# What do you do with half a piss? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 19, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272 "2007-10-19T04:41:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chasing\_Dreams](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/258eb7/32.png) [@Chasing\_Dreams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chasing_Dreams)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/1 "2007-10-19T04:41:23Z")
Think about those times that you go to the bathroom and can only muster a small stream into the toilet bowl. It is not enough to give a sharp hue to the color of the water but it is still a bit noticeable. What do you do? Do you flush just because of habits or do you just leave it as is and be environmentally friendly? ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/2 "2007-10-19T04:54:12Z")
I flush baby. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 5:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/3 "2007-10-19T05:16:36Z")
My home’s bathroom & Mom’s gone for a while- I may leave it till the next one. Mom’s home or I’m in someone else’s bathroom- Flush. ---
**Author:** ![Yorikke](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yorikke/32/4335_2.png) [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/4 "2007-10-19T05:39:03Z")
I flush because I don’t want my sister-in-law (with whom we are staying) to think I’m a barbarian. In my own place, I let it mellow. Joe ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/5 "2007-10-19T05:43:40Z")
In the Lake Erie watershed, one never has to worry about shortages. I fush that diluted urea away. ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/6 "2007-10-19T06:44:35Z")
After spending a few months back home in Australia with my folks, who are under very tight water restrictions, I now follow the adage, “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”. Naturally, I only apply this approach at home. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/7 "2007-10-19T14:54:13Z")
If the dog digs half a hole in the lawn, I fill it in (the hole, not the dog). ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Dave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/46a35a/32.png) [@Great\_Dave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Dave)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/8 "2007-10-19T18:01:36Z")
[QUOTE=pool] I flush baby. [/QUOTE] Considering the current situation in the SE, y’all might want to take note of what Dottygumdrop and I learned. In our house, we flush every fourth or fifth pee, or when it will be sitting for a long time. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 8:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/9 "2007-10-20T08:57:10Z")
I use the sink. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 10:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/10 "2007-10-20T10:18:38Z")
[QUOTE=ouryL] I use the sink. 😃 [/QUOTE] Well I would but it’s allus full of dirty dishes 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/11 "2007-10-20T12:08:43Z")
In the place I used to leave before, all the way back in Uruguay, the toilet had a nice feature… well, not a feature but something I did anyway. It had a flushing button and I found that if I pressed it slowly and carefully I could control the amount of flushing, something very, very handy and useful for situations like this. I´m sure I saved a lot of water that way. I wonder why toilets are not equiped with a regulable flushing mechanism like that. Small flushing for the OP scenario, medium flush for a good leakage and full blast for that bowel brickwork laid on the bowl. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [October 20, 2007, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/12 "2007-10-20T15:14:06Z")
I used to be a “flush every time” girl - I would even flush if I threw a used tissue in the toilet. Right now the Southeast is undergoing a very severe drought, so I don’t flush just for urine. [slight hijack] My husband came home from work last night, and after his usual “I need to sit down for a few minutes” he came walking out of his bathroom with a watering can in his hand and a very bemused look on his face. Our house has two bathrooms, which have evolved into “his” and “hers” - his has a shower, mine has a tub. Due to the drought, I have given up my long-standing habit of taking long hot deep tub baths in the evening, and am now taking showers instead. Since the water heater is at the other end of the house, it takes a few minutes of running the water for the hot water to arrive at the shower. The watering can catches this water and is used to water the plants on my front porch. My husband thinks I am nuts. [/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![Dottygumdrop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce73a5/32.png) [@Dottygumdrop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dottygumdrop)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/13 "2007-10-21T06:48:17Z")
**SnakesCatLady** , my parents do the same thing - bucket in the shower to catch the cold water until the hot finally comes through. My mother also keeps the kitchen sink plugged so any rinse water for dishes, etc. stays in the sink, before being poured out into buckets to go on the lawn. Otherwise, they are only allowed to fill watering-cans/buckets for watering their plants between 4am and 8am every other day (odd-numbered houses on odd-numbered dates, even-numbered houses on even-numbered dates). They are also forbidden to wash their cars, except to use bucket water to wash the windows. The Water Commission also does regular checks of household water usage and audits households where water usage exceeds an average of 140 litres per person per day. ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/14 "2007-10-21T18:03:04Z")
_ahem_ _Half a piss is like half a kiss when you wanted a full one. 'Tis a task but small to always flush all whether complete or half done._ Thank you, I’ll be here all week. _bowing_ ---
**Author:** ![Lionne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Lionne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lionne)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/15 "2007-10-21T22:01:35Z")
I don’t leave urine stagnating in my toilet bowl, no matter how little an amount. I will take full advantage of indoor plumbing, thank you very much. ---
**Author:** ![EmAnJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@EmAnJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmAnJ)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2007, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/16 "2007-10-21T22:26:42Z")
I let it sit, I try to conserve water. What about in the middle of the night? I get up to pee at least twice, and partly for water but mostly for the noise, I don’t flush until I get up in the morning. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/17 "2007-10-22T00:22:04Z")
Someone I think used this before on here: \*If it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down. \* ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/18 "2007-10-22T00:51:31Z")
[QUOTE=Lizard] _ahem_ _Half a piss is like half a kiss when you wanted a full one. 'Tis a task but small to always flush all whether complete or half done._ Thank you, I’ll be here all week. _bowing_ [/QUOTE] I think that bowing is not enough to avoid rotting tomatoes, you should try some crouching and running too. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/19 "2007-10-22T03:47:55Z")
[QUOTE=Ale] I think that bowing is not enough to avoid rotting tomatoes, you should try some crouching and running too. 😃 [/QUOTE] C’mon! Give the gecko some love! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272/20 "2007-10-22T04:23:51Z")
[QUOTE=Lizard] C’mon! Give the gecko some love! 😛 [/QUOTE] No way! I recently moved to a new place, so yesterday I went back to the old apartment to do some cleaning. I moved some forniture around and I found copious amounts of gecko droppings behind the desk, the TV rack and fridge. I didn´t appreciate that from the little beasties. So… forget it. 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-with-half-a-piss/423272.md?page=2)