When we were little ones growing up in drought prone California there was a hippy saying when hitting the loo, "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." We still adhere to that motto, because really all of planet earth is drought prone. Water is one of our most valuable resources that we take for granted. Many toilet, sink, and shower head companies have worked hard to create modern plumbing that cleans but doesn't waste.
During a recent trip to the Monterey Bay Aquarium we were inspired by the water conservation efforts in their public restrooms and wondered if this idea would eventually make it into homes.
The women's restrooms featured toilets whose flushing lever did different things depending on which way you flushed. Pull up on the green lever and a fraction of water and water power was used to discard of urine, push the lever down and the appropriate, and larger, amount was used to get rid of the solid stuff. It's such a simple, yet important design element to an appliance that really hasn't had much innovation since it's invention.
Posted originally from: Unplggd
© 2010 Apartment Therapy
These are also in the PDX airport bathrooms!
view chilally's profile
how funny--we just moved offices, and the new building (in all its LEED glory) has these exact toilets, but the verbiage on the back of the door is what gets me. they use "#1 and #2," which seems so... second-grade. they also tout that green handle as being "coated to protect against germs." but i can totally appreciate the water saving measures!
view amber77's profile
They have them at our Costco - it was recently renovated :)
view birdseyechili's profile
Here in Australia dual flush toilets have been common in houses (mandatory now) for a good 30 years - Invented by Caroma. Interesting story - people weren't sure that such a low flow would be enough to clean the toilet, so they didnt sell very well to start with - so they installed them for free in every house in a small town and then recorded the reduction in water usage for the town. Turned out to be a brilliant marketing ploy and it has been the standard in new houses ever since
http://www.caroma.com.au/
The latest toilets (which aren't mainstream yet) have an integrated wash basin in the top. When you flush the clean water being used to refill the cistern comes out a spout so you can wash your hands before it drains into the cistern ready for flushing. Not sure how I feel about washing my hands directly above the toilet though!
view mtf's profile