Wednesday, December 2, 2009

Down the Drain


I've mentioned before that I think Americans squander their resources. Last week I came across a particularly extreme manifestation of this:

During a visit to the "restroom" at the airport, I was amazed that the toilet seemed to flush for ever. On closer - though not too close - inspection of the bowl, I discovered that rather than being the usual 1GPF (1 gallon per flush = 3.78 litres) model or its more profligate cousin, the 1.6GPF variety, this toilet used a staggering three-and-a-half gallons of drinking water each time it was flushed. That's a jaw-dropping 13.25 litres!

What are they trying to flush away? Entire planes?

1 comment:

New World Newbie said...

Frighteningly enough, I've now found out that my figures are paltry compare to past water wastage. Apparently before 1982 American toilets consumed 5-7 gallons with each flush.