Nothing glamorous about the toilets in the men’s restrooms on the second floor (in England they say first floor) of the King’s Lodge (which I share with however many men live on our floor). But, they did inspire a thought, as toilets, or at least time spent there, can occasionally do. When you flush either of those toilets, they don’t just send a little water through to flush out the muck; no, they roar to life with a great rush of water that swirls around voraciously, taking away all the waste that God mercifully created a way for my body to process.
How much water does a single flush of my urine or feces require? Each flush uses gallons (or litres) of water; in fact, each flush likely uses more water than many people need to drink in a single day to stay hydrated. Something in me finds this troublesome. In the U.S. and other Western Hemisphere cultures, we use tons of water each and every day simply to protect our sensitive olfactory senses. Sure, flushing toilets also helps take away potential disease causing agents, but does it really require a flush for every trip to the restroom or does it really require gallons for each use of the restroom? Billions around the world still use little more than what we would call latrines or outhouses. God forbid that an American be subjected to such a practice.
Why am I asking these questions? Well, have you considered the following facts? (I take these from Wikipedia and from data taken from the World Bank’s website.)
It is not clear how much water intake is needed by healthy people, though most experts agree that 8-10 glasses of water (approximately 2 liters) daily is the minimum to maintain proper hydration. …The latest dietary reference intake report by the United States National Research Council in general recommended (including food sources): 2.7 liters of water total for women and 3.7 liters for men.
Some 1.1 billion people still don’t have access to safe drinking water. And by 2025, some 3.5 billion people will live in places where water is scarce or becoming scarce, according to World Water Council data.
Here are some ideas of what water we use daily (taken from www.usgs.gov):
Bath: 50 gallons
Shower: 2 gallons per minute
Teeth brushing: 1 gallon
Hands/face washing: 1 gallon
Face/leg shaving: 1 gallon
Dishwasher: 20 gallons/load
Dishwashing by hand: 5 gallons/load
Clothes washing (machine): : 10 gallons/load
Toilet flush: 3 gallons
Glasses of water drunk: 8 oz. per glass (1/16th of a gallon)
It strikes me that we should call for research to be done for more efficient uses of water when used for non-drinking or cooking purposes. Christians should be the first to cry out for such. I daresay that a carefree attitude toward water use is a lack of love and falling short of the glory of God (i.e., sin). In fact, we are being unjust when we don’t work to right this problem in our world. We need to call on our government and businesses to research and create water saving techniques and ideas, not only in our country, but to export to nations where little water is available. Moreover, we should find ways to export clean water to countries that have scarcity. Please feel free to share things that you do or have done to conserve water usage.