Cool but Ugly: Argentinean Water Recycling Toilets
by on 04.23.05
Wasted water in between the bathrooms' four walls (shower, hand washing, tooth brushing, flushing the toilet) is not a pleasant topic to talk about, but important indeed. We've already posted some interesting approaches, like the Athena controllable flush and the Dual Flushing Toilet. Now we bring a more rustic model from Argentina, which is not so appealing, but makes its point. These sanitaries, developed by the Experimental Center of the Economic Dwelling (from the province of Córdoba, Argentina), have a built in system that conducts the water used in the washbasin to flush the toilet, saving up to 20 liters of water a day -according to its manufacturers-.
Plus, as they were thought as an alternative for economic houses, they are prepared to be installed without the need of pipes, which makes them easy to move. As we said, they lack a little visual, but it's a good idea to take up. A system based on the same principle (to recycle water from several sources to use it as gray water for the toilet) was implemented in the Sustainable Condo, but the difference in the Argentinean model is that it is more autonomous, as it's not integrated with other parts of the house. [by Paula Alvarado, from Buenos Aires]
The first place I heard this idea was in the early 1960s, from the mother of, I believe, Leigh Richmond (it could have been her husband's mother), part of the science fiction writing team of Walt and Leigh Richmond. I'm glad to see someone finally decided to do it.
Great, and not really ugly..rather very kid friendly. Youngsters have a step stool built in, as long as they close the lid before stepping up.
i believe that most Japanese toilets have had this kind of system in place for decades.
In addition to the bathroom, I really wish I had a way to use the water from the clothes washer and dishwasher. What would be the ecological effect of putting this detergent-laden graywater on the lawn?
Beyond that, I also have a water softener. When this thing recycles (it puts in salt and flushes out calcium carbonate -- I think) quite a bit of water is used. I wonder if it would be OK to put *that* on the lawn?