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Making your home more sustainable does not have to mean spending thousands on expensive systems. Hout Bay resident Kirsten Zsilavecz flushes her toilet only with grey water using the following:

1. 2 litre scoop (recycled pool chemical packaging)

2. 15 litre bucket

3. 50 litre plastic drum.

It works like this:

• The shower is above the bath, which is very convenient but not essential.

• The toilet cistern cover is removed and kept off.

• The tap for the clean water going into the toilet is closed.

• Water is collected by placing the bucket below while showering, and from the plugged-up bath.

• The water in the bucket is poured directly into the cistern, or poured into the drum (kept in bathroom) for later use.

• The drum is kept in the bath, empty the water out if it stands for longer than a day (It should not be stored longer than necessary as bacterial activity will increase).

• Use the scoop to transfer water from the bath to the drum, or to the bucket for filling the cistern.

• A normal shower should give at least 3 flushes (3 x 8 to 12 litres depending on the cistern size).

 

“Using shower water for flushing the toilet has become a habit and it now feels wrong to flush with clean drinking water” says Kirsten. “My appreciation of the value of water started when I was living in a remote area of Kwa-Zulu Natal where all water had to be brought in using a bakkie and 25 litre drums. Even after I moved to another farm, clean water was always a precious commodity, and had to be heated on a wood stove for bathing. I got used to bathing my young children in a bucket (using a larger size as they grew!). They liked this as they could sit soaking in the hot water up to their neck, and it used much less hot water than filling a bath. So I got used to using buckets, and came up with my toilet-flushing habit when I got the 50 litre drum which fits well in the bath. Lifting the buckets is a muscle-toning exercise for the upper body, and you can put more or less water in the bucket depending on your strength level. This is just my way of doing it with the equipment that I had, I’m sure other Hout Bay residents can come up with their own creative water saving-solutions!

 Using soap and hair products will cause a greasy lining inside the buckets and the cistern.  I run the shower water whilst waiting for it to heat up into a bucket.  This clean water is used to rinse out the cistern which can be easily cleaned using a long-handled dish-washing brush.  If anything, I have become more aware of body wash products and amounts used – and my success is measured by how less-gunky the whole process becomes.

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Rod Tritton, a Hout Bay resident and landscaper / tree expert,
 sent in this excellent idea.

Pissing into the wind :)

Environmentally it is incumbent on us, especially us men with a handy device, to wee outdoors. In your own private garden that is.

Seriously, it should be mandatory, and for a multitude of reasons.

1.  Firstly and more obviously weeing outdoors saves the water used for flushing. This is a precious resource that costs us nationally and individually and is indulgently wasted on toilet flushing. 30% of household water! 5-10 litres per flush.

2.  It also alleviates the pressure on the sewerage system which costs the environment, the local authority and ultimately ourselves.

3.  Urine is a valuable source of organic nitrogen as well as a host of other micronutrients essential for plant growth. It therefore reduces our dependence on inorganic fertilizers and the resultant eutrophication (over-fertilization) of the environment as they leach into rivers and dams. The Chinese have been utilizing their effluent on their fields for centuries and it has worked for them.

4.  It gives us an opportunity to check on our gardens and plants and see what they need.

5.  And Spiritually, it gives us the satisfaction that we are contributing to the environment and not degrading it which we do with most of our daily actions. Far from pissing into the wind, weeing outdoors offers us a brief moment to appreciate nature and commune with her, offering our “give-away” in a reciprocal energy exchange which can revitalize our souls.

A quick hint though. Don’t wee in the same spot as the plants might start to burn. Spread your gifts around and you will find, unlike pissing into the wind, that they come back to you in other more rewarding ways.

Lots more water saving tips here