The saying “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down” is a well meaning, but controversial guide to preventing unnecessary toilet flushes. Sending less water down the toilet (so to speak) saves money and the environment. But how much could it really save, and is it worth it?
- Better for the Earth – water conservation and less volume through our sewage treatment plants
- Saves Money – water can be quite expensive in drier parts of the country
- Feels good – not flushing the yellow is a tangible reminder each day that you are doing your part to conserve our natural resources!
- Unpleasant odor – a toilet bowl full of urine can get stinky
- Toilet requires cleaning more often – scum build-up seems to occur faster when the toilet is not flushed as often
- Social stigma – this is one of those things you really can only do at home, when you don’t have company
Where I live, in Los Angeles, water is scarce. There are many laws governing water use, including how to wash your car, and exactly how many minutes you are allowed to water your lawn (and which days). Because of the scarcity, water can be expensive. We knew this, but were still shocked to get that first water bill after moving from an apartment into a single family home. The water bill was as much as the electric bill for the same period. Yikes!
I immediately changed some things about the way we lived. I adjusted the lawn sprinkler system to the minimum amount of watering time to keep our lawn alive (noting that “alive” is a different place than “green and lush”). I significantly changed the way I wash the dishes and brush my teeth to save water. I taught my children to turn the water off to soap up while washing their hands. And I considered how much money we could save by letting the “yellow mellow”.
I had already stopped flushing at night because the bathroom is right next to the kids bedroom. The walls in this house are paper thin and I didn’t want to risk waking them with a loudly flushing toilet. Over time I just stopped flushing down the yellow during the day, and when my son was potty learning, I never made a big deal about him flushing either. Recently, I decided to figure out how much water and money we could save if the whole family stopped flushing the yellow.
I posted a chart and marker in the bathroom next to the the toilet, and told my husband and son to make a mark every time they didn’t flush. I tracked for a week. The results were fascinating! I saved 5 flushes a day. My three-year-old saved about 7 flushes per day, and scribbled all over my chart so I had trouble counting the tick marks. My husband chose not to participate and recorded only 1 saved flush for the week. My one-year-old learned to flush, and did so whenever she got into the bathroom: an estimated 4 flushes a day wasted. (sigh).
I then did a little research about how much water our toilet holds, and how much water actually costs per gallon. The cost for water here can be tricky to determine. You have to take into account what season it is and what allotment tier you are in (determined by lot size, temperature zone, and number of household members). There are also surcharges for exceeding your allotment, and allotments get reduced during droughts. Water usage is billed per hundred cubic feet. Luckily, my water bill informed we paid $0.005 per gallon for water in Los Angeles (at our house, in March). This is the lowest price we pay during the year. Figuring out how much water we save per flush was easy: the stamp on the inside of our toilet tank says the capacity is 1.6 gallons.
So then, if calculating savings by the flushes saved day (13 – assuming the baby gets over her flushing obsession soon), we are saving 4732 flushes, 7571 gallons of water, and $37.85 per year. If we could get my husband fully on board, our flushes saved per day jumps to 20! (he drinks a lot of tea). That’s a theoretical savings of 7280 flushes, 11648 gallons of water, and $58.24 per year! This is just a little less than we pay for one month of water.*
The other side of this to calculate is the social side. I still flushed at work (2-3x per day), because it’s pretty darn rude to not leave a fresh bowl for the next person in. Can you imagine the office gossip if I stopped flushing? Oy! (Our whole family always flushes when out in public, btw). Also, during the week I was tracking, my husband continued to flush at home every time unless I was standing there insisting he not. I guess he felt the whole idea was a little gross. When he learned that the potential savings was $5 per month for our entire family, he informed me it was NOT worth it to him to stop flushing. I get that. And really, I couldn’t bring myself to ask visitors to our home to participate. I hid the tracking chart when people came over. I even blamed the three year old when we had an unexpected visitor to our bathroom, and I knew the toilet wasn’t flushed.
So does it actually work to “let it mellow”? Is it worth it? I think this is one of those green ideas that is great in the privacy of your own home, but that you don’t really talk about elsewhere. It’s a bit of a green hot topic, perhaps? Choosing to let it mellow can make a difference in water usage, and save you some money long term, depending on the part of the country you live in. But if it’s all too much for your taste, I think you will find few critics.
Have you tried out letting it “mellow”? Would you stop flushing the “yellow” to save $5 a month? Please share your thoughts below!
*I was shocked when I learned what our daily water usage was. Most of it stems from our lawn sprinkler system which runs 3x per week, and for the minimum amount of time needed to keep our lawn alive. (LA does not get much rain, so if you have a lawn, you need to water regularly). We’re in a rental, so there’s not much we can do about re-landscaping for less water use. And we do like having grass for the kids to play in. Still, the conservationist inside me is dying a little bit. I’m so embarrassed.