Among the things I find interesting about this country, probably the toilet flushing system ranks the highest.
Australia is a very green country. As one walks about this city (Brisbane), there recycling programs, Save the Outback-type organizations, and organic everything is available. And there was a massive drought here until this year so the answer is water conservation in big, bold print. The hostel restrooms all have signs that read something along the lines of “Australia is in a drought, please conserve water. Take short showers or shower with someone.” Hostels are filled with free-loving hippies, after all.
So the toilets here look like American toilets. They are generally white or a variation thereof and have a typical seat. The amount of water in the toilet to begin though, is greatly decreased. Rather than the American way where the toilet is already half filled with water, these only have a little bit of water all the way at the bottom of the pot. 2 Aussies have told me that when they went to the States, they were surprised at the amount of water and thought they were going to fall in. So that’s one.
Second, the always-famous Correolis Effect (how is it spelled?), which makes the water go down the toilet in the opposite direction of the Northern Hemisphere. To be expected and not really noteworthy, although semi entertaining upon the first observation.
Thirdly though, is the proper way to flush the toilet. In the states, there is one choice, To Flush or Not to Flush. The correct answer, of course, is always, always, always, To Flush. In Australia, there are 3 options. Not To Flush, To Half Flush, or To Whole Flush. Your choice. So in an effort to consume less water, there are 2 buttons on the top of the toilet, one gives a half flush where only half the amount of water is used and presumably the better choice when one is only discarding liquids. The other button is for the whole flush; supposedly better used for disposal of both solids and liquids.
You know, I understand the desire to save the environment and conserve water and I'm all for it. I’m sure this flushing choice is a very effective way to do so, especially when one takes into consideration that switching to a low-flow toilet changes water consumption by the flush from 18 liters to 6 in the average American household, according to some website or another. However, I still think this is funny.
