Posted on 06/03/2006 1:35:09 PM PDT by MinorityRepublican
As worries about resource conservation and global warming spur growth in environmentally sensitive construction, builders find that one room separates the greens from the traditionalists.
The restroom.
Once the most generic of features in commercial buildings, toilets loom as the earth-friendly builder's final frontier. Eco-friendly toilets -- low-flush, dual-flush or no-flush compost -- conserve water and cut pollution, a double benefit that few other green features can claim.
But try to find one of these toilets. As more builders earn plaudits and save money with geothermal heating and bicycle parking, they remain more likely to plant roof gardens than to install green toilets.
Plumbers say waterless urinals, which use a replaceable cartridge, are unsanitary because they don't wash waste away. Municipalities resist making the changes to plumbing systems that compost toilets require. (In a compost toilet, the high-tech version of an outhouse, accumulated waste decomposes into liquid fertilizer and organic matter.) Users complain that high-efficiency toilets, which use less water than traditional models, require two flushes to do the job.
Behind such objections stands this truth: America remains a flush-oriented society, and the more powerful the flush, the better.
"It was a morale issue," Anja S. Caldwell, green building chief for the Montgomery County public school system, said of initial resistance to the 50 waterless urinals introduced over the past year. "People thought that by taking the flush away, you're taking an entitlement."
Six years after the U.S. Green Building Council established standards governing construction with low environmental impact, buildings certified by the builders' group total 6 percent of construction. The trend is growing. Fifteen states and 49 cities -- including Maryland, Virginia and the District -- have some green building legislation or incentives.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
My Liberal friends get very annoyed because I always refer to the low-flush toilets as "gore toilets" (remember, he was the one who sponsored that legislation).
Every room in my house has been updated, except for the bathrooms. I won't give up my pre-gore toilets or my full flow shower heads.
The plumber told me that it would be illegal for him to install the old style fixtures, but if I ever wanted to get rid of them, I could get a pretty good price for them.
It all depends on the model. In my case were lucky. They simply took a conventional toilet and mounted a center "bucket" around the drain mechanism (sort of like a plastic ice cream container). It catches half the water in the tank at the time of the flush.
If you have one of those you can simply drain the toilet, remove the tank, and then unbolt the riser. The bucket should come right off.
Alternately, you could cut the bucket away with a small device like a Dremel motodrill. The redneck way that one of my neighbors used was to break and snip the thing off with tin snips. You have to be careful if you do it that way though because if you crack the plastic under the rubber seal, you'll get a perpetual leak and a running toilet. At which point you need to go to the first procedure (above).
Of course if they have some other way to make it low flush, like a smaller tank you're out of luck. There is a thriving market in used toilets because of this. Check online and you may find someone in your area who sells traditional toilets (if your locality hasn't outlawed them yet).
If you can't do any of the above, keep a plunger next to every toilet and make sure your family and guests know how to work it, because those commie toilets are ALWAYS clogging up.
Philly, if I remember Rush Limbaugh correctly.
Al Gore posed for a photo paddling a canoe. But in order to make sure the canoe would float for the photo-op, 4 billion gallons of water was released from a New Hampshire dam and allowed to escape down the creek. New Hampshire was in the middle of a record drought at the time.
Philly
It'd probably be easier to get some of those new-fangled water-pressurized powerflush toilets, than to try smuggling a 5-gal. flush commode over the Canadian of Mexican border. Umpteen million illegal immigrants they can't stop, but you can bet the Border Patrol would spot you and confiscate your contraband crappers.
Hmm... betcha there's not a single Border Patrol officer that still has a lame-o 1.6 gal. toilet. One of the perks of a fedgov job, I reckon.
People in south Louisiana, renovating their hurricane-damaged houses, eventually got around to upgrading their bathrooms (after the sheetrock, flooring and other more pressing matters were finished).
Seemingly all at the same time, hundreds of old toilets were dragged to the curb, all to be replaced by new but inferior fixtures. What a festival of colored porcelain, too - the blue, pink and yellow of the '60s, alongside the green and harvest gold of the '70s. I even saw one that was *lavendar*. Technicolor, man!
Oh, and the plumbing contractors were out there with utility trailers, taking every old toilet that could be salvaged. Bet some even ended up on eBay.
It's a slippery slope.
http://cgi.ebay.com/1970s-Ejler-toilet-3-5-gallon-tank-works-great_W0QQitemZ4465385476QQcategoryZ71284QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem#ebayphotohosting
Is this an editorial?
It reads like a lecture on us horrible wasteful Americans, but I bet they pass it off as straight news.
The "Tim Taylor" model so to speak.
Waste not, want not
Enviros won't be happy until we're all living in caves again.
This place has the no-tank, high-pressure toilets you'd find in public schools 20 years ago.
I'm pretty sure I could flush a small cat if I really wanted to.
So my dogs don't use it
"Over here Mr. Liberal, hold still...this won't hurt a bit!"
:-)
Bet some of those people are going to regret discarding their old ones.
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