Inventor, 69, patents water-saving designs
Liu Zhongxiu has replaced the flush button on her toilet with a red funnel. The invention helps save half of her household's water consumption.
The 69-year-old Weifang resident of Shandong province has been awarded three patents, two of which are for water-saving techniques. She told local newspaper Weifang Evening News that she is looking for companies to market her ideas.
Liu said she has been "obsessed with invention" since a young age. After she retired in 1997, she found she had plenty of free time to finetune her ideas.
"I felt so bad when I saw water washing away without being sufficiently used," she said. "With our living standards improving, many people no longer care about water fees, but the problem of water shortages can't be solved with only money."
She invented her water-saving toilet in 2012, following a water-saving tank she made in 2008. She has applied the patents to her own bathroom and now her home uses only 5 to 6 cubic meters of water, half the amount it consumed before her inventions.
In Liu's home, water is collected in a large basin after bathing or washing vegetables and dishes.
"This has been a family habit for many years," she said.
To begin with, the family used the recycled water to flush the toilet, but Liu noticed that the toilet became dirty, so she decided to clean the recycled water.
"I drew design plans, did experiments, and made models," she said. "The finished product cost me a great deal of time and energy, not to mention money.
"Fortunately I have my family to support me."
The recycled water now flows into the toilet tank via the red funnel and a tube, first going through a filter before flushing the toilet.
Liu was initially quiet about being awarded the patents, telling only a few close friends and relatives, until she read that her city suffers water shortages. She now plans to transfer her patents to a company if it can commercialize them quickly.
"The water situation is severe. I want the two water-saving patents to go into the market and everyone's home," Liu said.
She said it is not enough to just have large water treatment plants because much water is wasted in the pipeline network. "It's better to also have facilities in each residential community to treat their own used water."
zhangzhaov@chinadaily.com.cn
(China Daily 04/01/2015 page17)
