Drinking Water Is Scarce but We Literally Shit in It
How you can lower your ecological footprint in a way that makes sense
I wash my face with toilet water.
Well, I washed it once with water from the tank of a toilet, to be exact. I don’t completely recall the circumstances several years ago but the water supply was cut and we didn’t have much backup. We had a few bottles of drinking water, but those were off-limits.
So, at my father’s behest, I happily used that water to clean myself up.
Guess what happened?
Nada. I was perfectly fine.
Several years later, I return to this situation and wonder why the water I defecate into is so darn clean.
Many of us are looking for ways to cut back on our ecological footprint. Wasting less water can help you do precisely that while greatly benefiting your local environment.
Why do we poop in drinking water?
The truth is that we poop in fresh drinking water. A response to a Facebook post about using a composting toilet sums up how I feel about this.
Yeah, yeah. I understand that me using less freshwater doesn’t directly mean someone in a drought-stricken country will have more clean water. But, it feels like the right thing to do and as a Southern Californian, we’re in perpetual droughts these days!
It appears that the wastewater systems in many developed nations were constructed when clean water was presumed to be an endless resource. And frankly, having one line feed a house water and one line extract all waste is the simplest solution to satisfy sanitation needs. In classic fashion, we chose the route of simplicity with the lowest near-term cost without calculating the long-term ramifications.
Sadly, those forever water illusions are now a thing of the past.
Drinking water crises
Water is essential to life. Duh.
Yet, roughly 10% of Homo Sapiens lack access to safe water, which is seen as one of the five biggest risks to society. Researchers state that four billion people “live under conditions of severe water scarcity at least 1 month of the year.”
There are several reasons why that is the case, comprising shifts in climate, natural disasters, and war.
But another culprit, waste, is also a significant driver of these water crises. We waste a lot of water every day in the United States through means like dripping faucets, over-watering lawns, and water waste in restaurants.
These seemingly small instances of waste across a population like that of the U.S. adds up quickly. On top of waste by the end users, the EPA states that 16% of water is lost before it even reaches homes.
The most internationally notable water crisis of late was in 2018, as Cape Town, South Africa, approached the fateful “Day Zero,” in which it would be forced to shut down all water taps for its four million residents. Thankfully, they averted that day by curtailing water use, but it was a dire time.
Helen Zille, Western Cape province’s premier at the time, sums up the conditions best:
“No person in Cape Town should be flushing potable water down a toilet any more. At home, for example, we turned off the tap of the toilet’s cistern, store grey water in the bath, and scoop it out to fill the cistern when needed. No one should be showering more than twice a week now.”
The cost of changing the status quo
Surely, our engineering has advanced enough that we don’t need to resort to Helen’s method of storing greywater — which is domestic wastewater generated from streams without fecal contamination such as a sink — in the bathtub.
Estimates suggest that installing a greywater system costs between $500 and $2,500. As material prices rise, that number could move up.
But a homeowner can expect water savings whether their system leaches into a nearby garden bed to grow food or is also held in a tank to flush toilets.
While some loud voices may suggest that individual actions have little to no bearing on our collective environmental impact, I’d argue that every drop in the bucket counts. Sure, we need systemic change, but we can walk and chew gum.
Installing a greywater collection system is one way a homeowner may lower their footprint, put less strain on local water systems, and provide themselves with savings that may break even in a few years. Research greywater laws and installation estimates in your area — many municipalities offer rebates!
After all, doesn’t it seem a bit silly to poop in water clean enough to drink?
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