It’s true.
I have a zero-gallon/flush toilet! The air in my basement (collected by my 5-gallon dehumidifier) flushes my toilet.

The 5-gallon reservoir in my dehumidifier fills up daily in the summer (I’m in humid St Louis, MO). Then, gravity lends a hand. I pour the 5 gallons into the toilet to flush the “yellow” that we’ve let “mellow” in the first floor bathroom, at the end of the day (for all you cringers out there, it doesn’t start to smell until day 2 or 3).

#2 is done upstairs and flushed in a normal fashion each time–we’re not barbarians:)

Now, I know that this works (and that it saves water) but I don’t know how it works. For that I looked up an old yahoo answers post which explains the process (for those who want to know).

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons GNU Free Documentation License

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A study has revealed that poems in the loo can help tackle global warming, through cutting toilet paper use by up to 20 per cent.

A team of Japanese researchers pasted ‘toilet poems’ at the eye-level of people sitting in cubicles. One poem read, “That paper will meet you only for a moment,” another said, “Fold the paper over and over and over again,” while another read simply, “Love the toilet.”

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Curious about new ways to save water and money?  EPA’s WaterSense Program recently unveiled a WaterSense widget that brings monthly water-saving facts and tips directly to your website or social network. Each month, new seasonally-relevant content will be added to help you increase your water efficiency and keep more cash in your wallet.

Why Conserve Water?

With drought conditions throughout many western and southern states in the U.S., the time is ripe for increasing water-saving efforts.  More pragmatic than the infamous “Save water - Shower with a friend” campaign of the 1970s, EarthSense focuses on actionable items and tidbits.

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Check out the sign I saw.

Not to be rude, but do men from Peru know where to pee in a bathroom?

After snapping my photo and pondering if Peruvian men truly need that much guidance, I left the bathroom and mentioned what I had seen to my wife and mother-in-law.

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The “Wash Up” is a conceptual design that overlaps water needs. After clothes are washed, the water is held in a reservoir for use in the toilet, reducing water usage. It also is a space-saver in smaller living conditions.

Source: TechEBlog and GadgetLite

What you may not realize, cherie, is that whatever you flush down comes back around. Our waste fertilizes our fields and is pumped back into the waterways that are our major sources of drinking water. Let’s take the journey from toilet to tap, shall we? Oui oui. (We’re affecting French here for a touch of sophistication in a post centering on fecal matter.)

Americans use about 70 gallons of water indoors, every day.  About three-quarters of that is used in the toilette—shower, bath, sink, crapper—and over one-quarter is used whisking away our waste.  You can cut this water usage by making sure your toilet isn’t leaking, using a composting or low-flow toilet or even displacing the water in the tank with a brick or container filled with sand .  Your toilet is not a trashcan, so save cigarette butts, tissues and used condoms for the basket, not the bowl.

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The porcelain gods are angry with you.

This is the story of my hard lesson about living sustainably in America in 2008, which has since transformed my approach to the sustainable living project.  It came in the form of a toilet.  

The World Health Organization recommended in its 2000 report on global water that “at least 20 liters per person per day from a source within one kilometer of the user’s home” be considered the basic measure of rightful access to fresh water[1].  Of course, fresh water natural resources vary from region to region.  

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Talk about flushing money and scarce resources down the drain. Toilets are big users of water in the home, but there are ways that we can minimize the waste and improve water conservation.

The first thing you'll want to do is check for leaks. Add a few drops of food coloring into the tank and check the bowl for color over the following 30 minutes. If you do find that water is leaking from the tank into the toilet bowl when it's not in use, get it fixed.

Don't use your toilet as a trash can. It seems rather obvious, but that's what a trash can is for. When you toss tissues and other waste in the toilet with the sole purpose to flush it, you are wasting water.

Reduce the amount of water used by installing a displacement device. This sounds fancy, but can really just be a plastic bottle filled with pebbles or water, placed inside the tank. Make sure you don't place it where it will disturb the "mechanics" of the tank. And although you might have heard otherwise, don't use a brick. Bricks dissolve over time and will cause more problems in the end.

So how much water does a typical "normal" toilet use? If it's a pre-1980s toilet, you're most likely using 5 to 7 gallons per flush. Post-1980s, 3.5 gallons per flush. Compare that to the new low-flow toilets that only use 1.6 gallons each time.

When remodeling, install a low flow toilet. Many municipalities even offer rebates for households that install low-flow toilets. Check with your local authorities to find any existing program and if you qualify. If you have boys in the house, you might even want to consider installing a waterless urinal. That's much more useful than the bidet so many of us have taking up room in the bathroom!

Rebecca says: This post was inspired by Graham Hill of Treehugger having the guts to write "if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down" in this month's green issue of Domino magazine. Thanks for making me squirm enough to continue spreading the word.

Resources:

Earth 911

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (pdf)