Save Gallons of Water Every Day!

Intro: Save Gallons of Water Every Day!

Use water from the shower to flush your toilet and save gallons of water every day. Works great for those showers that take a while to warm up.

STEP 1: Step 1

Position a bucked under the faucet in your tub.

STEP 2: Step 2

Turn on the hot water to warm up the shower. The first gallon or so of water that comes out of the faucet is usually cold (depending on the shower). Catch all the cold water in the bucket.

STEP 3: Step 3

Once the bucket has 2 or 3 gallons of water in it, pour it into your toilet. Some toilets require more or less water. It just depends on what type you have.

STEP 4:

The toilet will automatically flush when you pour enough water into it.

STEP 5: Step 5

Works great with used bath water too! Unless someone drinks it first....

Comments

[diy_bloke]

As I live in the Netherlands. there is no shortage of water. Still, I do preserve water. A tip for your toilet is to connect the drain of your bathroom sink to the downpipe that flushes your toilet.

Every time you pee, don't flush, but wash your hands. The wastewater will flush the toilet.

This might not be enough for a number 10 and you can still use water that you collect over the day for that as described above.

Water from the dishes goes on my plants, just as water from my bath tub

Last year, I cut my water usage in half (saving 30 m3 on 2 persons). Not that that is financially rewarding (I think it saved me 30 euro's) coz water is still cheap here (1ct for 10 liters) and the bigger part of my bill is taxes, taxes on taxes and levy's and VAT on that. I just do it coz I hate wasting stuff.

One needs to be financially wise though. Buying a rainbarrel would easily eat away 2-3 years saving on my bill with the low tech techniques I already employ

[supercoolio]

I have a question. How does flushing the cold water down the toilet save more energy. Wouldn't it be the same if it just went down the drain?

[rashidmaroof]

you would flush the toilet that you used.  not an empty toilet. so when you use the toilet in the morning, instead of using the tank water to flush it, you would wait and use the water collected from the shower to flush the toilet. thus saving the tank water and using the shower water that would have gone down the drain without being used.

[WildBuh]

You're saving water. The water from the bucket flushes the toilet instead of the water from the toilet tank. The waste water from the shower would go down the drain. Instead you're collecting it in a bucket and using it to flush the toilet, saving some or our resources.

[Subconscionaut]

we do this at my place and fill big blue water barrels to bank the water just in case. I live in a place of desert and earthquakes. we had a big earthquake and a gallon of bottled water was going for 10 bucks by the next day(i like the birds, but human vultures are ugly.)
you must boil or distill it, but there's other ibles for that one! :)

[janeestevo]

We do the same thing at the kitchen sink and use the water for our verandah plants instead of watching it go down the gurgler. my mum catches it in a clean empty plastic milk container and uses it in her electric jug. we are on Level 3 water restrictions on the Central Coast of NSW Australia so have to think everytime we turn a tap on. We have a baby bath in our shower and now have navy showers so that we keep our water usage to about 40-50 litres per person. then we carry bucket loads from the baby bath and water our downstairs plants. as we rent we mostly have plants in pots so they need lots of water. we also use our washing machine water to water the lawn and the fruit trees in our backyard. i hadnt thought of using the water from the shower to flush the loo, but now when we have enough water for the backyard i will make sure that it gets a second life as flush water. we also pay for every litre of water we use, so finding a second use is saving us money and helping to save a precious resource.

[FeedTheGrid]

Good one. What a great idea! FTG

[WhiteTigerTails]

Nice trick, but I've got one better. I'll put up an instructable for it a little later.

[gcbranco]

I've been doing it for a year now. The bucket is the best solution. The hose would add more complication.

[affidavid]

couldn't you also just run a hose from the spout to the toilet and skip the bucket?

[WildBuh]

I suppose you could but I've never seen a hose that attaches to a tub faucet. Also the bucket catches some of the water when you are showering.

[mstark77]

Excellent idea. My shower takes "forever" to get hot. A hose that attaches to the tub spout and goes to the bucket would be nice, too; that way you don't have to move the bucket until you are ready to pour. ~Michael