BUNGA BRICK TODAY
Submitted: Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 08:26
ThreadID:
23655
Views:
2854
Replies:
11
FollowUps:
17
This Thread has been Archived
Top Cat
Australia has a major water problem.
You CAN make a difference.
PLEASE join this campaign and spread the word.
Did you know that one of the easiest ways to save water is simply to bung a brick in the cistern of your
toilet.
It will NOT harm the cistern or the
toilet.
You WILL save almost TWO LITRES every single flush.
That works out to more than 10 litres per person per day.
Please help me to spread the word about this campaign.
Hit every single
forum you know or visit.
BUNGA BRICK IN THE BOX TODAY.
Thanks.
Discuss.
You may like to make suggestions as to how we can help to promote this campaign further and maybe even get some television exposure for it............
Cheers,
Mazza.
Reply By: Member - iMusty (VIC) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:21
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:21
Do you mean a ordinary building brick?
In the top part of my dunny?
Where the water goes?
AnswerID:
114723
Follow Up By: Top Cat - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:48
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:48
Yes on all counts.
Most cisterns (the top part) have enough space to handle a full house brick. If necessary you can break the brick in half and use both halves.
FollowupID:
370550
Follow Up By: Member - Davoe (Widgiemooltha) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 21:25
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 21:25
No need for you to worry IM you will get no benifit from throwing a brick into the fire before doing your business - See told you i would never let you forget!!!!
FollowupID:
370634
Reply By: Footloose - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:31
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 09:31
Or you can simply install an adjustable valve in there. Water saving shower heads are an obvious choice. Using
grey water to water lawns etc is another.
So is drinking your scotch without ice :))
But the one I like best is going on a 4wd holiday to dry remote areas. Imagine how much water is saved by you not being at hime. :)))))))
AnswerID:
114726
Reply By: greenant - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 10:01
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 10:01
Hi all
Water problem is easily fixed
Ban all top load washing machines and only have front load ones
Front load use only 25% of the water that top load use
4 washes per week save 40 litres per wash = 160 litres X 52 weeks = 8320 litres per household X 4,000,000 households = 33,280,000,000 litres plus the 10 litres per person per day on
toilet systen savings 80,300,000,000
Total saving 113,580,000,000 litres per year
Simple isn't it
Greenant
AnswerID:
114730
Reply By: Member - iMusty (VIC) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 10:33
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 10:33
How about the Queen builds us some new water catchments and her and her cronies (the pollies) stops b!tchin to us about using less water.
Let's see her drop a brick in her dunny. I bet she doesn't even have the half flush option.
It's not my fault the powers that be didn't think hard enough about providing water to the masses when they raped this country.
Enough rain falls from the sky FOR US. THEY just don't use it wisely.
And salt water it good enough to wash the dunny with. The planet is 2/3 covered with that stuff. Why aren't we flushing with that?
Wow I can save 2 litres. What a crock.
YOU CAN SAVE IT ALL if YOU flushed with salt water
Wake up! you are being conned.
AnswerID:
114733
Follow Up By: Top Cat - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 11:10
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 11:10
Thanks for your insight you goose.
Nobody is arguing that things have or have not been done right in the past or will in fact be done right in the future.
The fact is that we have a problem and you can help.
Your silly argument is the same as suggesting that if you break a bone then we should just leave it broken as it was your fault.
That 2 litres equates to about 10 litres per day per person which in turn equates to more than 3,500 litres per person per year or some 10,000 litres (equivalent of a small swimming pool) per household per year.
And as for the idea of flushing with salt water............are you serious?
Imagine the cost of piping it to every household?
And thats just the first of the problems.
If you dont have anything useful to add then dont.
My mother taught me to think before you speak............this advice would apply
well to you.
FollowupID:
370557
Follow Up By: Member - iMusty (VIC) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 11:32
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 11:32
The POINT I make is this...
If WE as normal punters keep bailing out the problems that the authorities make then I just don't see how that will give them more reason in the furure to ajust their way of doing things in the future.
I commend you for wanting to make a difference. I really do. And I don't mean that offensevly.
If the government think that the people will bail them out EVERY time they ..
well ... er ... fnck up. What is the incentive for them to do it right in the first place?
Disipline your children when they do something questionable and praise them when they are on top of the world.
It's the carrot and the stick.
Your mother was a smart woman. Pity you didn't take her advice.
FollowupID:
370558
Follow Up By: GOB & denny vic member - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:00
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:00
for a change i agree with musty
if the politicians got there fingers out of there cake holes and started building some daMS WE WOULD HAVE SOME DECENT CATCHMENTS WHEN IT DOES RAIN ALL THE DRONGOS INCLUDING MIRROR (I LL look into it bracks )instead of drying us all up as they are doing and he wants to import 20000 more "people /workers "into the state are you going to give up your water for them i'm not
irate on this subject steve
FollowupID:
370595
Follow Up By: Steve - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:36
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:36
wtf has this got to do with the Queen? She lives in London, matey.
FollowupID:
370601
Follow Up By: Member - iMusty (VIC) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 18:17
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 18:17
Ok exchange the word "Queen" and replace it with any Australian pollitician you choose.
Same meaning really.
The point was that it will take more than some brick in the dunny idea to get me believing that the powers that be are doing a good job of solving the Water Fiasco.
FollowupID:
370614
Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 22:19
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 22:19
iM you are part of the problem a bit mate, sorry. Not only have we to supply the water to satisfy the lifestyle of 'burbia but the thirst too for disposal.
The brick in the dunny is good value to get people thinking about the changes they need to make. We collect all our house water off our roof and have heaps to supply an additional household too. Use the water and waste to grow more and bigger plants - lawns and trees, pasture from the dairy waste.
Part of the problem of building bigger storages as you suggest is that also there is a disposal problem just about as big. The Bracksie for all his huff and puff on recycling is not doing anything beyond the pipeline to the sea mentality for all you pour down the drain.
I did some sums on a water authority last week to see that in order to claim as much as they did for recycling they had to actually count the +20% they put in as waste losses. !5.8% of actual recycling and about 21% losses reckoned that made them near 40% waste disposal not into rivers. They didn't have to chemically treat it. Bracksie counts that as waste reduction.
Where does the average punter think it ends up? More water is more waste mate.
FollowupID:
370646
Follow Up By: Member - John (Vic) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 23:29
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 23:29
Top Cat is correct, We should be more aware that what we are using IS NOT being replenished at the same or indeed a higher rate then what is being consumed.
We don't need more catchments / dams, its pretty naive to make that statement, we have more than enough volume in our current dams.
We simply need more rain to replenish those dams faster than what we consume it.
Hence the whole point of current policy is to use less and let the rain play catch up.
(Build the dams if you like, But no rain they are empty also)
If governments of all political agendas have made any mistake its to not take a harder line on water usage 30 years ago, as they say we are the driest continent on earth and we use water with a callous disregard.
I'm no fan of Mr Bracks, but be realistic the problem was there before he arrived on the scene.
FollowupID:
370652
Reply By: guzzi - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 12:30
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 12:30
Hows that work with the newer 6/3 liter flush systrems?
Whole hartedly agree with the brick in the older cisterns.
Can remember this being covered on the news on channel 0 in
sydney in the late 1960's. (why can I remember that but dont know what I did last week?)
Yep there has been a lot of stuffups with our dear leaders, the major problem is they wont plan anything past 18 months in the future, and we keep voteing for these dills. What if they threw an election and nobody voted?
It is rapidly approaching the time that some professional, non political and achievable inforestructure and consumption decisions were made. And they better do it soon.
Lets not mention the fact the've sold everything, trained noone, and done bugger all else except finger point and raise taxes and fines over the last 20yrs...........
AnswerID:
114741
Follow Up By: Top Cat - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 13:05
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 13:05
Re the 6/3 flush systems, I suggest you speak to the manufacturer...........sorry I cant help u anymore than that.........or alternately simply use the trial method and see how it goes...........you can always take it out again...........and it is clean water your putting your hand in.
Regards your last 2 paragraphs, I agree wholeheartedly although I suspect that mother nature has played her part as
well in the shorter term.
FollowupID:
370565
Follow Up By: Capt. Wrongway - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 13:36
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 13:36
Guzzi,
I agree with your comments re our leaders but it's not all their fault .... it's part of their job requirement to be devious, underhanded and deceitfull, and most of them are very good at it. But it's not just them that's putt the country in it's current position .... it's most of as well, and the Australian ethos of "she'll be right mate!" That's the catch-cry of our tolerant nation. Sooner or latter it was bound up with us.
As you've said, we sit back and let it happen. Maybe the early aussies were right, we are all sheep, we just follow the leader.
Bazza.
FollowupID:
370570
Reply By: shaggy - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 12:41
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 12:41
Mazza,
you will probably find that a brick does not displace 2 litres of water. It may weigh 2 kg, but that does not mean it displaces 2 litres of water. Otherwise its specific gravity (density) would have to be very close to 1.
Hence a brick will sink, and not float.
read this below for interest:
The Story of Archimedes and the Crown
Sometime around 250 B.C., King Hieron of Sicily gave a jeweler gold to be formed into a crown.
When the crown was delivered the King felt that the jeweler had given him a crown that was not PURE gold. Unfortunately he had no way to prove it. weighed as much as the gold that had been given to the jeweler. The king thought foul play was afoot.
The Greek mathematician Archimedes was given the task of determining whether a craftsman had defrauded the King by replacing some of the gold in the King’s crown with silver. Archimedes thought about the problem while relaxing in a bathing pool. As he entered the pool, he noticed that water spilled over the sides of the pool. Archimedes had a moment of epiphany. He realized that the amount of water that spilled was equal in volume to the space that his body occupied.
This fact suddenly provided him with a method for differentiating a mixed silver and gold crown from a pure gold crown. Because a measure of silver occupies more space than an equivalent measure of gold, Archimedes placed the craftsman’s crown and an equivalent pure gold crown in two tubs of water. He found that more water spilled over the sides of
the tub when the craftsman’s crown was submerged. It turned out that the craftsman had been defrauding the King!
Legend has it that Archimedes was so excited about his discovery that he ran naked through the streets of Sicily shouting Eureka! Eureka! (The Greek translation of “I have found it!”).
AnswerID:
114744
Follow Up By: Top Cat - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 13:49
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 13:49
Hi Shaggy...
Displacement is not measured by weight but indeed volume as you have so perfectly pointed out.
To get the correct calculation, its a simple matter of working out the area in cm2.
In this case........70mm by 110mm by 230mm........standard solid house brick size.
This equals 1,771cm2.
And in turn this is equal to 1.771 litres.
Its simple mathematics.
Please note that i did not suggest a saving of exactly 2 litres but in fact I said..........ALMOST 2 litres.
Upon working all of this out however, I did not run arround my house screaming Eureka Eureka.
FollowupID:
370572
Follow Up By: Member - JohnR (Vic)&Moses - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 22:29
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 22:29
TC you have raised an important issue and Shaggy should have done his homework on brick dimensions. Some are undoubtedly bigger too like some concrete ones. You were good enough to provide him a place to tell the story to educate us on fraud and Archimedes. Apart from that his story not so relevant as yours...........
FollowupID:
370649
Follow Up By: shaggy - Thursday, Jun 09, 2005 at 16:49
Thursday, Jun 09, 2005 at 16:49
Sorry, I thought that a standard house brick was hollow. Those hexagonal or round holes in them. I did not read the solid brick bit. Anyway, how much does a solid house brick weigh?
Shagger
FollowupID:
370840
Reply By: J.T. - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 14:14
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 14:14
G,day TOP CAT I agree everyone together can make a difference to saving some water.We live in the bush near Margaret River and only have water tanks not mains water.We are very carefull with our water even though we get good rainfall(about a metre annually).We run our washing machine water onto the garden and do dishes in a tub in the sink and tip it on the garden also.Would it hurt people building a new house to put in even a small
water tank for drinking or gardening.Just a thought.P.S.rain water tastes bloody beautiful.
AnswerID:
114750
Follow Up By: Top Cat - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 16:48
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 16:48
Thanks JT.
You might be interested to know that currently the people of Goulbourn which is not far from
Sydney, are in dire straits and have a maximum of 120 litres per person per day to use.
They expect to be out of water completely by Christmas.
The water they do have is of shocking quality and both smells and tastes very average.
Many
Sydney siders would flush that ammount of water each and every day of the week.
It really annoys me that this thread has shown me just how many people are simply interested in either shifting the blame or putting there heads in the sand.
Unfortunately through my experience I have found it rather typical of many of the people here at Explore OZ and its the number one reason why I dont bother having any input here any more.
Without question, in my mind, it is the worst
forum on the net.
FollowupID:
370593
Follow Up By: GOB & denny vic member - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:07
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:07
BYE BYE
FollowupID:
370597
Follow Up By: Member - Browny (VIC) - Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005 at 16:11
Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005 at 16:11
T.C,
Good luck finding a
forum on the net where everyone agrees with you!
I reckon at least 20 years ago the bung in a brick idea came along when there were no half flush options, hence the new cisterns with 1/2 flush (or less) options.
But if a brick in a Ferntree Gully dunny will help the people of Goulbourn with there water problems then a brick they will get!
Water catchment areas TC Water catchment areas, more of'em.
mmm but someone has allready suggested that.
Browny
FollowupID:
370700
Reply By: Sand Man (SA) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 16:57
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 16:57
They would be in "deep bleep " if the brick in the cistern resulted in only half the bricks in the bottom from being fully flushed:-)))
Lighten Up Laddie.
AnswerID:
114782
Reply By: Steve - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:41
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 17:41
my place was only built a few years ago and they'd become "flush concious" and "shower concious" by then. Even the full flush on ours doesn't always do the job it's supposed to doso putting a brick in would not be a good idea. I presume other modern houses are similar.
AnswerID:
114786
Reply By: floyd - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 18:47
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 18:47
Save more water by pi$$ing on the lawn and s h itting at work. I have trained the kids to only do no 1's on the grass and no 2's on the neigbours front lawn. We just blame it on the dog at no 15.
AnswerID:
114804
Reply By: Wisey (NSW) - Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 23:26
Tuesday, Jun 07, 2005 at 23:26
I have been using a 2Lt milk carton (full to the top) in the cistern for many years. Not flushing every time and even sharing a flush with the person that is about to follow your turn can help also.
A friend has a function and wedding centre with 16 duel flush cisterns in it. I disabled the full flush part due to the amount of use it gets during a function. Even if some times someone has to do a double flush, those few times makes it more water saving ALMOST every flush.
These "fully automatic timer" operations really annoy me. So much waste. They should run on a sensor type system where you activate the flush when you VACATE the actual dunny position.
The new water restrictions (
sydney) due from 1 July will only see people watering for longer on the nominated days and still wasting the same amount of water. SO MANY people are watering just because it's a day they can and therefore wasting way to much because they no nothing/little about how much the plants actualy require to survive. I am a ql'fied horticulturist so I can rant about this till the cows come home.
Along with many, my industry dies without water. As soon as the new restrictions were anounced I approached all my clients to adjust all their irrigation to conform. I will now vacate the box for the next contender.
Yours passionatly
Andy
AnswerID:
114847