Green Options » water collection

The Air in My Basement Flushes My Toilet!

Joe Mohr — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 19:30:51 +0000

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

Missouri Sewer District Rain Barrel Sale a ‘Success’

Adam Williams — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 18:55:06 +0000

The Missouri Sewer District (MSD) reports success in its rain barrel sale, which ended April 3. I’d posted here at ecolocalizer about the sale last week.

As a thoughtful follow-up, Debbie Johnson in the Public Information department for MSD left a comment for that initial posting, updating readers on the program’s status. Here is that information:

Who Does Rainwater Belong To?

Joshua S Hill — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 17:12:23 +0000

One of the greatest steps forward that local communities have taken of late is the push to collect rainwater to offset your water use. It is often an easy way to help out the environment and, in the long run, simply save water. There don’t really seem to be any catches to it either. Rain falls from the sky, hits your roof and runs in to your drums or barrels or tanks.

If only it were that simple.