One of the cooler new inventions to begin gaining exposure in 2009 is the toilet lid sink. On a global level, if there was widespread, mainstream adoption of this product, it would potentially save billions of gallons of water per year. On the consumer level, this is an affordable, easy-to-install product that will save money while encouraging good hygiene.

A toilet lid sink is a device that replaces the traditional toilet tank lid. It has a sink bowl built into it, which runs automatically every time the toilet is flushed. Don’t worry, it’s not dirty toilet water that runs through the sink. The sink is run by fresh water that would normally be used to refill the bowl of your toilet after flushing. The water that runs through the sink is the same water that comes out of a regular faucet or your shower.

Having this toilet sink combo run automatically after each flush of your toilet has several benefits. For starters, if you wash your hands or even just rinse your fingers with the toilet sink rather than using your regular sink, it saves up to a gallon of water. This water savings can represent hundreds or even thousands of gallons a year per person. As water becomes a more precious commodity every year, the reducing your personal water usage will only increase.

Additionally, having a sink automatically run on the top of the toilet after each usage encourages better hygiene through routine hand-washing. Young children can especially benefit from early adoption of good habits like washing your hands. Seniors and those with arthritis appreciate the handle-free ease of the sink turning itself on and off automatically.

But perhaps the most significant, yet overlooked, benefit of the toilet sink combo is its ability to detect leaks within a toilet’s plumbing system. Undetected leaks within toilet tanks have been calculated to account for as much as 5% of the water usage in the United States. That is a staggering figure. A toilet with a hidden internal leak will be easily identified once the toilet lid sink is installed as a slow drip will run from the spout of the sink.

Grassroots adoption of green home products like the toilet sink is the first step to making a big difference. But to truly make an impact, local and state governments will eventually need to start enforcing stricter building codes that require the use of such simple, yet brilliant water-conserving products.