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The Breaking Point

"If it ain't broke don't fix it," was one of the first truisms that I ever learned from my dad. I know that it was not original but he was wise enough that he tended to live by it. I don't know who it was that was the first to ever say that; I don't really think that it matters to me.

For over ten years I have been reminded of the expression every time I flush the toilet. I'll explain.

Sometime in the early 1990's Congress enacted well-intentioned legislation in an effort to conserve water. It was an amiable goal and I am pretty certain that those members of that Congress were pretty pleased that they had finally done something that would have a lasting impact upon generations to come. Good intentions notwithstanding, I thought a portion of that legislation had actually served to increase unnecessary waste water.

Prior to the enactment of the bill every toilet tank in America held at least 3 gallons of water for the purpose of properly operating the siphon action first designed in Great Britain by John Krapper in the 19th century. The ingenious principle allowed sewers to be connected directly to homes without the smell of the waste water in the sewer backing up into the house. It allowed for the installation of 'water closets' in homes, the precursors of modern bathrooms. In most civilized places that eliminated the need of a flashlight and slippers strategically placed close to the bed at night for when ever you just had to 'go'.

At some point during the late 1980's and into the early 1990's someone, somewhere determined that Krapper's values in the overall equation were greater than necessary and that actually only 1.6 Gallons were necessary to properly flush a toilet. I am certain that there was a good deal of testing, perhaps even with government funded. Perhaps panels of experts were consulted. There was probably some treatise filed with the Library of Congress regarding the design changes necessary to flush a toilet with 1.6 Gallons of water thus conserving 1.4 gallons of water with each flush.

All too often theory and practice seem to be at odds. Such appeared to be the case with the 'new and improved' toilets. From my direct, empirical evidence, I had concluded that the toilets actually waste water as it very often if not constantly requires two and even sometimes three flushes to properly dispose of the contents of the bowl after I have 'dropped a log'. By the way, the math on that is:



I was off-the-wall about how we were actually wasting water not conserving it at all. I was really almost at the breaking point with my tolerance for the collective stupidity of our government. I told my kids, my friends, and even a couple of complete strangers who immediately ran away from me for fear that what I was suffering might be contageous. I mean it was obvious to me that I was flushing twice whenever we had to 'drop the kids off at the pool'. That was actually wasting 2 tenths of a gallon of water if not more.

Then I started to work it out on paper. I did extensive research consulting Google a couple of times and found out everything that I ever wanted to know about the usage of toilets in America. Actually I learned more than I expected and considerably more than I needed to know. You really have to get into that much detail to understand this rare occasion of the demonstrated genius on the part of our Congress. We don't often have the time to fully appreciate the collective wisdom of our legislators - and generally speaking, it is very seldom that they exhibit any collective wisdom whatsoever let alone anything worthy of any note. Still, I think this one instance needs to be revealed to one and all. Here is the marvelous workings of our representative democracy resolved to a simple mathematical expression.

I figure the average American uses a toilet about 4.5 times per day, counting all the times we have to do #1 as opposed to much fewer times that we have to do #2. (I am not counting those people that have an illness or the people who live in states where authentic Mexican cuisine is available and sometimes enjoyed.) Now if we figure that only one flush is required per 'tinkle' but each and every 'bomb drop' requires at least 2 or sometimes 3 flushes, and each of us average 1.5 power dumps per day that means:

compared to

As you can see there is an effective reduction in the usage of water even when we have to flush more often when we are 'dropping a load' as opposed to 'draining the reservoir'.

I am in awe - not so much because the damned toilets actually do what they were intended to do but that it is a result of Congressional action. It may have been an accidental consequence of the legislation. I think I can live with that assumption and still feel that the previous balance in the universe is maintained - that Congress seldom ever gets something right. But I was critical and went around shooting my mouth off about something that I was completely wrong about. Please accept my apologies.

So take this as a warning, from me to you. Be mindful that before you criticize the Congress of the United States, and always do the math.

E

posted by Unknown @ 8:48 AM