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Toilets

Believe it or not, the toilet uses the most water in your home. A standard toilet, made before 1994, uses five to six gallons of water per flush. Installation of new low-flow toilets, made after 1994, use only 1.6 gallons per flush and can save up to $100 per year. Additionally, new High Efficiency Toilets (HET) use less than 1.3 gallons per flush effectively. Contact your local water utility for more information on potential rebate programs.

Put a lid on leaks. Check Your Flapper

Flappers deteriorate over time as a result of in-tank cleaning products and chemicals used by utilities. That's why they need to be checked every year to make sure they're fitting tightly over the flush tube. Otherwise, you end up with a leaky toilet that can waste a lot of water and seriously increase your utility bill.

To learn more about how to detect a leaky flapper, find what type of replacement flapper you need and how to replace a flapper visit www.toiletflapper.org

Information on Toilets

To make sure you are buying a toilet that performs up to the standards you expect, click on the links below and look for the Unified North American Requirements (UNAR) for ultra low flow toilets and one for high efficiency toilets.

Uniform North American Requirements (UNAR) for Toilet Fixtures

The EPA WaterSense labeled toilets will ensure that you are purchasing a quality HET. HET's go beyond the 1.6 gallons per flush requirement to a 1.3 gallons per flush or less standard. Third-party certification ensures that these toilets have high efficiency and high performance that often will do better than standard toilets in testing.

High-Efficiency Toilets | WaterSense | US EPA

Look for EPA WaterSense labels on other products such as bathroom sink faucets and irrigation control technologies & services.

Did you know that if all U.S. homes that use a 3.5 gallons per flush or more toilet were converted to HET models that we could save more than 900 billion gallons of water per year? Think about it as about two weeks of flow over Niagra Falls!!

Showerheads and Faucet Aerators

Showers and baths are the 3rd largest user of indoor water (after toilets and clothes washers). It accounts for 18.5% of water used. Federal regulations require that the flow of shower heads be no more than 2.5 gallons per minute. The Residential End Uses of Water Study, showed that showers used 13.3 gallons per person per day for households not using water-efficient fixtures. Households that used water-efficient fixtures used 10 gallons per person per day. The study showed that homes with low-flow showerheads use about 10% less water. With the new low-flow showerheads, saving water doesn't mean losing pressure.

When retrofitting your showerhead, consider also installing a water-efficient aerator on faucets or retrofting the traditional faucet.

By buying an EPA WaterSense labeled faucet, you are buying a high-performance, water-efficient fixture. WaterSense labeled faucets will use no more than 1.5 gallons per minute.