Let it Mellow Infographic
In 2014, the California drought was exceptionally bad. I created this infographic to encourage people to help people better weigh the benefits of flushing their toilet after each use, and it has inspired at least two people to continue letting it mellow to this day!
Bold Italic content was later bought by Medium, and can be found here.
Illustrations by Melissa Small
Friends, we are in a bad way with this drought. Bad. Like, on track to become the worst drought in 500 years bad. So bad that 40,000 people in 17 California communities are in danger of running out of water within 60 to 120 days.
I know it kind of seems far away from us, while our Brita pitchers still overfloweth, but our sweet California is thirsty as hell. And while there are so many things we can do to save water, I just want to throw it out there that the easiest, least-comfort-sacrificing, and laziest way to help is by following the old adage: “If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown, flush it down.”
Gross? I promise you, it’s really not that bad. I live with three other people, and we’ve been letting it mellow for years. It doesn’t smell, we clean the toilet every weekend so there’s never a ring, and if it starts getting a little too yellow we just put an end to the mellow with an early, brown-free flush. (If what you’re worried about is “pee splash back,” I can confidently confirm that has never happened to me.) Considering the last 12 months have been the driest in recorded CA history, seeing a little floating toilet paper is a small price to pay.
To help put things into perspective, I did a bit of toilet math that I hope will convince you to give it a try.
*Toilets and bladders vary, so while these averages are debatable, the benefits are not.
