Wasting Water - A Lesson from Europe

Clean, potable, water is no longer - even in the USA - a commodity that is in such great abundance that we need take no care over the amount that we use.

One of the most wasteful uses of drinkable water is flushing toilets.

We could recycle "grey" (shower, dishwasher, laundry etc.) water for flushing but that is difficult and inconvenient. As a result, only die-hard environmentalists are willing to make such efforts.

In an attempt to address this waste of water, the Federal Government (National Energy Policy Act of 1995) has mandated that all newly sold toilets shall use no more than 1.6 gallons of water per flush. By comparison, toilets in the 1950s used as much as 7 gallons per flush although, by the 1980s, design improvements had reduced that to 3.5 gallons.

There are a couple of major problems here. The first is that, even with a carefully designed system, multiple flushes - as many as three and sometimes more - are often required to get the task completed. Second, even when the system does work, the severely reduced water flow tends to create significantly increased risk of blockages in the drain from the house to the main sewer. There are quite a few studies showing that the anticipated water savings are simply not being realised and that homeowners and renters are highly dissatisfied with the performance of these devices.

In Europe, however, water saving toilets have a simpler system with two separate flush buttons. One provides a low quantity flush for circumstance when there is little in the way of waste material to be disposed of. The other button provides a full scale, old fashioned, effective flush when it is needed.

Although the European system does not have the potential to save as much water as a high-tech American low flow toilet - and it relies on the user to select the appropriate flush quantity - it works better while saving more water in the long run and keeping the customers happy.

Sadly, this situation is just another example of the best - at least the theoretical best - being the enemy of the good. The Department of Defense, as well as other advocates of the best at any cost, almost always finds that the so-called best comes with cost overruns, is delivered late, and doesn't actually work very well.