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The CCAT Wash n' Flush

What Is It?

The Wash n' Flush is a Humboldt State University environmental science 410 senior project implemented by Jeffrey Steuben, Annie Welbes and Tim Dower which is located in the downstairs bathroom at CCAT. This is a toilet modification that allows users to save water by utilizing the wastewater from handwashing to flush the Toilet.

If you think of this project as a smarmy way of doing a DIY version of an Aqus Toilet, you'd be mostly right.

Why Do It?

The goals of our project were:

  • conserve drinkable water by eliminating the use of clean, potable water to flush toilets.
  • break down social stigma around toilet water pre-use.
  • build awareness of creative water conservation.
  • make toilet modification replicable, accessible, and affordable to low income households.
  • conserve water at CCAT.

We thought about the fact that clean, drinkable water is being used to flush human waste down the toilet. We consider this to be environmentally and socially irresponsible. Therefore, we took action.

Painstakingly photoshopped diagram of the Wash n' Flush 1. Clean water flows in 2. Water is diverted towards the faucet 3. It flows out into the basin--Wash your hands! 4. Then drains through toilet's overflow tube to fill the bowl

Materials & Tools

The following materials and tools were used for this specific project. If replicating, you may not need the same equipment or materials. Feel free to get creative!

Materials

  • 3/4 inch plywood lid
  • 3 feet quarter-inch vinyl tubing
  • 6 inches of three-quarter inch vinyl tubing
  • funnel
  • 2 feet of 1/2 inch copper pipe
  • Aluminum basin
  • 4 one-inch L brackets
  • Paint (blue)
  • Butcher paper

Tools

  • Jigsaw - for cutting lid
  • Power drill
    • 3 inch hole saw
    • 1/2 inch spade bit
    • 3/16 molybdenum bit (for drilling aluminum)
  • Measuring tape
  • Hand crank flashlight

The Steps to Success!


Unforeseen Issues

  • Since CCAT is a pubic facility, it is required to have a restroom that meets the standards of the Americans with Disabilities Act. As such, there is a bar on the wall behind the toilet. We had to work around this by using a shallow basin. This shallow basin, and the high velocity of water coming from the faucet created quite a bit of splashing. In an effort to mitigate this, we installed the Star Trek-like splash guard to redirect the splashed water into the basin. Even after installing this back splash, the problem of water splashing onto the toilet seat was not completely solved. If we had a toilet-bowl lid, this would be less of a problem.

  • The faucet creates a high-velocity flow of water. Because of this, handwashing style must be slightly altered to avoid splashing. Social acceptance of this system may be more difficult to achieve because it requires that people change their bathroom behavior.
    • This was fixed by turning down the supply spigot behind the toilet.

  • Drilling through the half-inch of aluminum basin required the special molybdenum drill bit. A different basin might not require a special tool.

  • It was difficult to track the actual water savings without a water bill or some sort of water-use data logger. Our water savings might not be as great as we thought.

  • Seeing as this is a demonstration project at CCAT, the toilet is flushed unnecessarily by overzealous tour guides. Therefore, water is being used more at this toilet.

Need More Instructions?

Yes, you do. Find an awesome step-by-step process to create this system at http://www.instructables.com/id/Hack-a-Toilet-for-free-water./

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