuming that the rainfall and water flow is adequate. There can never be an overall water shortage.
I, for one, would rather my taxes went on creating more lakes, offering leisure, a habitat for all kinds of animals, and water security, than on windmills to generate electricity when nobody wants it…
i live at the foot of the Alps. The water just comes out of the ground. Literally. Everyday the streets are cleaned by workers with huge hoses attached to the drinking water system. Even when it rains.
Interesting subject. Different answers, depending on the situation. We’re not big water users, probably averaging about 50 gals./day for the two of us. We don’t flush every time, and we have an old-fashioned toilet. Interestingly, we are on a privately-owned water supply, and the water-useage portion of our bill only amounts to about 30% of the total. That isn’t a big incentive to save water, but we still do. I think we’ll pass on any fancy contraptions though. We did get one of those water-saving shower heads though, which we actually do like as it gives a fairly fine, high-powered spray.
Forgot to add the front-loading washer we got a few years ago. Excellent investment, saving both water and energy.
As long as Government doesn’t mandate outhouses to save water….8-)
Seriously, this sounds like it might be “worth a dime to save a dollar”.
In some areas water is more available so supply is not as big of an issue but it’s not a bad idea.
Let the market decide.
A word of caution on low flush toilets and waterless urinals, especially in commercial building situations where there is no other source of significant water flow like showers or laundry; existing plumbing systems may not tolerate the higher acid/salt concentrations and corrode out, and there may not be enough water flow to carry solids all the way out to the main sewer. I have heard reports of flooded classrooms from corroded waste pipes, and major sewage backups from solids blocking pipes. The original plumbing designs were based on plenty of water to dilute urine and carry solids.
Let me add, if I save a gallon of water per flush here in Ohio, it won’t help anyone in Nevada.
Urine is already quite dilute at up to (pathologic) 500 millimols inorganic/metal ions in 2 kG water per day.
And pH 5 – 8, near neutral. Sorry moderator.
I confirm what “Bloke down the pub” says: “These new fangled gizmos, when they fail, let a steady stream of water flow into the pan. This can easily go unnoticed and result in the loss of a lot of water until you notice it in higher water bills.”
In my experience, this is true, and begins about 20 months after initial installation. I have been thru two sets of three each (for my 3 bath house) and in all six instances the toilet guts failed in this insidious fashion within 2 years.
Starting in 2017, California law will require ALL plumbing fixtures in pre-1994 homes to be retrofitted with low-flow fixtures. Homeowners won’t be able to do renovations or sell their homes until they replace their fixtures.
http://www.dailydemocrat.com/ci_24808002/homeowners-planning-remodel-face-new-water-conservation-rules
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/23/low-flow-toilets-required_n_3800061.html
We aren’t in “La Nina”, we are ENSO neutral and have been for a very long time. Usually we just transition through neutral when going from La Nina to El Nino but we have “stuck” there for a while and that model ensemble has been predicting going to El Nino for about the last year. It doesn’t have much skill.
But here is the primary problem: Since we have settled California the state has been experiencing unusually wet conditions. This has possibly been the wettest 500 years in the last 10,000. What we consider “normal” is actually quite unusually wet. We have, in the last 1000 years, had periods of over 200 years of very dry conditions. Some sierra lakes have nearly completely dried up. There are trees rooted 150 feet deep in some lakes that are over 100 feet tall and have been carbon dated to the 13th century.
It is quite possible for us to have periods centuries long of maybe half the average annual precipitation we are now getting. What we would call “megadrought” in California lasting for a century or more is actually quite normal.
San Francisco has a problem with low flow toilets allowing the pipes to clog up.
From the Chronic:
http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/matier-ross/article/Low-flow-toilets-cause-a-stink-in-SF-2457645.php
Low-flow toilets cause a stink in SF
San Francisco’s big push for low-flow toilets has turned into a multimillion-dollar plumbing stink.
Skimping on toilet water has resulted in more sludge backing up inside the sewer pipes, said Tyrone Jue, spokesman for the city Public Utilities Commission. That has created a rotten-egg stench near AT&T Park and elsewhere, especially during the dry summer months.
The city has already spent $100 million over the past five years to upgrade its sewer system and sewage plants, in part to combat the odor problem.
Now officials are stocking up on a $14 million, three-year supply of highly concentrated sodium hypochlorite – better known as bleach – to act as an odor eater and to disinfect the city’s treated water before it’s dumped into the bay. It will also be used to sanitize drinking water.
That translates into 8.5 million pounds of bleach either being poured down city drains or into the drinking water supply every year.