2

Ok, this claim just came across Facebook -- that one can save $160USD by peeing in the shower. Certainly, peeing in the shower is both more green and will in fact save water, especially if you let the urine go down drain using gravity rather than water. However, what kinds of parameters would have to be true to save $160 a year by urinating in the shower?

You can also see the claim sort of explain on designtoimprovelife.dk. I'm not sure if that's a valid source, or just advocates of shower peeing. Here is how they explain this bold claim:

Your water savings will depend on how many people live in your home and how much water your toilets use. If you are in Northern Europe, there are generally three different types of toilets: 12 liter flush toilets (oldest), 9 liter flush toilets (older) and modern 2-flush toilets (3 liters and 6 liters). So if you have a family of 5, using modern toilets, you would save 8,200 liters ($60) per year if everyone peed in the shower once a day (4,5x5x365). If you have older toilets, the savings can be over 20,000 liters ($160) a year, but at that point you would probably save more money by buying newer toilets.

Peeing in the shower

At $160/yr of savings, I may very well just ask all of my guests to urinate in the shower instead. This claim just sounds unreal.

Improve this question
6
  • 5
    If you're a lawyer who charges $500/hr and you're also ethical (hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha, no, seriously, just bear with me for a minute) then you charge $8.33/minute. Thus 4 minutes to go to the toilet, pee, wash your hands, and return to work would cost you $33.32 in billable time. Peeing in shower would quickly add up if you reclaimed that lost time in billable hours.
    – Mark Henderson
    Sep 20, 2012 at 21:53
  • 5
    Of course the unethical lawyer would also bill the time spent peeing :)
    – Benjol
    Sep 21, 2012 at 13:35
  • 1
    You could save just as much by not flushing after you pee and your shower doesn't get urine in it.
    – Ryathal
    Sep 21, 2012 at 14:40
  • I think, as a guest in your house, I'd prefer to be the first to pee in your shower, rather than the last, who has to stand in someone else's old pee. Hey! Think of all the money you'll save by never having people visit you!
    – thursdaysgeek
    Sep 21, 2012 at 22:55
  • My guess as to the origins of this: Someone is trolling people to get them to admit peeing in the shower and using this "made up fact" as their excuse for that behaviour. ;)
    – Larian LeQuella
    Sep 28, 2012 at 1:53

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
14

No.

Water is cheap. In the UK 1 cubic meter of water (1000 litres) costs around £1.45. So even if you could save 20,000 litres of water by peeing in the shower that would only be £29, which at current exchange rates is about $50.

Improve this answer
10
  • 1
    @woodchips - I think you need a more authoritative source than the site you linked to argue the answer as incorrect.
    – going
    Sep 21, 2012 at 0:05
  • 5
    @xiaohouzi79 - It is the price of water, for gods sake. A simple number, which seems to vary around the world, and probably even with time. But gosh, is there an official rating of how authoritative a site is? Is that rating kept secret, since I don't seem privy to any ratings? Maybe if I right click on the site, it tell me that secret rating? Nope. Sorry, I must not be in the water site cognoscenti like you. I learn something new every day.
    – user3344
    Sep 21, 2012 at 0:22
  • 3
    @woodchips - Tom provided a link to a water company. You provided a link to "most-expensive.net". Granted both of you are only pointing to a single country. However, your site says $6.70 for Denmark. I made the effort to have a look around and I found another site with Denmark at 76c for the same amount, so who is right? I get annoyed when people write in comments: "your answer is wrong!!!" when they don't provide substantial information to back up the argument.
    – going
    Sep 21, 2012 at 1:08
  • 2
    You should also factor in any extra pee-time spent in the shower - where you will also be wasting water - and heated water at that. Unless you multitask :)
    – Benjol
    Sep 21, 2012 at 13:37
  • 1
    A flush is up to 13 litres (Wikipedia) or about 1p (widely quoted, look on google). You can save about 5£ a year. Unless you poo in the mornings, in which case ou save zilch. Or if you hold it andpee in the office...
    – Sklivvz
    Sep 22, 2012 at 0:21

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .