the porcelin goddess

Right now the hottest burner for me is a dual flush toilet. A few years ago we added a 1/2 gallon jug to the toilet tank, lowered the water level and set back with a smug look on our faces. Not until this week had I thought to measure the inside of my toilet tank and estimate the amount of water that we literally flush down the drain each time we, well, flush. 4.5 gallons!!! my oh my, this is bad. Really, I knew the toilet was ancient but had no idea!

So Jesse (my husband, honey say "hi" to everyone) and I have been on a quest to replace the water hog with a slimmer, more modern 3rd cousin (cheaply). WaterSense is the label to look for when purchasing toilets (its the equivalent of EnergyStar, I think). So now we are seriously considering a dual flush toilet (which can be bought at Costco of all places for $122!).

The only thing stopping us from caving into our consumer desires and propping up the economy is a toilet sink. They're amazing, try googling "toilet sink." Basically, its a device that takes the water that normally would go from the main water line (clean water) directly into the toilet bowl and reroutes it through the toilet lid into a faucet so you can rinse your hands creating grey water. At this point the grey water drains into the toilet bowl and thus you flush with partial grey water and don't have to turn on the sink.

The problem - will this work on the dual flush? I guess it doesn't really matter, we're pro-choice, and that includes flushing. But if it will work, that would be amazing! Of course we won't be buying one of the prefabricated toilet sinks, rather we will be utilizing parts and pieces and a drill bit to create our own. Therein lies the problem. We want to experiment on the beast, not the beauty.