Dont Flush

[er 59]

ken livingstone has said that we do not need to flush the loo every time we go
we waste far too much water
he predicts standpipes in the street by next summer and claims we use 165 litres of water a day compared to 120 litres in cities such as copenhagen and berlin

would you feel ok about not flushing your loo or do you think he is just a bit potty ?

[Lady Penelope]

:lol: I knew you would do this when I heard this on the radio today :P

I think he said

if it's yellow leave it be
if it's brown flush it down.....

If it really is a national problem, I guess I will always participate to save water....we have a hosepipe ban in my area too already :rolleyes: .

So I will go with flow (pardon the pun) :lol:

LPxx

[er 59]

hi again
i told my mum today when she phoned
and she said "oh dear i will have to tip a bucket of water down it then you cant leave piddle in the loo"
she is probably still trying to figure out why i was laughing bless her !

[Neighboured]

Oh, what a great idea from Ken "let's rid Trafalger Square of all the pigeons" Livingstone. The man is a total donkey! :rolleyes: Rather than being the mayor of our capital city, he should be giving children rides on a beach somewhere! :hihi:

Why do we appear to use so much water?

1) Because although he has been in positions of authority most of his adult life (GLC, MP, Mayor of London) he has not pushed for flush urinals that are controlled by a button and only flushed when needed and not, as in the UK, every ten minutes 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, even when the toilets are not used. :angry: They have had them in Holland (for example) for at least 30 years.

2) Much of the water that apparently is consumed never reaches the consumer because it leaks into the ground because of old, inefficient water meters and old, crumbling pipes.

3) There hasn't been a programme to change old style toilet cistens to modern, low flush types.

And all Ken can up with is: "It's alright. Just leave the urine to fester in the hot weather. It stinks, it's unhygenic, but who cares? Certainly not Ken Livingstone! :rolleyes:

[sesentayuno]

Well said Neighboured,

That is by far the dumpest thing I have ever heard from a politician (not including GWB and TB on the war of Iraq)!! I remember from my visit to Singapore (a country that has to buy their water supply from neighbouring Malaysia) where every urinal is equipped with a PIR sensor, which will trigger a flush once the person that activated it left. And it is common to find push-button flusher where you have to option to flush with half tank or full tank of water.

Why can't we have that is beyond me....

Ses

[Eskander]

The problem: Water companies are now in private ownership

Why is that a problem? Fixing leaks costs money which means reduced dividends for share holders.

Not flushing the loo saves money for the water companies so dividends increase.

Result: water companies and share holders are happy and customers are smelly and thirsty

there's progress for you.

[Eeyore]

I heard this too, and couldn't believe my ears :o

What a silly idea, are we going back to the middle ages ;)

We are lucky up here, never have a water shortage/hosepipe ban, our reservoir is still 90% full :thumbs:

[alicks]

I also heard - hopefully tongue in cheek that skinny people shouldn't have baths, because unlike fat people the skinnies use too much water in a full bath!! :bigeyes:

Managed to score some easy points with the wife last night, by telling her she couldn't have one though :lol: :lol: :lol: :rolleyes:

[phantos02]

OK I have a question about 'grey water'. I keep hearing that we should be using our 'grey water' i.e. left over water from bathing and washing machines etc to water our gardens.

Does anyone here do this?

I would assume that it is not appropriate to be putting water containing washing powder and fabric conditioner all over a garden so do you have to have some sort of filter equipment? :unsure:

[Eeyore]

Well my washer is plumbed into the drain directly so I'd have to lift the drain to collect the water ;)

And I wouldn't fancy putting soapy water on my garden at all ;)

[phantos02]

Yes Eeyore I have to say that actually collecting the water in the first place would be a job as I live in a first floor flat!

But as the flat is on the market it is something to think about when we (eventually, hopefully) move.

Another tip I heard was not to leave the tap running while brushing your teeth. If you think about it, if you brush your teeth for the recommended time, that is 3 minutes of running water which is basically doing nothing. Multiply that by the number of people in your house and the number of times they brush their teeth in a day and that is a lot of water!

Don't think I would want to leave number 1 sitting in the toilet though. I'd have to flush!!!

[Annabel]

:) trust our Ken to come out with something headline grabbing!!

seriously though folks, it is important to save water, it is a precious resource. B)

A lot of our toilets do flush far too much water through , so its a good idea to get a 'water hippo', (given away free by Thames Water if you are in their area) put it in your loo and it will cut down on the amount of water that gets flushed through.

also dont leave the tap running when you brush your teeth!

[Eeyore]

I always turn off the tap when I'm brushing my teeth, comes from being on a water meter I guess :D which I must say does make you aware of how much you use, and is a lot cheaper than not being on a meter :thumbs:

[sp54]

Our area was the first to introduce a hose pipe ban, and this was a few months back! We can still use a hose, but only 'hand held' ie no sprinklers etc. We are now being threatened with a full ban :unsure:

[er 59]

neighboured :thumbs:
totally agree with all of your comments

[er 59]

hi bikkeroc
nice to know bath water doesnt harm the garden :)
when you say you put a half brick in the cistern what did that do did it lower the water level and limit the amount used?

[er 59]

bikkeroc
thats a really good idea :notworthy:
i dont know what water hippos are either im sure someone will tell us though
forgot to add for watering the garden without the hose you cant beat the good old water butt not many people seem to have them anymore ive got one at the side of the shed and even though we have had a hot spell its nice and full :)

[er 59]

hi again bikkeroc
re water hippo
just looked it up on good old google it appears to be a sort of bag that sits inside the cistern and saves about 3 litres of water when fitted

it doesnt look like a real hippo at all :lol:

[tortoise]

We don't leave our loo without flushing it, but if we go one after the other just for No 1's we often leave the chain for one another. Especially before bed as flushing it twice would take ages and be noisy.

We also sometimes share bath water. Mr T and I used to get in together, but we are too fat now!!


We haven't had a hosepipe ban for ages, but then again we haven't had any rain for ages either. Still waiting for rain, thunder etc!!

[Neighboured]

Washimg up water can be used in a watering can. We save ours up. We also don't use a hosepipe we use a watering can, instead. Haven't used the hosepipe since we moved. Mind you, we are on a meter and pay a fraction of what we used to pay.

[Neighboured]

Yorkshire water is good, though I believe Birmingham water is better. It tastes so nice! :)

[Neighboured]

But Birmingham water is really water from the mountains of Wales, so is special Celtic water. :)

[janieb]

TortoiseWe also sometimes share bath water. Mr T and I used to get in together, but we are too fat now!!

I can equate with that. :D

Actually, I think bath water could be good for the garden if it has soap in it. We used to use soapy water to get rid of greenfly from roses. :)

[Neighboured]

Actually, I think bath water could be good for the garden if it has soap in it. We used to use soapy water to get rid of greenfly from roses.

I think that's proably why washing up water is good for getting rid of greenfly, too. :)

[Eeyore]

Originally posted by Neighboured@1st July 2005 - 1:44 AM
Actually, I think bath water could be good for the garden if it has soap in it. We used to use soapy water to get rid of greenfly from roses.

I think that's proably why washing up water is good for getting rid of greenfly, too. :)
118361


Probably right :) I once bought an organic rose spray, it was just soapy water :blush: