Houston. We have a problem

Straight Flush...

July 22, 2003
By Peter Meingast

Toilets use more water than any other bathroom fixture. In fact, flushing a normal single flush toilet can use up to 4 gallons (16 litres) of water per flush. New, more water efficient toilets generally use 0.8 gallons (only 3 litres each flush).

Assume the average western 12 year old urinates 5 times a day, and the average western 9 year old goes 8 times a day - and they flush each time.

Asumme also that the majority of these children live in buildings with older standard flush toilets that use 4 gallons of water per flush.

Then the average American, Canadian or Australian home with two children consumes approximately 52 gallons (197 litres) a day of clean water just to flush trace amounts of kiddie pee. (13 flushes at 4 gallons = 52 gallons or 197 litres)

What does this mean?
If 1/3rd of the following populations are families with two children who flush the toilet a total of 13 times per day just to remove child urine, then:

Portland, OR - A city of 529,121 people flushes 9.2 million gallons (34.7 million litres) of potable water daily.

That becomes 3.3 billion gallons (12.7 billion litres) or 1027 acre-feet of potable water annually.

Toronto, ON - A city of 4.5 million people flushes 78.0 million gallons (295,230,000 litres) of potable water daily.

That becomes roughly 28.5 billion gallons (108 billion litres) or 87,358 acre-feet of potable water annually.

Sydney NSW - A city of 4.2 million people flushes 72.8 million gallons (34,736,000 litres) of potable water daily.

That becomes roughly 26.6 billion gallons (101 billion litres) or 81,534 acre-feet of potable water annually.

Vancouver BC - A city of 1.9 million people flushes 34.4 million gallons (131 million litres) of potable water daily.

That becomes roughly 12.6 billion gallons (47.6 billion litres) or 38,572 acre-feet of potable water annually.

Calgary AB - A city of 828,500 people flushes 14.4 million gallons (54.4 million litres) of potable water daily.

That becomes roughly 5.2 billion gallons (19.8 billion litres) or 16,083 acre-feet of potable water annually.

Edmonton AB - A city of 686,917 people flushes 11.9 million gallons (45.1 million litres) of potable water daily.

That becomes roughly 4.3 billion gallons (16.5 billion litres) or 13,335 acre-feet of potable water annually.

The solution
Well, choosing to not flush aside, the most readily available solution is to invest in a water efficient toilet – a discussion coming up in August’s edition of Facts & Stats.

Source: GVRD, City of Portland, City of Edmonton, City of Toronto, City of Calgary, Sydney Tourism

Key: 1 acre-foot = 325,900 gallons of water (the volume of water required to cover one acre of land, one foot deep)

© Copyright 2003 Galt Western Personnel Ltd. Unless otherwise specified, you may reprint this article, quote from it, use it in research or projects, duplicate it or distribute it. Credit of authorship and source MUST be given to galtglobalreview.com. Ownership of Copyright remains with Galt Western Personnel Ltd.

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