In many homes, the largest portion of our water use is by our toilets. Older homes in particular often still have toilets that use 13 litres each time they are flushed. That’s a lot of water! Toilets that we buy today usually only use 4.8 litres for each flush or less. Because toilets use so much water, it is important that we focus on reducing their consumption.
Don’t flush garbage
It’s never a good idea to use your toilet to flush garbage and other items. Not only do these items cause problems for our sewer systems, it is wasteful to use water to flush them away, instead of placing them in the compost or waste bin. Some items that should not be flushed:
- Tissue/paper towel only (if you are simply using a piece of tissue, put it in the compost, not the toilet)
- Wrappers (waste or recycling)
- Dental Floss (garbage)
- Diapers (garbage)
- Feminine Hygiene Products (garbage)
- Baby Wipes/ Flushable Wipes (garbage)
- Q-Tips/Cotton Balls (garbage)
- Kitty Litter (garbage)
- Food Waste (compost)
- Cooking Grease (compost)
Replace with a low-flow toilet
If you have a toilet that needs 13 litres for each flush, you should consider replacing the toilet with a newer low-flow toilet. Low flow toilets use 4.8 litres for each flush or less. This difference would likely save you at least 30 litres every day. When shopping for a new toilet be sure to look for these two specifications: 4.8 Litre Flush (or less) and 1000g MaP Rating (as listed on the website www.map-testing.com)