system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: How serious of a problem is wasting water through flushing toilets?

I've heard flushing toilets wastes water, but how, and how serious of a problem is it? And if it’s serious, why are we still using normal toilets when there seems to already be a lot of prototypes attempting to solve it?
gpt
"Low flush" toilets have been available for many years now (at least in Europe); it is also possible to collect "grey" water from other sources (like rain water) that may be not perfectly clean but is fine for toilets. What is available and what makes sense depends on the region you live.

I live in north germany where there is plenty of clean water available (lots of raaaaain); people are still into saving water big time - and the waste management people are actually complaining that the efforts to save water are too effective: Sewage is now not diluted enough (I guess you can imagine), which causes problems in the sewage pipes.

Water usually goes in circles; what you flush goes into the river (via, hopefully, sewage treatment facilities), evaporates, rains, is collected again etc, so in this context the idea of "wasting" water becomes a relative one. However, there are very arid areas where water that evaporates is effectively "gone" (it will condense elsewhere eventually but is removed locally). In such areas, you will want to make every effort to save water.