Unexpected Thrift Water Butt Toilet Flush!

Frank99

With my toilet flush mechanism broken i have been using water from my garden water butt to flush the toilet, this butt has a lid and therefore this water is very clear, with the recent rain i have gallons of water to make use of. With the butt empty awaiting more rain I'm wondering how much this will save me on my water meter, in total i have got through about 4 and a half full water butts, the butt holds 200 litre.

Mickey666

You’ve used about 900 litres.  1000 litres is about 1m3, which is the unit that water companies charge for.  Check your water bill to find out how much your supplier charges for 1m2 of water.  I think I pay about £1.50/m2 so on that basis you've saved about £1.35 so far.

However, if you are on mains drainage there will be a cost for that as well.  Sewerage is not metered because the assumption is that all the water that comes through your meter will go out through your drains.  So, by not drawing water through your meter, you’ll save on sewerage costs as well.

So flushing toilets with rainwater probably won’t save you very much, but every little helps.
It’s also far more environmentally friendly to use rain water for foul water flushing instead of drinking-quality water.

halfamo

When we got our water meter installed , I started showering with a large container to stand in to catch water for flushing. The others are asked to also save water that is drawn off while waiting for the hot to come through and we use that also.
Our bills for water plummetted so it was definitely worth it.
We do sometimes use the water butt water also if it has rained a lot as the overflow will just be wasted by going down the drain otherwise.