Protecting our environment has been a priority to some groups and individuals for a long time. For others, like me, it is something that I recently became more aware of. As a kid I didn’t worry about shutting off lights to save on energy, I worried about shutting off lights so I didn’t get into trouble. The only thing that I learned in school about saving the environment was from my ninth grade science teacher who told us that we should “turn the water off while brushing our teeth.” Growing up I didn’t think much about peeing in the shower, in fact I thought it was normal. I remember my friends bringing the topic up and making fun of someone because they would pee in the shower. Of course my response was, “you don’t pee in the shower?”
I learned that day that peeing in the shower was not socially acceptable. In fact, when I told my husband about the topic I was going to be discussing for this blog, he looked at me shocked and said, “Did your teacher give you this topic to write about?” Proudly, I said “No, I picked it myself!” Recently one of my childhood friends sent me a link on Facebook. Attached to the link she wrote, “I guess all these years you have been saving the environment.” We joked and I laugh now because back then I was embarrassed but after you have kids these things don’t matter anymore.
I couldn’t find the actual article but I did find a similar one. In Berenson (2014) article it discusses how two students from the University of East Anglia in Norwich, Debs Torr and Chris Dobson, started the Go with the Flow campaign to inspire others to take their first pee of the day during their morning shower instead of using the toilet. The idea behind this campaign is that by peeing in the shower, we are potentially saving millions of gallons of water every year.
According to the EPA (2016), the average American family of four uses roughly 400 gallons of water per day, of that 26.7 percent is used by toilets. The standard toilet uses 1.6 gallons per flush. That’s a lot of water! And if you have an older toilet that can mean you’re using a lot more. If you look at the percentage of water on the pie chart above you will see that the shower only uses about 16.8% of the daily usage. Now, let’s say you shower once every day, so you would pee during that shower saving 1.6 gallons of water from not flushing the toilet. So to do the math there are 365 days in a year, times that by 1.6 gallons of water saved, for a total of 584 gallons of water. That’s 584 gallons of water that “YOU” could potentially be saving by peeing in the shower. That’s amazing!!!
I need to remember this next time I use my toilet for bug/spider disposal.
Reference
Berenson, T. (2014, Oct 10). TIME. Retrieved from College Students Asked to Urinate in Showers to Save Water: http://time.com/3490337/shower-pee-environment-water/
EPA. (2016, Sep 02). EPA. Retrieved from Water Sense: Indoor Water Use in the United States : https://www3.epa.gov/watersense/pubs/indoor.html
Thank you for your post. I really enjoyed reading your blog about this subject. It’s really quite hard to believe that a family of four utilizes 400 gallons per day. I’m now going to have to become more aware of what we use at my house each day.
Wouldn’t it be a good idea if the government was to start a water conservation program that began at home? I don’t know if your remember, but for homebuyers a couple years ago, you were given a credit if you upgraded certain features in your home to promote energy savings.
If each state promoted low flow toilets and aerator shower heads, we may have saved many many gallons. Then if the states implemented a tax benefit for changing your toilets or shower we would surely save water.
Thank you for you blog.
Blog Response
I love that you chose this as your topic for your Blog assignment this week. I also have a similar memory of my friends making fun on me for peeing in the shower; little did I know then, we were actually the more responsible ones in the group. I believe many people discourage urinating in the shower because it is a principle carried over from taking baths as children. We are told when bathing it is unsanitary to rest in one’s own urine. However, when switching over to showers, we forgot the dynamitic of water flow is completely different, water flows continuously rather than remaining still. I read an article that argues it is actually more sanitary to pee in the shower as pee is immediately washed away into the drain. Plus, not only does it save the 1.6 gallons of water per person a day, as already stated, it save water that would be used to wash hands. According to Mayo Clinic washing hands for 20 seconds is estimated to use up about 1.04 gallons of water. Therefore, not only are you saving water flushing, your saving water not using the faucet afterward. Lastly, peeing the shower saves a trip to the bathroom, in which makes more time available to do something productive with your day. Great post!
“Adult Health.” Hand-washing: Do’s and Don’ts. Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. .
“Water-conservation-sidebar.” DuPAGE WATER COMMISSION. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Sept. 2016. .
You should give The Big Thirst by Charles Fishman a read! I am reading it now, and it really puts your direct and indirect water usage into preservative. It’s sad and scary at some points.
The 1.6 gallon per flush figure is for new toilets only. I have one new toilet and one older toilet. I always use the new toilet as much as I can because I now the old toilet used ~3 gallons to flush. This isn’t dirty water either. We pee into water that is perfectly drinkable while others have to walk miles just to access dirty, unsafe water for drinking.
Pee in the shower! More Power to you!
P.S. I work for an aquarium in LA and they always have this video playing in the background. Check it out, it’s very catchy!
http://www.healthebay.org/know-the-flow