To flush or not to flush - that is the question!

Two cousins, retired nursing sisters in the 1970s, lived and travelled together. Whenever they went on holiday, usually to stay in some swanky hotel, would never travel without "the kit". Rubber gloves, cleaners, and cleaning utensils plus disinfectant, and on arrival clean their bathroom and loo. They would very often remind any family member intent on a holiday "don’t forget the kit".

I bet they were a barrel of laughs.

I would hate to use the toilet with someone else's wee in there. Yuk! Flush every time in our house.

For those people who find it 'disgusting' to leave urine unflushed in the lavatory I suggest they would find it even more difficult to have water rationed.

We always flush but there's no problem with water waste. The loo gets little use. My wife is far too posh to poop.

We always flush. Its unfair on the next person to view whats in there!

Our loo cistern tes ages tonfill so at "heavy traffic" times wee sometimes gets left, but I prefer not to.

We live in a rural area and do not have mains drainage and as a result we are careful about how much water we put down the drain - up to a point anyway. Our grey water drains through the neighbouring fields and the tank is emptied annually. We are not on a water meter and so the cost doesn't come into it.

Children at primary school have known this mantra for years. I kid you not!
If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown cover it with toilet paper and leave it for the next person.
The children fall into three groups-those who never flush whatever they have put in there, those who can’t go and end up with wet/soiled pants because it hasn’t been flushed and those who automatically flush and wash their hands (a very small group in a lot of primaries).
We have water hippos in our cisterns so use less water, but we flush anyway.
We keep showers as short as we can but I don’t know how other folks showers work. If I turn our electric one off mid shower while I shampoo my hair I’d be rewarded with a jet of VERY hot water followed by a period of cold water which I’d have to avoid-thus wasting more water than if I’d left it rinsing my shower gel off me whilst I start shampooing.
In South Sudan, where water was scarce, showers were short and blessedly cold.

I will flush the loo every time if I've got visitors but if it's only me, then I don't flush every time I have a wee - waste of water.

Flush every time. I'm on a water meter but for the amount of water it uses its not going to make that much difference to the water bill

Same here. Another bugbear is how much water you have to run (with a combi boiler ) before it comes through hot. I can collect at least 2 litres in an old milk carton which I put in the water butt. (A friend does the same but uses it to flush the loo - haven’t quite resorted to that!)

Water is not infinite and we will soon be made to do things like not flushing every time unless we get to grips with our excessive use of water. Perhaps everyone should be on a meter now, then they will think twice about wasting it!

I've lived in countries with water shortages or where the price of water is sky high. I'm very mindful of this when using the toilet or using water for a shower or bath, even to this day.

I remember my parents using water from washing dishes - pouring it onto plants to keep them alive. They survived despite the soap suds! Showering - we turned off the tap when soaping.

My sister, at the moment, stands in a tub in the shower and uses the water run off to water plants. Unfortunately the country where she is in at the moment - the municipality monitors water usage and water run off. Yes, they get charged for water run off (how, I'm not too sure how it is monitored). So her water run-off is captured and utilised. Her husband is into irrigation so is currently rigging up something to bypass the runoff pipes and getting all pipes to flow into the garden/veggie patch.

Yes, I use that rhyme. Water is such an amazing commodity - it’s a privilege not a right to be able to turn a tap on and get clean, pure water, but we have to use it carefully.

I do, of course, flush if I’m in other people’s homes (not a problem at the moment!).

I flush every time but cannot understand why people let the tap run while brushing teeth. Also I have a combi boiler which seems to take a while to heat the water so I now save it in milk cartons to water the plants. I usually fill 2 x 4pint bottles before the water is hot

How does this advice sit alongside waste-sorting advice re rinsing all tins, plastic milk bottles etc before putting them in the recycling? ?‍♀️

I can't stand the smell of wee, mine or anyone else's, so if I go to use an unflushed loo I either end up retching or flushing it before I use it. My son's partner's parents clearly have metered water, so she is used to leaving it to mellow in our house if she stays overnight, and always has a bath at our house before going home to her parents' house!

I thought it's a good little saying and have often thought of it when I first read it on Gransnet.

I obeyed the advice for a while, except when expecting visitors. I found that urine when left to stand leaves a deposit on the porcelain that can't be removed without using a cleaning product and at least one flushing, so unless my urine is pale or during the night time, I flush after I pee.

I know this doesn't apply to everyone but it's going to affect a lot of people environmentjournal.online/articles/parts-of-england-could-run-out-of-water-within-20-years-report-says/

Sodapop you are quite right. I will revert to not flushing urine away.

We have a water meter at home and we only routinely flush the loo after a poo! However, we don't expect visitors to follow the same practice and we always ensure the loo is flushed when visitors arrive.

Keeping the tap running whilst brushing our teeth is also outlawed.

Flushing results in odour and water droplets depositing and circulating in the air.

Even if we didn't have a water meter we would still only flush away solids.

Alexa
You don't have to use a cleaning product white vinegar or Coca-Cola works just as well.

winterwhite

How does this advice sit alongside waste-sorting advice re rinsing all tins, plastic milk bottles etc before putting them in the recycling? ?‍♀️

I wash these after washing the dishes.

dontmindstayinghome the mantra is not about saving money but about saving what is an incredibly important and finite resource. During the recent heatwave SE Water were asking on a daily basis that we conserve water as some local areas were without water. The demand for clean water was greater than their ability to recycle dirty water.

Clearly for some people, sadly, it is also about saving money and water meters do tend to make you more aware of the way water is used.