Why the Modern Bathroom is Wasteful and Inefficient

Despite incredible technological progression over the last century, today’s bathrooms are barely distinguishable from those before World War One.

The bathrooms at the turn of the century were a solution to the outbreaks of cholera in London and other metropolitan areas due to the inefficient refuge of water.

However, the modern bathroom has not progressed since – remaining dangerous, poorly suited, inefficient and incredibly wasteful.

The Inefficiency Dilemma

The Consumer Council for Water reveals that the average person in the UK uses upwards of 100 cubic metres of water every year.

Only a fraction of this water usage is necessary with much of it wasted, due to the inefficient design of our bathrooms and home piping.

When piping was first introduced into homes, water inefficiency increased in some cases by as much as 3000% - demonstrating usage above and beyond necessity.

Whilst the modern bathroom is incredible convenient, the setup of the bath, shower, toilet and sink all in a row is wastefully inefficient.

By aligning all of these fixtures, water wastage is not separated and not given specific treatments.

Blackwater (water from a toilet full of excreta) and greywater (water from the sink, shower and bath) are not separated despite the fact they can be utilised and recycled for different purposed.

This significantly reduces the rate at which our waste water is recycled and reused.

Additionally, we are still reliant upon gravity to dictate the water pressure in many modern buildings, something that can be problematic for homes in positions of elevation. This problem can be rectified by the installation of one of Complete Pumps’ home booster sets, but is just a small part of bathroom inefficiency.

The Bathroom of the Future

A number of companies have picked up the baton and have developed toilets and bathroom fittings which are more efficient but these are often standalone fixtures which do not solve the wider problems.

Composting toilets, foam flush toilets and vacuum toilets have all been developed to either use less water or recycle the used water effectively.

Whilst this can contribute to improving the economy and reducing the wastage of the modern bathroom, it will not solve all of the room’s inefficiencies.

Modern bathroom design is deeply entrenched in society and our psyche, which makes it hard for us to accept a layout which deviates from what is now considered the norm.

Architects and engineers have the task of developing bathroom and piping alternatives which use water more efficiently without changing the bathroom habits of the population.

This may involve a restructuring of the of the water pipe system to ensure backwater and greywater are both reused effectively and efficiently, whilst households can still use their bathroom in the same way they have since the start of the 20^th century.

As we continue to explore methods to allow us to use electricity and gas more effectively, we also need to determine how to be more economic with our water usage.

One of the biggest ways to do this is to make the modern bathroom less wasteful and more efficient.

For more information about how you can get your bathroom operating more efficiently, visit the Complete Pump Supplies home page or call our specialist team on 0333 323 2329.