Flushing less away

I have cut down our water consumption by over 6,500 liters a year. And yes, I am feeling quite smug about it.

I’ve am increasingly concerned about global access to, and shortage of water. I figure that (at the moment) I can’t single-handedly find a solution to the plummeting levels of our underground water reservoirs. Or, for that matter, give every living person access to clean drinking water (however, I AM trying with charity:water – check them out).

But, I CAN reduce the amount of water I use, and I started with our toilet.

When it’s full, our toilet cistern contains 2.4 gallons of water. That’s either 9 or 11 liters depending on whether those gallons are US or UK (unfortunately our cistern doesn’t specify). Seeing as our toilet doesn’t have a half-flush option, that’s a heck of a lot of water every time we turn the handle.

So, I put bottles of water in to our cistern to displace the water and reduce the amount we flush. It took all of 5 minutes, it didn’t require a plummer, and it goes some way to cutting down my overall water usage.

Some bottles I filled up to put in our cistern turned out to be too large. Ended up using a lot of jam jars.

The finished product - it ain't pretty, but it works.

Still feeling smug.