Save water and money the Brazilian way - pee in the shower

I live in California, where a drought has been declared, and I'll bet the state government hasn't thought of this solution -- encouraging residents to urinate in the shower.

A Brazilian environmental group is trying to get its residents to save water by peeing in the shower.

The group says that if a single household flushed the toilet one fewer time a day, it would save 1,157 gallons of water each year. That's just from one household not flushing once a day.

It has come up with a catchy video to promote it:



Urine is sterile, so peeing in the shower is harmless unless someone has a disease that can be transmitted through their pee, such as hepatitis.

I don't know what Brazil's water rates are, but where I live, I pay 93 cents a day for an average of 95 gallons of water per day. At that rate, the 1,157 gallons saved by not flushing a toilet once a day would save about $11 for the year.

California has 12.1 million households, according to the 2005 Census, so each household in California saving $11 per year would equal $133.1 million in savings and 13.9 billion gallons of water saved annually across the state.

Many Californians' lawns are already yellow from not being watered. Are they ready to take the next step?