2021 & we still flush the loo with expensive potable water

[martin clark]

Rainwater-harvesting for such and many other uses is a thing; long-has-been. Even as an add-on, you can buy a kit on a pallet that will do the necessary, and includes enough UV treatment (you need to store the water in an opaque container, else you get ..things growing) and a pump & necc filters or two to just add-on/add-in.

It's about £1-1.5K fitted; and even though with enough intent & goodwill you might homebrew for half that - funnily enough , no-one actually wants to pay for such on homes up-front. So - flushing treated, even metered water goes on.


and - that said - at 4l small / 6l large flush, long the UK new-build standard now - WCs are nowhere on a scale of waste compared to running unnecessary/daily cycles of washing, or several 15minute (at min 9l/min) showers etc. Even benchmarks like BREEAM targets only < / = 120litres/person/day, total, if you want a rough guideline for economical water usage.

 

[Vinny]

It’s what 30 years since the water supply was privatised

Sadly, not so.

What were water authorities were, but much of the industry was privately owned and always had been. Each region had their own numerous ones - the ones that stick in my memory are Tendring Hundred and The Essex Water Co. simply because they were local to where I grew up and I spent all my spare time as a lad, fishing, so their signs and still waters were everywhere that I went.

 

[kensalriser]

Do people really not rinse utensils after washing them? Why bother washing them at all? Would you drink the foul washing up water? Filthy habit!

 

[Whaleblue]

It's a bungalow. He has a few water butts, and there are only 2 of them and one loo so I don't think supply is a problem. Worst case is a hosepipe to fill one up if they get too low?

Or a separate stop-cock lower in the tank that controls mains top-up?

 

[martin clark]

Well if anyone wants to do the sums, in the UK, you can expect between 600mm and 1m of rain annually, per sq.m of catchment (projected as horizontal 1sq.m) On average. The lower-end figures in S.E England - Suffolk, Essex, N Kent; higher in W & SW England ; upland areas in Wales , and W Scotland - def at the higher end but depends on exactly where you are. E.g over north of Edinburgh/S of Aberdeen = quite dry.

Anyway - multiply at 0.7 x (sq.m of roof you can collect from), and guess how much rain you might collect annually. It'll be several tonnes, easily. And, also - so no, you don't want to store it all at once / a year's supply - the tank, and the in-ground base to do so, will be expensive. figure on 80-100mm of rain a month, averaged/ sq.m of plan area of roof - and you should be much more realistic. With some running to waste in wetter months.

(long-term av UK rainfall maps easy to find, or pm me & I'll help)

 

[Jamie]

Well if anyone wants to do the sums, in the UK, you can expect between 600mm and 1m of rain annually, per sq.m of catchment (projected as horizontal 1sq.m) On average. The lower-end figures in S.E England - Suffolk, Essex, N Kent; higher in W & SW England ; upland areas in Wales , and W Scotland - def at the higher end but depends on exactly where you are. E.g over north of Edinburgh/S of Aberdeen = quite dry.

Anyway - multiply at 0.7 x (sq.m of roof you can collect from), and guess how much rain you might collect annually. It'll be several tonnes, easily. And, also - so no, you don't want to store it all at once / a year's supply - the tank, and the in-ground base to do so, will be expensive. figure on 80-100mm of rain a month, averaged/ sq.m of plan area of roof - and you should be much more realistic. With some running to waste in wetter months.

(long-term av UK rainfall maps easy to find, or pm me & I'll help)

He has a large car-port and shed where the run-off is collected.

(courtesy of Google)

I would estimate about 30 sq metres of so, at 600mm pa = 18 cubic metres = 3960 gallons. Plenty, I would say.

 

[martin clark]

It's a great start if you have a use for it.

 

[gintonic]

doesn't anyone flush with Perrier anymore?

 

[martin clark]

Cleopatra? is that you?!

 

[cubastreet]

I switched to a composting toilet a few years ago when I went off grid. This was the thing I was most hesitant about, but I've found it great. Taking a dump in drinking water feels so wrong to me now.

 

[gintonic]

Taking a dump in drinking water feels so wrong to me now.

but we use ours to wash up with after flushing

 

[MikeMA]

In Gibraltar potable water has always been expensive and scarce. Much of it is rain water collected in specially constructed catchments, or produced from sea water by distillation. When I was stationed there we used to charter new oil tankers on their maiden voyages to ship in huge quantities from the UK, especially when there were NATO naval exercises in the MED. American aircraft carriers used as much in a day as a small town and their onboard distillation plants couldn't keep up. Because of this there was, in addition to the potable water distribution system, a parallel salt water mains system for flushing lavatories and washing down the streets. Older civilian houses also had a salt water tap over the sink for washing muck off the veg etc. I've often thought it's something seaside towns here in the UK could do.

 

[MikeMA]

but we use ours to wash up with after flushing

In central London they drink it too, though by then it will have passed through several other people.

 

[cubastreet]

but we use ours to wash up with after flushing

It's full of bugs, you should use tonic water.

 

[Mullardman]

my dad was obsessed with this matter , he wrote to many people including enoch powell and many other famous members of parliament . he was paying for drainage of water even though he had a private cistern in the garden. so all water from baths were diverted by pipes to run out at bottom of garden . no one could flush the toilet to save money until it was pretty full . he spent many years on this campaign !! wish i had kept some of the many letters !!

I'm glad you didn't keep the photos.

 

[Spike]

My friends in Bermuda do this, and have done so for years and years. Rain gets routed into a tank under the house.

Most houses obtain all their water this way. Tastes like crap so must buy bottled water. Many times during the year the tank gets low and households have to buy tanked water in at huge expense.

 

[RJohan]

Washing up after dinner? I just place it on the floor, the dog does the rest.

 

[stevec67]

I switched to a composting toilet a few years ago when I went off grid. This was the thing I was most hesitant about, but I've found it great. Taking a dump in drinking water feels so wrong to me now.

Works well in rural areas, not in cities. Public health nightmare once population goes beyond a certain point.

 

[Mike Reed]

I flush the loo once a week whether needed or not.

Do you not encounter some turdulence ?

 

[Mike Reed]

but much of the industry was privately owned and always had been.

I believe so, Vinny, as in 1965/6 I worked in Park Street W.1. for the Waterworks and International Water Supply Associations and we got taken on trips to various treatment plants in the home counties. One of my jobs was the film library and most of the hirers were smaller water companies dotted around the country.

Did Maggie privatise any? I bought quite a few of those in the eighties but don't remember water companies being floated (!)

doesn't anyone flush with Perrier anymore?

San(itary) Pellegrino is better.

Why bother washing them at all? Would you drink the foul washing up water? Filthy habit!

Nunneries would have prob's with no washing water; it'd be full of filthy habits.