Cistern-lid handwash basin (handwash water reused for flushing)

A small basin sits on the WC cistern lid and is fed from the cistern's own fill valve: you wash your hands in fresh potable water, and that water drains through a coarse strainer into the cistern below to become the next flush. Because it borrows the supply and the drain the cistern already has, it needs no second water pipe and no waste connection, which is what makes it a genuine retrofit to an existing cistern WC rather than a plumbing job. Saves roughly 1.5 litres of potable water per handwash, on the order of 6.5 cubic metres a year for a household of three, by making one volume of water do two jobs. Worth being precise about the water quality: what reaches your hands is fresh potable water, never recycled; only the already-used water is reused, and only for flushing. Distinct from the separate greywater-diversion entry, which is a building-scale plumbing diversion and provides no handwash point of its own; this is a self-contained appliance whose primary purpose is the handwash point.

Cost
Low
Upkeep
Occasional
Skill to build
Basic
Lifespan
15-25 years for the basin and fittings, matching standard sanitaryware; the fill-valve diverter and the strainer are the earlier-wearing parts
Embodied carbon
Low
Space / material use
Low
Output timing
On-demand/controllable
Skill to repair
Basic
Regulation (FR example)
Sold in France as an off-the-shelf sanitary fitting. The reuse happens inside a single appliance rather than through a building-scale greywater network, which is the case French greywater-reuse rules are written around, but treat that as the practical position rather than a verified legal reading, and confirm locally before relying on it.

Note: Cost, carbon and footprint are rated against the other options for this same need, not in absolute terms.

What your site needs

An existing cistern-type WC whose lid the unit can replace or sit on, and a pressurised cold supply already feeding that cistern

Inputs

Outputs

Sources

What this page does not tell you

No sizing or quantities: how much a technique yields, and how much a household needs, both depend on the build and the people, so the catalogue compares options rather than dimensioning them. It carries no bill of materials and no build sequence, and it is written for an oceanic, clay-soil climate (Normandy, France). Regulatory notes are indicative and need confirming locally.