Having prepared several people for some amount of 'long term emergencies', I have had to come up with a way for someone to flush their toilet when the 'system' couldn't provide the water and/or pressure to do it. I specifically had a request from someone that couln't lift and pour the large container that was needed to flush it.

First....this will work whether you are are city water or a well and septic system. (I am on a well and septic myself) During a prolonged power outage, we don't have the water available to us via the well because the pump is electric. It is also a pain to start up the generator "just to flush the toilet". Here's what you do....

Turn off the toilet's water supply. You should still have water in the upper tank. At this point all that has changed is that you've turned off the water TO the toilet. Now "use" the toilet as you normally would....(I think all of us know the 'trick' of pouring a large amount of water into the bowl to get it to 'flush') Now BEFORE you do anything....get a bucket of water handy.....you WILL be pouring it into the bowl just as you have in the past.....but this time you will flush the toilet and then immediately begin pouring. You will not need nearly as much water as if you were just pouring it into the bowl.

How does this help...read on....Now that the toilet is flushed clean...pour 'some' more water into the bowl. Just enough to bring it to the regular level. Now you can add more water to the upper tank so that it is full again. Now you are ready to 'use the toilet again'.

I have had a few people that had great difficulty in pouring the large bucket say that this way is much easier....they only have to pour a small (and managable amount wieght wise) while the toilet does the rest. Then they said it was easy to take their time and 'fill the tank' again a little at a time. There was no need to lift heavy containers of water.

Hope this is useful to someone.