They recycle during phases. When a new phase begins, new water is used.
You don't want to continue rinsing in dirty water, no dishes and not yourself.
this post was submitted on 27 Nov 2025
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Showerthoughts
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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The most popular seem to be lighthearted clever little truths, hidden in daily life.
Here are some examples to inspire your own showerthoughts:
- Both “200” and “160” are 2 minutes in microwave math
- When you’re a kid, you don’t realize you’re also watching your mom and dad grow up.
- More dreams have been destroyed by alarm clocks than anything else
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This is correct. Technology Connections did a video on this...
Edit: Yup. @Mike_The_TV@lemmy.world posted it: https://lemmy.world/comment/20717994
There's those toilets that have a sink on top of the cistern so you flush with grey water.
In that case I’ll have to cease my waffle stomping activities.
It's even better? The waffles don't just vanish down the drain for once!
Honestly, with a fresh-water rinse I could easily see that being beneficial.
Consider:
- particle filters (or other cleaning steps)
- custom water treatment like a bath
- not just water, but recirculated heat as well
- better possible water pressure (weak well pump), heat control
Maybe even the type of thing that could run off of solar or backup power for a planned shower.
Though yeah, I guess a bath (with a quick shower after) probably is a whole lot cheaper and easier to (plumb rather than) engineer. Plastic tubs have their own grossness, though.
I also imagine this fitting more as some sci-fi thing, not sure how well it'd be easy to manage water in space, though. My first thought would be people annoyed with having to vacuum up droplets, get blasted with air, or being stuck in a drying room as a safety procedure. And some sci-fi vat bath might still make more sense.
They have this concept in Artemis Book is about a city on the Moon, and Andy Weir being a sci-fi nerd, talks a lot about the problems and solutions for that city.
So showers there are like that. (I don't want to spoil it, but there so many cool solutions the author comes up with)
This was my first thought
But you don't recirculate any water while bathing?
Drink the bath water, then pee it back into bath.
That doesn't sound right, but I don't know enough about dishwashers to dispute it.
It's the case for all dishwashers I know about. It's not that weird if you think about it. When people wash dishes by hand, they often wash a bunch of dishes in the same basin, with the water becoming increasingly dirty. Depending on how dirty and how much they care, they'll change the water occasionally. Then they'll give everything a rinse in clean water to get rid of soap. (obvs people do dishes on a variety of ways, but this is pretty common in western cultures.)
Dishwashers are the same, spray the same hot soapy water over the dishes for a while, until it's dirty and most of the solids have been removed. Then drain and wash again with clean water. The soapy stage is about removing dirt, but the sanitising comes afterwards with the hot rinse and drying.
Spraying water from the line all the time would be very wasteful.
One difference is dishes don't feel anything, so they can tolerate being washed at much higher temperatures and for longer durations of time. And perhaps clean water feels better? Who knows.
Building off of this, some Japanese households will bathe then towel off and let the next person bathe in the same water and shower off after. Therefore there is a 2 stage cleaning cycle.
I don't have direct experience so call me out if I heard wrong.
I think before modern plumbing it was quite normal for more people sharing a bath one after the other, or going to large bath houses. The house I grew up in from the early 1900s didn't have a bathroom and people would handwash and occasionally fill a bath in the kitchen. (We had a shower built in, but it was obviously not part of the original design)
They sell water recirculators for showers actually!
I never shit in the dishwasher though
You're missing out.