California Mandates High-Efficiency Toilets
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that would require all new construction in the state to use more efficient toilets and urinals
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that would require all new construction in the state to use more efficient toilets and urinals. The bill is the first of its kind in the nation and aims to meet the needs of the estimated 500,000 new residents in California each year. The new requirements would yield savings of more than 8 billion gallons of water by the tenth year of implementation, surpassing the total amount of bottled water consumed by Americans in all of 2005.
AB 715 would set new water flush volume standards by making use of existing high-efficiency toilet technology, including 111 toilet models produced by 24 manufacturers and 34 models of urinals produced by nine manufacturers. All schools, office buildings, new homes and other construction would be required to use high-efficiency toilets.
Beginning in 2010, the legislation will require 50 percent of all toilets sold in California to meet the new flush standards, ramping up to 100 percent in 2014. The bill also will allow the installation of waterless urinals in California.
Water conservation is considered a key strategy in addressing global warming because the movement of water is the single greatest consumer of electricity in California, the generation of which creates greenhouse gas emissions. The Pacific Institute estimates 19 percent of California’s electricity is consumed by water systems as water is pumped over hundreds of miles in California, treated, pressurized, flushed and eventually discharged to the ocean.
The average Californian uses about 70-80 gallons of water a day indoors. Toilets account for approximately one-third of all residential indoor use, more than any other indoor source of water.
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