5 Reasons Western New Yorkers Shouldn’t Flush After They Pee

Being the father of a toddler, the search for sleep is a never-ending quest.  If you are a parent of a little one, you can relate.  You do everything in your power to not wake your child when they are sleeping.  And, that includes not flushing the toilet.

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We found that something as basic as flushing the toilet could awaken our little girl from her slumber, and rob us of precious shut-eye.  Well, it turns out that by not flushing the toilet in the middle of the night, we stumbled upon a happy accident.  Greatly reduced water bills!

The idea of not flushing the toilet every time you pee may sound gross to some, but there are a lot of benefits to be had by following the old adage, "If It's yellow, let it mellow"

Let's take a closer look.

1. You save a ton of water - This is the most obvious benefit.  Federal regulations now limit toilets to 1.5 gallons a flush. But, we live in WNY, and there are a ton of older homes with older toilets.  And if you don't have a fancy new federally regulated toilet, you could be flushing up to 5 gallons every time you pee. The average person pees 7 times a day.  Let it mellow, flush only twice,  and save as much as 25 gallons of water a day!

2. It Spreads Way Less Germs - Have you ever heard of a "toilet plume"?  It's a thing, and it's what happens when you flush, and the toilet releases a plume of germs into the air around the toilet.  Gross right?  By flushing as little as possible, you can cut way back on the number of germs in your bathroom air.

3. You'll save lots of money - Take a look at Number One on the list again (pun intended).  You could save 25 gallons a day.  That means you save 750 gallons a month.  In the bigger picture, you'd save 9,000 gallons a year.  Those savings in gallons will convert to savings in dollars leaving your wallet.

4. It's good for the planet - Remember how we told you that you could save 9,000 gallons of water a year, just by letting it mellow a bit?  Well, turns out not only will your wallet see the benefit of that, so will Mother Earth.  The world is slowly running out of clean drinking water.  So, by flushing less, we all help the greater good and aid in a planet-wide conservation effort.

5. You won't shock those in the shower - If you live in one of the aforementioned older Western New York homes, you no doubt have been shocked in the shower by a burst of lava hot water when someone in the house flushes while you were showering.  Be courteous to others, and let the yellow mellow while they are showering.  It's the right thing to do.