Americans use 127% more water today than they did in 1950, and over a quarter of the clean water used in American homes is literally flushed down the toilet. This is an alarming statistic, considering that 884 million people across the planet lack access to a clean water supply. While many people survive using only three gallons of water a day, most toilets use three gallons of water with each flush. To save water in his own home, one Redditor and his wife built a greywater toilet sink.
Greywater is waste water that has been used to wash dishes in the kitchen, hands in the bathroom, bodies in the shower, and clothes in the washing machine. Greywater has very little human waste in it, so it can be recycled for things like watering plants and flushing toilets. A greywater toilet pushes the clean water normally used to fill the toilet bowl through a spout, so you can wash your hands with clean water, and the toilet bowl refills with greywater. This way, you aren’t flushing a precious resource down the drain. Check out how it’s made.
The project started out as a normal toilet.
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They drilled two holes into the toilet tank cover. One for the spout and one for the sink drain.
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Since the drill bit gets hot, they made a dam with plumber’s putty and filled it with water before drilling the hole.
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They cut up copper plumbing parts to make the spout.
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The spout contains a plastic tube for water to travel through.
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They found a bowl at a thrift store to use as a basin. They drilled a hole in the bowl and attached it to the tank cover. The drain assembly is attached to a dishwasher hose.
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Floyd, the cat, helped.
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Here’s what the inside of the tank looks like once the tank cover is reattached. The clear tube attached to the blue fill valve diverts water into the spout instead of into the toilet bowl. The dishwasher hose attached to the basin of the sink sends the dirty….er, greywater, into the toilet bowl for the next flush.
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Here’s the finished product.
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(source Reddit)
Although a sink attached to your toilet looks gross at first, it’s really an amazing way to save water. The mechanics of this invention are so simple, almost anyone could turn their toilet into an eco-friendly flusher. Would you do this in your home?
