Time for some toilet talk.  No, not toilet humor. Toilet talk. Did you know that by changing your toilet, you can make a big reduction in the amount of water you use as well as a big reduction in your water bill?

I was a small child back in the late 1970’s when California was going through a severe water shortage. There were restrictions on watering plants and a rhyme to remember minimizing toilet usage. Not that you weren’t allowed to use the toilet, but how often it should be flushed.

“If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”

Fortunately, with today’s ultra low flush toilets, you no longer have to weigh the decision. With the new toilets, you can save more than 60% of water usage on each flush. Typical pre-1983 used about 5-7 gallons of water per flush. Today, standard toilets use about 2 gallons per flush. But the Ultra Low Flush toilet (ULFT) uses only about 1.6 gallons per flush and High Efficiency Toilets use only 1.28 gallons per flush. In a household of 3, if the toilet is used 4 times a day (that’s a guess, I have no idea how many times a day the average person goes to the bathroom) by each, if the household switches from a standard toilet to a Ultra Low Flush toilet, that’s a savings of 4.8 gallons each day. Over a year, that’s 1,750 gallons of water conserved. If they switched to a High Efficiency toilet, that’s 3,150 gallons! Think that won’t have an impact on your water bill?

My wife and I are in the middle of remodeling our bathroom. Our contractor recommended the new toilet. When I heard the term ‘ultra’ applied to the toilet, I immediately started seeing dollar signs pop up. After visiting Home Depot, I was surprised to find that the ULFT’s are really not very expensive. You can find them in the $200 range, which is the same price as less efficient toilets. Definitely worth the long term savings in the reduction of water usage.

You can learn more about ultra low flush toilets at Slowtheflow.com