As you may or may not be aware, California is currently in the midst of a record-breaking drought, and it’s not showing signs of getting better anytime soon. So, in an attempt to encourage Californians to reduce their water usage, a team of San Francisco-based entrepreneurs has launched a brilliant (and hilarious) campaign.
The Drop-A-Brick project, as it’s called, revolves around a very simple concept: If you drop a brick (pun intended) in your toilet tank, you save a bunch of water from going down the drain each time you flush — somewhere in the ballpark of half a gallon. It’s an old trick that people have been using for decades, but not everybody knows about it. Toilets are one of the biggest water wasters in the home, but if we could get every person in California to drop a brick in their toilet, residents of the Golden State could collectively save around 200 million gallons per day. That’s a lot of water.
Related: Make your toilet touchless with Kohler’s new ‘wave to flush’ kit
The only problem is, dropping a brick into your toilet tank can cause a few problems. They can dissolve, cause clogs, and ultimately lead to costly repairs — which might explain why most people don’t put ’em in their tanks to begin with. So, rather than asking millions of Californians to put their plumbing at risk, the founders of the Drop-A-Brick project developed a safe, eco-friendly alternative: a brick made from a special type of rubber.
For a pledge of just $15 bucks on Indiegogo, the team will ship you one of these bricks (which compress down and fit nicely in an envelope) to drop in your tank. They’re lightweight and compact until water is added, at which point a special hydrogel additive causes them to swell and get heavy. And that’s not all — the each brick is outfitted with a dye tablet to help homeowners spot leaks, and they’re also flexible so they can fit in just about any tank.
The creators are currently seeking $80K for their crowdfunding campaign, but since it’s through Indiegogo, they’ve opted for a “flexible funding” campaign, so there’s no success or failure — they get to keep any money they raise and put it toward the project. They’ve already gathered around $11K from 125 funders, and there’s still about a month left to go. Check out their page to learn more, and at the very least, give their pitch video a watch. You won’t regret it.
