Water, Water Everywhere, and Not a Drop to Drink

As a designer I have always specified Kohler or Sterling products because they are well made, beautiful products and made in America. Their faucets, sinks and toilets have been  on the cutting edge
of  technology for conserving water. In taking some courses in LEED certification a few years ago, I learned that “Kohler has been concerned since the 1970’s about water conservation and have global teams of engineers working to improve water efficiency with beautiful designs, excellent performance and keeping them affordable.”

Kohler’s faucets have water saving aerators. The faucets with the WaterSense label will save over 14,700 gallons of water each year, unlike older faucets.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program reviews manufacturers products and gives awards to those whose products conserve water. In 2008, Kohler was named as a Manufacturing Partner in the WaterSense program. To obtain this prestigious award, there must be demonstrated overall excellence in the water-efficiency arena as well as increase the awareness and advance the overall mission of WaterSense. So why would a plumbing manufacturer get involved in this?

In their brochure, Kohler states “that less than 1 percent of the world’s water supply is accessible for human use. Nearly one billion people in the world lack safe drinking water.” By the year 2013, at least 36 states in the United States anticipates local, regional or statewide water shortages.

Toilets account for 25 percent of daily indoor water use in homes in the United States. Out of that, one-half of all toilets in homes in United States are older, less efficient models, which waste approximately 1.6 billion gallons of water each day. For a single individual, a High Efficiency Toilet can save 16,500 gallons of water a year.

What does this mean to you?

If you are paying for your water, multiply the rate they are charging you by 16,500 (per toilet in your house), and that is how much you could save by replacing your toilet. Do the same with the faucets you have in your house. If for no other reason than saving money, it is worth changing out your old toilets and faucets.

Altruistically, by conserving water we all work towards a better future for our families and our children’s children. After all, 2013 is not that far away. Kohler, in addition to creating water conserving products, also reclaims and reuses the rise water in their faucet facility and product testing labs, thereby saving millions of gallons of water.

Do you believe in doing business primarily with those companies that practice and produce environmentally conscious products? Are you thinking about replacing any of your toilets or faucets in the near future? Will you consider WaterSense labeled products?

What were they thinking?! Bad Design Layouts

When you buy a home, you don’t expect everything to be the way you want, but you expect some thought to have gone into the planning. How about a home on the lake with no bathroom in the walkout basement? That’s right – everyone has to run through the basement and up the stairs to the bathroom or up through the deck, through the dining room and kitchen to the bathroom.

The bathroom, because it would be in the basement or walk out part of the house, meant that the toilet plumbing had to flush up rather than the typical gravity fed systems you find in homes. A great deal of research was done and pricing was obtained. The most recommended suggestion was the breaking up the basement concrete floor to put in a sewage ejector system, which means you break up the concrete basement floor and put in a plastic pit to use a sewage ejector pump to remove the waste. I was uncomfortable with this idea. And then we found the “Saniplus” system. It handled the toilet and sink. (In fact it handles four fixtures – toilet, hand basin, shower and bathtub.)

The pump, which was in a box fastened to the back of toilet, had to be connected. The toilet tank had to be connected to the water supply. The sink was connected to the pump using a 1 ½” plastic pipe, and the pump had an air pipe connected with the other end being put through the wall. It was connected to the electrical supply.

The “Saniplus” system is activated when the toilet is flushed. The micro switch within the pump box starts the motor, ultimately pumping the slurry up to a maximum of 12’. As soon as the water level in the pump box goes down, the micro switch deactivates and the toilet is ready for use again. It takes about 15-18 seconds for the entire flush process.

It was a day and a half job to get a toilet installed in the basement. It uses only 1.6 gallons of water per flush, so it uses less water than older toilets. Have you ever had a need for a bathroom in a lower level? What about any “What were they thinking?!” design problems have you run into?