Thanks to reader Andrea for her comment about the Caroma Dual Flush toilet. I’d never heard of such a device so I did some looking around and found them on sale at Amazon.com; list price 699.00, Amazon’s price, 377.49.

While installing such a toilet will save water, I am more interested in water-saving actions people can take that cost only the time/effort it takes to change one’s habits/behaviors.

I moved to CA in 1976. The drought that year had a major impact on my life. For one thing, it was a large part of the reason I moved to Petaluma. It was during that water crisis that I first heard the phrase, “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.”

Whether to flush or not might not be a topic for polite conversation but not flushing every time you “go” is a good example of how a small change in behavior (one that can be accomplished by everyone at no cost) can have a large impact on a problem.