Are you flushing money (and the environment) down the toilet?
In the typical American household, 35 to 45% of all of the drinkable (or potable) water is used to flush the toilet. Older model toilets are the worst offenders, using 7-10 gallons of water with each flush. Newer models are slightly more conservative, using between 3-5 gallons. Flushing gallons of water down the toilet is not only a waste of the water itself, but also of the energy and resources used to filter that water and transport it to and from your house. It also costs you money twice: once on your water bill and again on your sewer bill.
So save yourself some money and help keep the environment from going down the toilet with these easy green parenting tips:
- Use The Can:Don’t use your toilet as a trash can. Toss tissues, dead bugs, and cigarette butts (make sure they’re out…better yet, don’t smoke!) in the garbage to avoid unnecessary flushes.
- Gotta Leak? Not sure if the toilet at your house is leaking? Drop a little food coloring in the toilet tank. If the color seeps into the toilet bowl without flushing, there is a leak.
- Dam It! You only need about 2 gallons of water to successfully flush your toilet. If your toilet uses more than that, make a toilet dam by filling a plastic water bottle with pebbles or water and place it in your toilet tank. This will reduce the overall volume of the tank and cut down on the amount of water flushed down the drain.
If you have an active toilet (and if you have kids it’s likely that you do), this can save you roughly 300 gallons of water each month.
