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Every day, Americans use 5.8 billion gallons of water to flush their toilets. In an effort to promote water conservation, Federal law mandates that all residential toilets manufactured after 1994 must use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf). As of 1997, commercial toilets were also required to reach this standard, and urinals were required to use no more than one gpf. However, older models are still very common in residences and use between 3.5 to seven gpf.[1] About three-quarters of indoor home water consumption takes place in the bathroom, and the toilet is responsible for about 28 percent of total home water usage.[2] Excessive water use can be particularly damaging if your plumbing is connected to a septic system. Overloading the system with waste water reduces the soil's capacity to absorb treated water and requires that the septic tank be emptied more often, thereby increasing maintenance costs.[3]

Cleaning products used in the toilet can also pose risk to the environment. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cites commercial toilet cleaners on its list of common household items containing potentially hazardous ingredients. The chemicals used in these cleaners are not only irritants and potential carcinogens, but they can also disrupt wildlife reproduction and strain wastewater systems. When these products are improperly disposed of—including pouring them down the toilet or drain or putting them out with the trash—they are considered to be "hazardous household waste."[4]

The water-energy connection

In conserving water, you also conserve energy. That's because water treatment and transport consumes a considerable amount energy-wise. According to the EPA, public water-supply and treatment facilities in the US use about 50 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year. In these terms, letting your faucet run for five minutes uses about as much energy as lighting a 60-watt light bulb for 14 hours. If only one percent of American homes replaced an older toilet with a high-efficiency toilet model, the country would save more than 38 million kWh of electricity. This is enough to supply more than 43,000 households with electricity for one month.[5]

In California alone, water-related energy use consumes 19 percent of the state's electricity, 30 percent of its natural gas, and 88 billion gallons of diesel fuel each year.[6]

Toilet paper

The WorldWatch Institute estimates that US toilet paper sales were $5.7 billion in 2005. The average per capita use of toilet paper in the US is 23.0 kilograms, or 50.7 pounds per year.[7] Some facial/bathroom tissue companies, such as Kimberly-Clarke (makers of the Kleenex brand) unsustainably harvest old growth forests to manufacture disposable paper products.[8] The harvest of trees negatively impacts the earth’s biodiversity by destroying wildlife habitat and affects its ability to absorb greenhouse gases. Trees absorb carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas, and "exhale," or release, oxygen.[9]

Only 19 percent of paper pulp is from recycled content. Many companies, including Kimberly-Clarke, play up their use of virgin pulp, suggesting it produces softer paper products.[8] The Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that if every US household replaced just one virgin fiber toilet paper roll with a 100 percent recycled one, it would save 423,900 trees.[10]

Chlorine dioxide is often used as a bleaching agent in the toilet paper manufacturing process. This process creates hundreds of chemicals that are released into the environment, including dioxin, a known carcinogen.[11]

Glossary

• graywater: Essentially washwater waste that comes from your sink, shower, or washing machine (after you do the dishes, take a shower or do a load of laundry), and makes up about 60 percent of household waste water. The rest is called blackwater, which contains more nitrogens and pathogens from feces and food wastes and requires treatment to render it safe for human reuse. Instead of clean drinking water, graywater can be reused to irrigate gardens and crops, or even to flush the toilet.

External links

• Toiletology 101 Everything you need to know about toilet repairs, free and online.
• Envirolet - Composting Toilet World The Official Website of Composting Toilets
• Excerpt from Natural Capitalism: Aqueous Solutions
• How Toilet Paper Is Made
• WaterSense - Efficiency Made Easy: Final Specifications for High-Efficiency Toilets: EPA's standards for water-efficient toilets.