Drinkable water going down the toilet

Lil MiSbreaks · Post by **Lil MiSbreaks** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:53 pm

Im disturbed that we flush our waste with drinkable water, as we all are, but I wanna see what in the fuck we can do about it!

Aside from changing our own plumbing to a hooked up water tank etc etc, which is really not a viable option unless were all millionaires

, SURELY there's something, collectively we can do

EVERY time I flush the toilet I feel sick at the waste (pardon the pun) of water and almost see our world going around and around down the toilet like a piece of shit

We are a mass of wonderful concerned people on this board, with fantastic ideas, and connections etc, is there any way we can do something about this???

ghetto kitty · Post by **ghetto kitty** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:55 pm

was it sneaky hands who works for the water services?

dboy > that lunch we had on the lounge bacony ages ago, one of those boys was talking about water issues...

who was it?

cj the taniwha · Post by **cj the taniwha** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:55 pm

1. put a brick in the cistern
2. if it's yellow let it mellow
3. fill up the cistern with water you collect from a bucket in the bottom of the shower or buckets you fill up from the rinse cycle of your washing machine.
4. put pressure on local councils and government to use grey water.
5. vote for the greens

witty_pseudonym · Post by **witty_pseudonym** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:57 pm

i think it's possible to fill a bucket with water from the washing machine or used bath water etc, dump (excuse pun also) it in, and the toilie will flush. i could be wrong though.

shocking waste. i think they're offering rebates for tanks now aren't they? still...it's kinda difficult when you live in the city...and there's the small issue of no rain to fill it with.

edit: see above.

Fents · Post by **Fents** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 3:59 pm

Lil MiSbreaks wrote:Im disturbed that we flush our waste with drinkable water, as we all are, but I wanna see what in the fuck we can do about it!

Aside from changing our own plumbing to a hooked up water tank etc etc, which is really not a viable option unless were all millionaires , SURELY there's something, collectively we can do

EVERY time I flush the toilet I feel sick at the waste (pardon the pun) of water and almost see our world going around and around down the toilet like a piece of shit

We are a mass of wonderful concerned people on this board, with fantastic ideas, and connections etc, is there any way we can do something about this???

$2000 for a standard water tank with a $500 rebate from the council, its not that much out of reach...

obliveus · Post by **obliveus** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:00 pm

Off topic, but we just started doing the bucket in the shower thing 2 weeks ago. It's amazing how much water we've saved for things like the yard, plants and water bombs for the postman.

Lil MiSbreaks · Post by **Lil MiSbreaks** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:00 pm

^^Really??

Your right, thats not that far out of reach at all.

And there's this place called Aussie bladder... they make like a water tank, but its a bladder, so you can put it under your house, or somewhere else if you dont have the space for a tank.

Fents · Post by **Fents** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:01 pm

Also you can buy hoses from bunning's that you basically undo one screw cap on the pipe from the shower, put this hose in and all ur shower / bath water get redirected to wherever you want...garden most likely.

Also there is a company that has a purifying machine that can purify toilet water back into drinking water.

db · Post by db » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:12 pm

Fents wrote: Also there is a company that has a purifying machine that can purify toilet water back into drinking water.

Saw that on telly... Bloody amazing filtration method...

Where's a james bond super villian and their weather machine when you need em ??

gnat · Post by **gnat** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 4:40 pm

Recyled water is the way of the future.

I bought rubber hose and run my grey water from the washing machine onto my garden

Even refreshing pet's water bowls in the morning- I empty the old water in my indoor plants

I've been the biggest water Nazi lately. Dishwasher on only when packed, saving up large washes of clothes etc

shepherd · Post by **shepherd** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:03 pm

obliveus wrote:Off topic, but we just started doing the bucket in the shower thing 2 weeks ago. It's amazing how much water we've saved for things like the yard, plants and water bombs for the postman.

yo ob - how does the bucket thing work? sounds like a good idea!

good topic lmb

Feigan · Post by **Feigan** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:08 pm

On a side note - has anyone been keeping up with the selling of water (megalitre) sort of scenario?

I read over it a while back but haven't heard much lately

cj the taniwha · Post by **cj the taniwha** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:08 pm

shepherd wrote:
obliveus wrote:Off topic, but we just started doing the bucket in the shower thing 2 weeks ago. It's amazing how much water we've saved for things like the yard, plants and water bombs for the postman.

yo ob - how does the bucket thing work? sounds like a good idea!

good topic lmb

put a bucket under the shower head and let it collect the water that you use while waiting for the water to heat up and to collect water if it's not in the way when you are not using soap or shampoo.

ShiKung · Post by **ShiKung** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:18 pm

I wonder how many days of rain we need to bust this drought??

60??

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:27 pm

what toilet paper do you use LilMissBreaks?

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:29 pm

coz you might be literaly whipping your ass on our water catchments

ShiKung · Post by **ShiKung** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:32 pm

Has anyone heard of the book "how to take a shit in the woods"?? Its an actually book and was in my school library much to the amusement of all.

Maybe we should write
"How to take a shit in the suburbs?"

obliveus · Post by **obliveus** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:45 pm

cj the taniwha wrote:
shepherd wrote:
obliveus wrote:Off topic, but we just started doing the bucket in the shower thing 2 weeks ago. It's amazing how much water we've saved for things like the yard, plants and water bombs for the postman.

yo ob - how does the bucket thing work? sounds like a good idea!

good topic lmb
put a bucket under the shower head and let it collect the water that you use while waiting for the water to heat up and to collect water if it's not in the way when you are not using soap or shampoo.

Yep, that's how it works.

I reckon we save 2 full buckets a day to use by doing it. We find ourselves looking for things to use it on, too. Freaked me out to know how much we were sending down the drain. Big ups my hippie wife!

Post by **Friday** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 5:58 pm

we do the bucket in the shower thing - saves heaps of water.

don't need to water the pots in the back garden with the hose at all anymore... and still have heaps left over for toilet flushes etc.

saw a good book in the bookshop the other day called greeniology. has heaps of helpful hints for this kind of stuff. it's on my christmas wishlist

Spherix · Post by **Spherix** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 6:14 pm

try being in bendigo on stage 4 restrictions

we have like enough water til jan 28th or something

Post by **breaksRbest** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:44 pm

What would McGuyver do?

Post by **fooishbar** » Wed Dec 13, 2006 7:56 pm

Spherix wrote:try being in bendigo on stage 4 restrictions

we have like enough water til jan 28th or something

been on stage 3 for yonks tho hasn't it? was on odds and evens when i was living there back in 98 or so.

(empty eildon freaks me out.)

Lephrenic · Post by **Lephrenic** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:11 am

flippo wrote:coz you might be literaly whipping your ass on our water catchments

Buy SAFE. They also make paper towels and regular tissues as well now.

mizuhodai · Post by **mizuhodai** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 12:50 am

get a lemon tree

Double D · Post by **Double D** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:31 am

Great thread. Everyone should be getting into this stuff. Flushing a toilet by pouring in a bucket is not that gross. Most of the worlds (flush) toilets flush this way. ItÂ´s amazing how lazy and set in our ways we can become. Great to read about other people not just flushing away some of the worlds best water.

Shower bucket sounds a goer. Will try for sure.

Fents wrote:Also you can buy hoses from bunning's that you basically undo one screw cap on the pipe from the shower, put this hose in and all ur shower / bath water get redirected to wherever you want...garden most likely.

DonÂ´t really understand this. Is it the water that would normally run down the drain? How do you access the drain pipe? Sounds cool.

mixtress · Post by **mixtress** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 1:40 am

Double D wrote:Great thread. Everyone should be getting into this stuff. Flushing a toilet by pouring in a bucket is not that gross. Most of the worlds (flush) toilets flush this way. ItÂ´s amazing how lazy and set in our ways we can become. Great to read about other people not just flushing away some of the worlds best water.

Shower bucket sounds a goer. Will try for sure.

Fents wrote:Also you can buy hoses from bunning's that you basically undo one screw cap on the pipe from the shower, put this hose in and all ur shower / bath water get redirected to wherever you want...garden most likely.
DonÂ´t really understand this. Is it the water that would normally run down the drain? How do you access the drain pipe? Sounds cool.

Plummer.

I'm not sure about everyone's living situation but we're having trouble with cracks in our walls and ceiling (heck, even the cement path out the front). The ground underneath is so dry, the foundations are going haywire. Thanks to the washing machine tubs use, to catch all the water, we can drain some of this under the house to prevent the whole damn house cracking in two. Double positive, we use the washing machine water on our lawns too.

My Mum is so freaking innovative

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 7:24 am

Special Hegg wrote:
flippo wrote:coz you might be literaly whipping your ass on our water catchments
Buy SAFE. They also make paper towels and regular tissues as well now.

:script:

Fents · Post by **Fents** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 8:34 am

The Mixtress wrote:
Double D wrote:Great thread. Everyone should be getting into this stuff. Flushing a toilet by pouring in a bucket is not that gross. Most of the worlds (flush) toilets flush this way. ItÂ´s amazing how lazy and set in our ways we can become. Great to read about other people not just flushing away some of the worlds best water.

Shower bucket sounds a goer. Will try for sure.

Fents wrote:Also you can buy hoses from bunning's that you basically undo one screw cap on the pipe from the shower, put this hose in and all ur shower / bath water get redirected to wherever you want...garden most likely.
DonÂ´t really understand this. Is it the water that would normally run down the drain? How do you access the drain pipe? Sounds cool.
Plummer.

You dont need a plumber. Go to bunnings and buy the hose, its a special hose cant remember the name, Gnat will know. Just ask some dude at bunnings and say you want the hose that redirects water from pipes to garden.

Basically all you do is find the pipe that has the shower or sink water running through it. Unscrew the plastic cap on that pipe. Shove the hose in like the directions say, thyen run the hose down to what ever u want to water i.e garden. simple.

meg25 · Post by **meg25** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:05 am

[quote="witty_pseudonym"]i think it's possible to fill a bucket with water from the washing machine or used bath water etc, dump (excuse pun also) it in, and the toilie will flush. i could be wrong though. quote]

Remember to use biodagradable Washing powder, soap, ect with NO PHOSPHATES, as toilet water goes into the ocean too x

mrj · Post by **mrj** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:07 am

I have a solution

Lets follow the lead of our canine friends and drink out of the toliet

problem solved!

gnat · Post by **gnat** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:24 am

Umm, I can't remember what he called it, my ex tradie Bunnings man.. I went in on my Mum's advice and was one of those people who go 'I need um, one of those rubber hoses so I can um run the grey water from my machine into the garden'

And he said 'Whatcha need is '____' and gave it to me

Feel free to do the same. They love the 'helpless lady' thing at Bunnings

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:02 am

movingshadow wrote:get a lemon tree

the lemon tree at my last house gets a pretty good watering

As funny as it sounds I try and take a dump at work when I can. The toilets here work on a 4L 2L dual flush (as opposed to 6L 3L, like standard domestic systems). Our building also uses recycled black water from the little collins st sewer to flush the toilets.

bigups my work.

www.ch2.com.au

gnat · Post by **gnat** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:04 am

deviant wrote:As funny as it sounds I try and take a dump at work when I can.

OMG Dan! Do they mind you popping in for a crap on weekends?

You are the Steve Irwin of Water conservation truly

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:16 am

ah shutup,

of course I don't go in for a crap on the weekends.

gnat · Post by **gnat** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:20 am

deviant wrote:ah shutup,

of course I don't go in for a crap on the weekends.

still laughing here sorry

Double D · Post by **Double D** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:28 am

deviant wrote:ah shutup,

of course I don't go in for a crap on the weekends.

Me too.

You should be the Greens new spokesman Dan.

(Â´sif anyone craps on the weekends!)

meg25 · Post by **meg25** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:45 am

The cattle and dairy industry use massive amounts of water, and why? So we can eat cow and drink it's milk. Has anyone tried Roo, it's tasty, lower in fat and environmentally friendly!! And can you believe we grow rice here!?! (you've all seen how rice is grown? In massive plains of water.)

"In 1996-97 the agriculture sector accounted for the majority of net water consumption. Total agricultural net water consumption was 15,522 GL, which comprised 70% of the total net water consumption for Australia.

Livestock, pasture and grains (remember the majority of these grains are for feeding cattle) (excluding rice) consumed 8,795 GL of irrigated water in 1996-97. Cotton, rice and sugar each consumed 1,841 GL; 1,643 GL; and 1,236 GL respectively in 1996-97."

Clearing land and farming cattle also results in salinity.
"One particular issue affecting water quality in many areas of Australia is salinity, which is now widely recognized as one of the nation's most devastating environmental problems."

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:54 am

I love roo

both for the taste etc etc and the reasons you have stated. But it's harder to find and 3-4 times the price

ADD_Boy · Post by **ADD_Boy** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:56 am

Read a fantastic article in New Scientist a while ago ...

Check this out:

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:56 am

Roo is cheap as Devi!

Post by **breaksRbest** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:57 am

meg25 wrote: And can you believe we grow rice here!?! (you've all seen how rice is grown? In massive plains of water.)

farken unbelievable isn't it?

we have people using buckets to trap a few litres of water in their home while millions of gallons are wasted by Agriculture & Industry.

Industry is the one that pisses me off most though. They use perfectly good drinking water to do things like cool there machinery

edit: ahhhhhh, so it's all you bloody Coffee drinkers that are wasting all our precious water.

Now I can have a good answer for why I don't drink Coffee (no matter how untrue it is)

mrj · Post by **mrj** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 10:58 am

meg25 wrote:The cattle and dairy industry use massive amounts of water, and why? So we can eat cow and drink it's milk. Has anyone tried Roo, it's tasty, lower in fat and environmentally friendly!! And can you believe we grow rice here!?! (you've all seen how rice is grown? In massive plains of water.)

"In 1996-97 the agriculture sector accounted for the majority of net water consumption. Total agricultural net water consumption was 15,522 GL, which comprised 70% of the total net water consumption for Australia.

Livestock, pasture and grains (remember the majority of these grains are for feeding cattle) (excluding rice) consumed 8,795 GL of irrigated water in 1996-97. Cotton, rice and sugar each consumed 1,841 GL; 1,643 GL; and 1,236 GL respectively in 1996-97."

Clearing land and farming cattle also results in salinity.
"One particular issue affecting water quality in many areas of Australia is salinity, which is now widely recognized as one of the nation's most devastating environmental problems."

Fucking scripticles to all that meg25.

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:00 am

flippo wrote:Roo is cheap as Devi!

where from?

I live near vic markets and there is only 1 or 2 places that have it, it's usually like $16 per KG.... that's fucked.

Lil MiSbreaks · Post by **Lil MiSbreaks** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:01 am

flippo wrote:what toilet paper do you use LilMissBreaks?

Not sure how water catchments could be wiping my arse......

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:06 am

we got lots of salt water pipes here, maybe we should rig them up to the loo. Have a heavy duty rubber plumbing system to cope with the salimty.

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:17 am

Lil MiSbreaks wrote:
flippo wrote:what toilet paper do you use LilMissBreaks?
Not sure how water catchments could be wiping my arse......

Kimberly-Clarke and Carter Holt Harvey (Kleenex, Sorbent, Purex, Hygenex, Viva, huggies etc) have sourced woodchips from areas including water catchments for ages. They are begning to downsize that and moving to plantations these days though I beleive, I haven't been keeping up with forest issues for a while.

mrj · Post by **mrj** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:25 am

breaksRbest wrote:
meg25 wrote: And can you believe we grow rice here!?! (you've all seen how rice is grown? In massive plains of water.)

farken unbelievable isn't it?

we have people using buckets to trap a few litres of water in their home while millions of gallons are wasted by Agriculture & Industry.

Industry is the one that pisses me off most though. They use perfectly good drinking water to do things like cool there machinery

edit: ahhhhhh, so it's all you bloody Coffee drinkers that are wasting all our precious water.

Now I can have a good answer for why I don't drink Coffee (no matter how untrue it is)

True, but then think about coal fired power stations!!!

They dig up coal, burn it, use it to boil water to make steam, use the steam to drive turbines, hey presto electricity.

Plus they have sprinklers and hoses on the conveyors 24/7 to avoid fires (like the one in Morwell recently that was pretty huge).

In defence of the stations they actually do get a lot of the water they use from groundwater that they have to drain off the mine anyways, but it still seems pretty wasteful, not to mention that the whole process creates incredible amounts of greenhouse gasses on top.

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:28 am

toilet paper? yeah ok I can live with that....

but Tissues? GET A HANKY!
viva? GET A TEATOWEL!
huggies? My parents used washable towel nappies for both me and my brother as babies. Works fine

flippo · Post by **flippo** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:31 am

yeh, my sister has been using real nappies with my little nephew Thomas. Proud of her. They don't make baby clothes for cloth nappies anymore though really, all designed tight for the disposable ones. It's crazy how much waste nappies cause hey.

deviant · Post by **deviant** » Thu Dec 14, 2006 11:32 am

mrj wrote:In defence of the stations they actually do get a lot of the water they use from groundwater that they have to drain off the mine anyways,

doesn't that add to salinity???

Melbourne Beats

Drinkable water going down the toilet

Drinkable water going down the toilet

Re: Drinkable water going down the toilet