To save water my wife and I do not flush the loo every time we do a small wee. Is this hygienic?

Question

We of course do not follow this practice if we have visitors or if we are visitors. If carried out nation wide the saving of water supplies would be astronomical. I know its rained a lot lately ..anticipation of some answers

Answer 1

Of course if done properly and the WC is kept clean. A drop of sterile pee is totally harmless. Don't do it if you have visitors though, and flush before you go out. Good idea. Environmentally friendly

Answer 2

You could put a brick in your cistern which would raise the water level and so reduce the amount of water released by flushing. Or install the twin flush system which looks as though it may be mandatory in Oz and NZ since I've never seen a single, all or nothing, flush there.
Until the bacteria start to get at urine it is usually pretty well safer than much of the World's drinking water; gypsies always recommended that a baby's eyes were only wiped with a newly wetted nappy because that was purer than the well or stream water to which they had access.

Answer 3

I'm glad to see this question!
Saving water is a really big thing now in Australia due to water shortages and drought, and no new toilets can be installed without a dual flush.
I find that the "yellow let it mellow" system is the done thing here; it's become socially unacceptable in Sydney to be seen wasting water!

My family have the same system as you, and we find we're using a lot less water.
We just keep the lid down, but here you can buy toilet deodorisers, similar to a fragrance brick type thing that you hook into the bowl of your toilet, that actually neutralise the odour instead of just covering it up with a horrible flowery scent.

Another water saving idea is to keep a bucket in your shower to catch the cold water while waiting for it to heat up, you can then use this to water the garden or even flush the toilet.

Answer 4

My in-laws used to do this, and it didn't harm them in any way, but personally I'm not keen - I just don't like to see yellow when I lift the lid! I would worry about it getting a bit smelly too. Maybe a compromise solution would be the old 'brick in the cistern' idea - so you use less water when you flush. In Japan some loos have a little cold water tap above the cistern - so you can wash your hands in the flowing water as it travels down via a little bowl and then a hole to refill the tank.

Answer 5

This is a good idea and is being carried out in many households who care for energy conservation, The supply of potable water is not infinite. It appears that the Americans, by their replies, think they just draw it from their rivers by millions of gallons, what happens to the farmer, and consumers, downstream, when some city and major industry have sucked the river dry. We in Britain get most of our water from man made reservoirs, but it still has to be cleansed before usage in households. Without clean water, we die. Just a couple of piddles per flush does not seem a great hardship to save the planet. After all, the french pee anywhere.

Answer 6

i think the better alternative for this is to put bricks or better yet a big empty bottle of water or soda (a size which will fit the cistern, maybe 2-3 liter plastic bottle) and put water on it then close well and put it inside the cistern. this way you're using less water for flushing. we're using this method (the second option) for quite some time and we observed the big difference, we really saved water a lot than before we didn't do this, i hope i helped, have a good day! : )

Answer 7

I'm sure it's not very sanitary but your not the first to do this. If you have a cistern or well water that relies on rain to keep the water level up for use then you have to do these things every once in awhile to get by.
I would be a good neighbor if I were you and tell your friends to call before they come over.

Answer 8

Have you ever seen the documentary where they measure the bacteria on a toothbrush which is on a shelf in the bathroom ? The bacteria is from urine, it floats up into the air if you flush the loo without the lid being closed. A build up of bacteria is what you will ultimately have in your bathroom if you don't flush every time - yeuch! Install a dual flush w.c. suite.

Answer 9

We do the same. It is not un-hygienic. We follow pretty much the same protocol as you do.

Waste water is not 100% recycled, there is loss from leaking sewers, etc. In our area, the cost of water and sewage treatment has gone up drastically, so if you can save 5-10 gallons a day, it adds up.

Skipping four flushes a day of a low flow, 1.6 gallon per flush toilet saves over 2300 gallons per year.

Answer 10

If its yellow, let it mellow, if its brown, flush it down. You could also ask your water supplier to send you a special bag you put in your cistern which ultimately makes the flush use much less water (not sure how) than it normally would, with the same effect. They should be free.