The Yellow Stream of Water Conservation

Video: Should You Pee in the Shower?
— By Sonja Sharp | Thu August 6, 2009 12:44 PM PST

There's a lot of things the Golden State will do to save water (including declaring a State of Emergency and virtually closing the water supply to the Central Valley) but pushing Californians to pee in the shower is NOT one of them.

"That's not something we've advocated, no," said Water Department spokesman Matt Knotley, who seemed shocked by the suggestion, apparently all the rage in Brazil, that folks should pee in the shower to save water. "If that's what they want to do in their country, fine. There are plenty of other ways that are very easy to save water."

Unfortunately, none of those have a cute Portugese PA video, like the one above. It's being used in Brazil to encourage Brazilians to pee in the shower as a means of conserving water. Turn up the volume and learn how to say pee in Portuguese.

Ultimately, all urban urine, whether from the bowl or the shower ends up being recycled after treatment in water treatment plants. And the U.S. astronauts have been drinking their own, treated and recycled urine since the beginning of space exploration.

In case you're still totally grossed out about the idea, you should know that this is not the first time we've approached water conservation through toilet humor. In the late 80s, when I was potty training, you could sum California's drought policy in a simple rhyme: If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.