Save Water: Pee Outside? Las Vegas Sets the Example

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around water conservation strategies, particularly the idea of urinating outside as a means to save water in the context of toilet usage. Participants explore various methods and technologies related to water efficiency, including alternative toilet designs and greywater systems, while considering the implications of such practices in urban environments.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Debate/contested
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants suggest that if everyone urinated outside, significant amounts of water could be saved, estimating the volume of water used per toilet flush and the frequency of use.
  • Others mention existing practices in California where residents are encouraged to conserve water, including letting toilets go unflushed for urine and using greywater systems for irrigation.
  • Several participants discuss the concept of dual-flush toilets, which use less water for liquid waste, and share personal experiences with installing such systems.
  • One participant raises concerns about the practicality and hygiene of urinating outside, questioning how to manage waste effectively without modern sewage systems.
  • Another participant highlights that while water may re-enter the cycle, the treatment and recycling processes are complex and not always efficient, emphasizing the need for better infrastructure.
  • Some participants share personal water conservation methods, such as modifying toilet tanks and adopting water-saving shower techniques.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a variety of opinions on the feasibility and implications of urinating outside as a water-saving measure. While some support the idea, others raise significant concerns about hygiene and practicality, indicating that the discussion remains unresolved with multiple competing views.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the lack of consensus on the effectiveness of proposed methods, the dependence on local infrastructure for waste management, and the varying definitions of water conservation across different regions.

Tregg Smith
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Think about it. How much drinkable good water would we save in America if we all peed outside. I haven't come up with a formula yet. I don't mean standing on the front porch at noon and letting it go but privacy enclosures could be built. There must be close to five gallons in a toilet tank. So each person flushes maybe 5 times a day times how many people in the USA? Las Vagas has made a lot of progress in water saving over the last few years.
 
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Tregg Smith said:
Think about it. How much drinkable good water would we save in America if we all peed outside. I haven't come up with a formula yet. I don't mean standing on the front porch at noon and letting it go but privacy enclosures could be built. There must be close to five gallons in a toilet tank. So each person flushes maybe 5 times a day times how many people in the USA? Las Vagas has made a lot of progress in water saving over the last few years.

In N california we periodically have water shortages and people are asked to save water. sometimes rates are adjusted to encourage this. If you stay below a certain level you get a special rate.

State institutions then let their lawns get brown and people take various measures.

Often people let the toilet go unflushed if there is just pee. they might then let it go overnight and flush it in the morning.

Some people rig "greywater" systems to selectively run laundry water (or bath water) out into the garden.
================

Something I heard about from Europe: Toilets with two distinct flush modes.
One mode uses less water. That seems reasonable. I have no direct experience and don't know how much the better-engineered more efficient units cost.
 
There are lot of public urinals in Australia that no longer flush
They use small chemical blocks to control breakdown of minerals in the pee and
to control the smell. Seems to work. don't know what effect those chemical blocks have on
the enviroment. But at least ther is more water in a country that has a climate that is drying out

cheers
Dave

PS ... As to your subject title ... Just make sure its NOT an electric fence! haha
 
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The water isn't really wasted is it? It just enters the cycle again. The real problems are;

1) Ensuring that water supply is efficient and cost effective (we had a drought in south east England a few years ago and there was a scandal when it was discovered that for years water companies had known about leaky pipes but solved the problem by just pumping more water through the ground).

2) Ensuring that there are enough reservoirs and waste recycling plants to deal with water shortages.
 
marcus said:
Something I heard about from Europe: Toilets with two distinct flush modes.
One mode uses less water. That seems reasonable. I have no direct experience and don't know how much the better-engineered more efficient units cost.

You can get "retrofit kits" to modify existing toilets quite cheaply. Google says they are available in the USA. The basic idea is the flush handle operates in opposite directions for full and half flush.

The cheapest version of this is just to reduce the volume of the header tank by putting a few bricks in it, and then flushing twice when you have to!
 
Ryan_m_b said:
The water isn't really wasted is it? It just enters the cycle again. ...

A lot of places water is treated and then goes into a salt water bay or ocean. Or it goes into some muddy river or lake with stuff in it you wouldn't want to drink. So you can't immediately reuse it for anything.

If treated water goes into salt water ocean, for example, you have to wait until it evaporates into clouds and comes back as rain. You are right that it "enters the cycle again" but the cycle depends on further rainfall.

In terms of your "efficiency" criterion, it makes a lot of sense for people just not to use clean water unnecessarily. It is one of the cheapest ways to improve efficiency.

I am currently using laundry greywater in the back yard---for the plants growing there. It's kind of an experiment. The plants seem to be getting along all right so far. We have had some fall hot spells and they are probably glad to get any water they can :biggrin:
 
Tregg Smith said:
I don't mean standing on the front porch at noon and letting it go but privacy enclosures could be built.
And then what? It would run down a rivulet to the street where it would pool?

Do you know how long it took civilization to discover that raw sewage and heavily populated areas is a bad combination?

How do you get that urine to go further than the street curb?
You provide pipes. Underground pipes.
You flush it with a liquid to move it to a waste processing plant.
Huzzah! The modern sewage system.
 
marcus said:
Something I heard about from Europe: Toilets with two distinct flush modes. One mode uses less water. That seems reasonable. I have no direct experience and don't know how much the better-engineered more efficient units cost.
I bought and installed one of these when our old toilet crapped out. There are two chromed buttons in the tank lid with "braile" bumps on them, so you can flush by feel. It was made by American Standard, and though the flush valve is plastic-bodied, it seems to be well-designed.

It was a well-advised investment because we get our domestic water from a drilled well, and our "sewer system" is a septic tank and a leach field. I thought it best to take load off the well and the septic. The neighbors' grand-kids love the toilet and always seem to "have to go" when they come to visit - a bit of novelty.

http://www.americanstandard-us.com/products/productDetail.aspx?id=2055
 
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DaveC426913 said:
And then what? It would run down a rivulet to the street where it would pool?

Do you know how long it took civilization to discover that raw sewage and heavily populated areas is a bad combination?

How do you get that urine to go further than the street curb?
You provide pipes. Underground pipes.
You flush it with a liquid to move it to a waste processing plant.
Huzzah! The modern sewage system.

Hear, hear. I can imagine how the place would smell during a heat wave .
 
  • #10
turbo said:
I bought and installed one of these when our old toilet crapped out. There are two chromed buttons in the tank lid with "braile" bumps on them, so you can flush by feel. It was made by American Standard, and though the flush valve is plastic-bodied, it seems to be well-designed.

It was a well-advised investment because we get our domestic water from a drilled well, and our "sewer system" is a septic tank and a leach field. I thought it best to take load off the well and the septic. The neighbors' grand-kids love the toilet and always seem to "have to go" when they come to visit - a bit of novelty.

http://www.americanstandard-us.com/products/productDetail.aspx?id=2055

:smile:
 
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  • #11
To conserve water when I moved into my house 13.5 years ago, I filled two plastic 2 liter soda bottles with water and placed one in each of the two toilet tanks in my house. Next, I adjusted both of the tank floats to fill just halfway. So each tank is actually only holding about 2 gallons of flushable water (as about a quart sits below the flapper seat and the 2-liter soda bottle displaces at least a quart).

To further conserve water, I partially closed the cold water main to reduce the flow rate. On top of that, I take military-type showers (water turned on only long enough to wet down, then turned on again just long enough to rinse off), which only uses 2 or 3 gallons of water at best. This has worked superbly for me. Yes, I live alone, so there’s no one to complain about the water pressure being too low.

My water bill came just yesterday. I used a total of 300 gallons of water for the month, and that includes doing my laundry several times a month and conservatively washing dishes by hand. Cost of water for the month, $2.39. Naturally, I can’t beat the far more costly monthly customer charge, but at least I’m doing my part to conserve on water usage. I hate to see anything wasted needlessly. You’d likely be amazed by how much I reduced my natural gas heating bill last year during our coldest month, February.