By THE GLOW TEAM.
It rarely comes up, but when it does it’s the ultimate conversation killer. The people who pee in the shower assume everyone wees in the shower. Then the people who don’t get disgusted. Awkward silence ensues.
But now, a group of students from the University of East Anglia in the UK city of Norwich have started a petition that is firmly on the ‘pro peeing’ side.
Their ‘Go With The Flow’ campaign argues that if all 15,000 of the students at their university started peeing in the shower, they could conserve hundreds of millions of litres of water a year. They even have a handy infographic to explain it.
This from The BBC:
Mr Dobson said: “We’ve done the maths, and this project stands to have a phenomenal impact. With 15,000 students at UEA, over a year we would save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool 26 times over. Imagine how big an impact it could have if we could get everyone in East Anglia, or even the UK, to change their morning habits.”
“The campaign has been really divisive – people either seem to love it or hate it,” added Mr Dobson. “We’re trying to challenge conventional behaviour, to start a debate on a resource that we largely take for granted.”
That makes sense. And frankly, it’s less objectionable that “If it’s yellow, let it mellow.” But does peeing for planet earth have potential hygiene consequences?
According to Chris Dobson, one of the students behind the campaign, there are not. “As long as the water is flowing there is no hygiene risk as urine is sterile,” he told The BBC.
Now, that’s not going quite as far as the people who think peeing in the shower can cure tinea (it can’t). But we’ll take ‘harmless’ as a reasonable defence of the practice.
But, if you want to join this important environmental cause you should do as Chris Dobson does, and ask permission first. “We would encourage that every person using the same shower consents to the challenge and if not that they don’t take part.”
What do you think of the campaign?
Top Comments
Re water conservation does anyone have the same problem I do, I can't take a quick shower because it takes a few minutes for the water to warm up, then I have to adjust the hot and cold taps several times, a tiny bit of one turns the water either freezing or boiling before I can get the correct temperature. It probably takes about 3-5 mins to get this right . My water is gas so I'm not sure if that is why but it's annoying
I know quite a few people with gas, and have stayed at places myself that use gas, and my experience is that it is pretty much instant and a constant temp. Maybe you have a problem with your system...
This explains why my local train station smells like wee, the people weeing in the stair wells, lifts and against walls are conservationist who realised they could save even more money if they forgo the shower part.