shower
Campaigners claim £7.30 per year, per person, could be saved if people peed at least once a day in the shower UEA

University students are being encouraged to urinate in the shower as a part of a campaign to save water.

The Go With The Flow campaign was thought up by University of East Anglia (UEA) students Debs Torr and Chris Dobson, who were inspired by a similar campaign by Brazilian eco-group SOS Mata Atlântica.

Torr and Dobson, representing UEA in Npower's national Future Leader's Challenge, are hoping students will urinate while taking a shower instead of flushing the toilet at least once a day.

The group believe if the idea takes off, the project could have a "phenomenal impact".

Dobson said: "With 15,000 students at UEA, over a year we would save enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool 26 times over. Imagine how big an impact it could have if we could get everyone in East Anglia, or even the UK, to change their morning habits.

"The trouble is, most people don't realise that we use fresh water much faster than it can be naturally replenished."

To help the campaign move along and cause a splash, the pair offered £10 vouchers to people to anyone who shows their support by admitting they have urinated in the show with the hashtag #gowiththeflow.

As of yet, the support of the urine-based environmentalist programme has been minimal at best.

"The campaign has been really divisive - people either seem to love it or hate it," added Dobson. "But that's exactly what we want. We're trying to challenge conventional behaviour; to start a debate on a resource that we largely take for granted."

The campaign claims UEA could save £18,000 per year if all students on campus urinated at least once a day in the shower - and if the entire population of UEA took part, £125,000 per year could be saved.

The group claim if everyone in the UK joined in, they could save £430m in total per year, or 720 million litres of water.

UEA
Infograph showing the benefits of urinating in the shower UEA