it's all drains!

Thanks to a new national advertising campaign, in the interest of saving water, Brazilians are being urged to pee in the shower. Narrated by children's voices, the television ads depict cartoon images of people urinating in the shower and end with the message: "Pee in the shower! Save the Atlantic rainforest!"

While the ads are meant to be humorous, the message is serious. The environmental group behind the ads, SOS Mata Atlantica, claims that if each household avoids one flush per day, they can save 4,380 litres of water annually.

I am all about saving the rainforest, but I can’t help but think that this a little (ok, a LOT) gross. Can’t you save the same amount of water just by skipping one flush, say, in the middle of the night? Whatever happened to “If it’s yellow, let it mellow…”?

And before you jump on the bandwagon and go all George Costanza on us, remember that basic etiquette dictates that you should never, ever pee in a public shower.


*Edit: Moments after posting this, I received an email from The Home Depot informing me that low-flow toilets are now on 30% off. Coincidence? I think not!