Low water toilet retrofit
This is the easiest, cheapest, most highly satisfying project, ever! We are just weeeeing with excitement. First, some background:
In a home with older toilets, an average flush uses about 3.6 gallons (13.6 liters), and the daily use is 18.8 gallons (71.2 liters) per person per day. With the average person flushing five times a day, toilets make up about 31% of overall household water consumption. (Alliance for Water Efficiency).
These days, new toilets can only use 1.6 gallons per flush. The fanciest new water efficient toilets use 1.28 gallons per flush. The thing is, the calculus of buying a new toilet (above the financial cost) is the environmental cost. Think about the production of a toilet- all of the materials that were mined for it from all over the world, who made it, how it got to you- just to go to a landfill because you want to save water? Not worth it from an environmental perspective.
This incredibly easy solution will save you a half a gallon per flush, or for a pre-’94 toilet, 1,825 gallons of water per year, equivalent to 107 showers or enough drinking water for one person for 10 years!
Step 1. Acquire a half gallon plastic jug.
If you don’t have one already, grab your next orange juice in this type of bottle and make yourself some mimosas. It feats neatly into the water tank for the toilet. You can also use an old soda bottle.
Step 2. Fill it with something heavy.
Use small rocks or something heavy that isn’t going to spoil like sand or marbles- just not potatoes, for example. That would get gross. You could also use water with a little bit of bleach.
Step 3. Put it in your toilet.
Voila! Now give yourself a pat on the back and drink that hard-earned mimosa!