Post 58--The Personal--The Flushed Treasure

       

In the last post I diverted myself from the intended topic to an article of human interest, at least, of this human’s interest!  Today I’ll try to control myself and stick to the intended subject. When you’re done reading, you can judge for yourself whether or not I succeeded. 

I explained in the last post that we are experiencing serious drought in BC that started with a thin snow pack on the mountains and continues with reduced rainfall ever since spring. Our reservoirs are running unusually low. Not sure I should say “dangerously” low, but at least enough that the media talk about it every day and authorities are imposing rules for restricting the use of our water.   

            

An article by T. I Crawford and Kevin Griffin in the VS (July 8, 2015, p. A3) gives some interesting residential water stats and advice.  As to stats you may find interesting: The average Canadian household uses 340 litres of water daily, of which 30 per cent or 102 litres goes to the toilet. The average older toilet uses 12 litres a flush; the newer models, half of that. Even if this post does not get much beyond the toilet issue, if you act on it, the post will have served its purpose. 

The big toilet issue is, of course, that flush. Is it really necessary to flush after every use? Our family lived in Nigeria for 30 years; our kids grew up there till they went to college. During their early years our flush system was entirely manual, with the water coming out of a raised drum that was filled by some students who need jobs or, rather, money. So, we developed a culture of only an occasional flush, when it really could no longer be avoided. Later, we moved to the city with a complete water system, but often without the water!  Again, severe rationing was the name of the game: only when intolerable. 

When we parents found the toilet flushed, we would sometimes holler it out in shock, “Who flushed the toilet?! Why?!”  I know, it sounds ridiculous, but go live some time in a less well-equipped country and you will understand. The problem arose when we would come “home” to either Canada as in BC or the USA as in MI for a break, where there was water everywhere. Then, when someone had not flushed, I might get annoyed and yell, “Who didn’t flush the toilet?!”  And then we’d go back to Nigeria and fall back into the reverse routine! This was enough to create serious psychosis in our poor MKs! It’s a miracle our MKs (Missionary Kids) came out of that ordeal relatively unscathed.

Upon our permanent return to BC, we could not get used to the extremely wasteful use of water we ran into at every detail in our lives. By now the kids were gone and we decided to stay with the non-flush routine even in BC, though not as strenuously.  I remember discussing water usage with our BC friends and we might confide our flushing habits. They would be shocked and act horrified. We’d quickly move onto another topic!  We learned to avoid that subject altogether.  Embarrassing for us; disgusting for them.

But, ah, Griffin to our rescue in the VS. Apparently we are not the only ones, for there is this well-known little ditty that goes:

“If it’s yellow, let it mellow.

  If it’s brown, flush it down.”

Griffin advices we follow this ditty.  Thank you, Griffin. I no longer feel alone!

Another trick Fran, my wife, and I practice is to place a bottle with sand in the tank. That reduces the water by a bottle each flush. Just imagine how much water will be saved by this painless method for every toilet just in the city of Vancouver!  Go ahead. Get yourself a good-sized bottle, fill it with sand, and place it in your tank. Then go your way and forget about it, but each flush spells a save. We tried two bottles, but the tank was not big enough. 

Well, it’s time to get our mind out of the gutter. Just one more item about toilets and we move on: Make sure there’s no leakage. Griffin suggests you put some food colouring in the tank to see whether it shows up in the bowl. If it does, you should repair. Another Griffin bathroom tip: Turn off the tap while you’re brushing your teeth or shaving. Same with washing hands. 

I am amazed that this needs to be said at all. In some public male bathrooms there are notices above the urinals instructing men step by step how to wash their hands. I guess it does need to be said! How immature have we become?  Perhaps I should devote a post to how to properly wash your hands!  Come on. Give me a break. 

To finish off our litany on water preservation, I will summarize a few more of Griffin’s tips and let it go, at least for today.  I do expect there will be more about this liquity treasure in the future, but I don't want you to get bored with the subject.

Shower—Replace shower head with a “low-flow version,” take shorter showers, and shut it down while you’re lathering your body with soap and shampoo. Then turn it on to rinse. 

Kitchen tap and water—Wash food items in a bowl and then rinse, instead of keeping the tap running.  Use left-over dishwater on your plants and make sure the tap does not leak. A leak can cost 280 litres a week or 14,560 litres a year or 291 50-gallon drums wasted. Allow that leak throughout your 80 years and you’ve wasted 23,296 drums of precious water.

 

And then there’s that outdoor stuff you can do, but we’ll let it go at this. From here on, use your imagination. There’s all kinds of small and not so small steps you can take to preserve this precious life stuff.  The bottom line is: Keep your imaginative eye on that reservoir high up on the mountain from which all of us draw. It is not a bottomless pit! And think of your neighbour.

In closing and on a lighter note, figure out the mistake in the “Kitchen tap and water” paragraph above! Where do the figures mislead you? Well, at least I stuck to my announced topic today! Give me at least that much credit!