Upvoted for “horrible”. I don’t see how their impact is all that bad—at 3.5 GPF (which is standard), that means that, for example, all of the flush toilets in California together use about 750,000 acre-feet of water per year. Compared to the 34 million acre feet used in the same state for agriculture, it’s clear that flush toilets use a significant but still pretty small fraction of the water in the state, but “horrible” is an overstatement. (I choose California because it is a populous state that regularly has water shortages).
I admit to hyperbole, now, with a little more thought, I would have worded it differently. Both to clarify that it’s pretty far down on our list of societal problems, and that it’s more an individual level mistake rather than a systematic one (though there are systematic benefits to fewer flush toilets).
Upvoted for “horrible”. I don’t see how their impact is all that bad—at 3.5 GPF (which is standard), that means that, for example, all of the flush toilets in California together use about 750,000 acre-feet of water per year. Compared to the 34 million acre feet used in the same state for agriculture, it’s clear that flush toilets use a significant but still pretty small fraction of the water in the state, but “horrible” is an overstatement. (I choose California because it is a populous state that regularly has water shortages).
I admit to hyperbole, now, with a little more thought, I would have worded it differently. Both to clarify that it’s pretty far down on our list of societal problems, and that it’s more an individual level mistake rather than a systematic one (though there are systematic benefits to fewer flush toilets).