My plumber once told me that if we would only flush the toilet when it was “really” necessary, and if we would “fix” leaky toilets, we could save untold thousands of gallons of water and help future generations.
From my research and talking to a plumber or three over the years, I have learned that a single flush of a standard “good” older toilet uses 1.6 gallons of water and can use as much as 5 to 7 gallons (before 1980) per flush depending upon the manufacturers through the years.
Since 1980, new “laws” supposedly limit the loss at a maximum of 3.5 gallons per flush.
If we use one statistician’s estimation of 5 flushes per day for one person, a family of 4 average persons flushes down approximately 35,000 gallons per year in this day and age!
Newer “specialty” toilets can be set to use only about 1.3 gallons of water per flush and could seemingly reduce the amount used to a little more than 12,000 gallons per year (of course, that is if we would all change out older units for the most modern)!
Now, of course, “flushing” is not the worst “waster” of toilet water—a leaking unit is the greatest culprit! Damaged or worn seals, seats, valves, etc. (Rubber parts sooner or later will age and leak, and “cleaning products” often speed up the process.) can lead to the losses of tens of thousands of gallons per year or even per month, depending upon just how bad the “aged or damaged” parts are!
So, now that we know how much water “flushing” uses and how much more might be used if the toilet(s) is/are old and/or damaged, we can see that this usage is one of the, if not the, greatest in a household!
But, how much of this water is really wasted, if we determine “wasted” to mean lost forever from the world’s supply?
The ANSWER is—drum roll—NONE OF IT!
According to what I learned from some of my science teachers in F. I. S. D. and in the East Texas State University System, “It might seem that our earth may one day run out of water, but ‘that is not the case!’” (You do not have to believe what I am writing, but I advise you to “check it out with many sources,” before you espouse or dis-espouse the above!)
The earth contains much, much water, in lakes, rivers, oceans, rocks, atmosphere, and, believe it or not, in the rocks that can be found in the “inner earth.”
And, as years roll by (for a long time), all this water is RE-CYCLED between different areas of the “system”— oceans, rivers, inner earth, atmosphere. Therefore, water (and even re-cycled fresh water) continues to be available on the earth’s surface where we live day-to-day!
And, before one of you says that, “Oh, yeah, I heard that water can leave our system by vaporizing in our atmosphere and escaping into outer space,” let me remind you that as you move into our outer atmosphere, you reach extremely cold areas—minus 50 to minus 60 degrees Celsius—and when the water reaches these areas, it freezes into solid crystals that are heavy enough to fall back into our lower atmosphere levels and then on down onto the Earth’s surface.
All water that we use—every single drop—continues through the “CYCLE” and ends up back in some type of “use” somewhere, some day!
So, while we will never run out of water, as things “progress” now, we may run out of clean, fresh water that is readily available for use whenever we want or need it!
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