City kicks off toilet rebate program

On a day when water is back on folks' minds -- between the possible impact of the tropical weather system Hanna this weekend on the Triangle, and the City's consideration of removing or reducing water restrictions, as the Herald-Sun noted this morning -- it's a good time to talk about another way that Durham is working to reduce water use.

The City's rebate program we discussed here a couple of months back is now up and running, meaning residents who purchase a new 1.28 gal./flush toilet (or who've done so and saved the receipt since January) can apply for a $100 rebate from the City of Durham.

In the press release, deputy director of the City's water management department, notes that toilets are one of the biggest water-users in our homes, and that if 3,000 Durham households replace one toilet apiece, the City could look to reduce annual water consumption by 21 million gallons.

Which is, if you really think about it, an interesting number in the water supply/water demand debate about the future of Durham's water sourcing. Here at BCR, I've argued that we need to both reduce consumption and increase supply, and that the two can't be done in isolation if we're going to get anywhere with water.

At 3,000 toilets, the City would spend $300,000 on rebates plus $100,000 in administration costs to Niagara Conservation Corp. for administering the program. The 21 million gallons saved per year, on the other hand, represents about one winter weekday's worth of demand for the entire city.

Building a second Jordan Lake intake would cost about $50 million and would minimally bring Durham's current 10 MGD allocation into the City while bypassing Cary's supply system. Ted Voorhees has said in the past the City wouldn't build a second intake for just that much water, though -- we'd look for a requested increase to at least a 20 MGDallocation from DENR, maybe more, before Durham moved forward with something like this.

Let's ignore the annual operating costs for the water plant on the assumption these would be carried in the water rate and look just at the capital cost, if you will, of getting these programs up and running. Amortized over one year, the capital cost of 748 gallons of water (1 ccf or unit) saved through the toilet rebate program is $14.25; the same cost for a $50 million Jordan Lake intake is $5.12 or $10.25, depending on whether Durham drew 20 MGD or 10 MGD from the system.

For reference, Durham charges between $1.56 and $6.24 per ccf for water use.

Mind you, this isn't intended to be a criticism of the City's decision to implement this toilet rebate program -- far from it. It's actually very good to see City Council and the administration stepping forward on a program intended to get people conserving. If the program works, citizens replacing toilets will step forward to buy low-water units, and perhaps stores will consider making these more prominent fixtures (no pun intended)in their aisles.

Also worth remembering: the rebate program is something the City can to today to help address water consumption, whereas adding new supply is a long, regulatory-dependent process that could take years, perhaps a decade to complete.

I raise the point more to note that as much as we're doing to address demand for water, ultimately we have to address the supply side, too. There's a big difference between the 21 million gallons per year from the toilet rebate program and the possibility of 10-20 million gallons per day from a new Jordan Lake intake and allocation.

Want to take advantage of the savings? Here's how, from the City's press release:

According to Westbrook, to be eligible for the City’s rebate, any toilet purchased must be a high-efficiency toilet, which uses an average of 1.28 gallons per flush, and must be on the EPA’s WaterSense list.   At this time, only single-family residential customers may apply for the rebate.  Any toilet which meets the criteria and is purchased after January 1, 2008, will be eligible for the rebate, with a limit of one per household.  Rebates will be applied as credits to customers' water bills.  To apply for the rebate, residential customers will need to submit all of the following information:

- the original dated sales receipt for the toilet;

- a copy of the most recent water bill; and

- a completed Rebate Application Form.

Rebates will be offered on a first-come, first-served basis, with one toilet rebate allowed per single family residential customer.  Approximately 3,000 rebates will be available during the first phase of the program.  The rebate form, a link to approved toilets, and more details are available at www.DurhamSavesWater.org or by calling the Rebate Center at 866-522-3806.

Comments

[Derek]

The eligible choices at Home Depot stink. There are only 2 units that qualify and they are cheesy. Based on their website, Lowe's is no better.

21 million gallons doesn't seem correct if toilets are a major source of water use in households. If correct, I guess this is because we're limited to replacing so few units? One has to hope there are spillover effects and that more toilets are replaced....

[Deanna]

You can buy Niagara Ecologic 1.28gpf toilets from www.AquaProSolutions.com -- from Niagara they are $300, the identical toilet purchased through Aqua Pro is $199 with a few bucks shipping.

They are great because they are flapperless (so it never can leak), the tank won't sweat, and in tests, top-rated for flushing capability. (we've used them in homes with good success - we ordered 26 for the King's Daughters B&B, but they haven't been put to use yet, since we're not open, so I can't speak to high-intensity use).

After comparing a lot of toilets, we chose these even over the dual flush (which, when you factor in the two types of flushes, average around 1.1-1.2gpf) for their performance.

[Tar Heelz]

Not sure it isn't just another Durham City boondoggle but to be fair, the cost needs to amortized over the period for which we would expect to receive benefits from the more efficient toilets. $400,000 divided over, say, 15 years to save a sum total of 315,000,000 gallons sounds a bit better than $400k for 21,000,000.

Thrown out that way, we'll theoretically save 787.5 gallons for every dollar spent today.

[GreenLantern]

You don't need to replace your toilets to save water.

All you have to do is take a few soda bottles of different sizes, 2L, 1L,etc., fill them up with water and a tiny bit of bleach, and place them in your reservoir to displace excess water.

You may have to try a few size combinations to make the toilet empty on a single flush, but it works. As long as you don't need wads and wads of TP to do your business, you will save water and money.

[Steve]

I was also disappointed at the selection of WaterSense toilets. I only saw one at Lowes which was a standard height round front - not what I wanted.
I just found reference that Home Depot sells toilets under different brands that use the Niagara Flapperless technology. Here is a link to a "Pegasus" brand toilet that is ADA compliant (16.5" high rim) and elongated front that according to Home Depot is sold by the location at North Pointe for $149.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100608622

I had a 1.6gpf Niagara Flapperless toilet in CA which worked great. The big difference between a normal toilet and these is that you need to press and hold the handle until the bucket empties in order to get a full flush. It's not like normal toilets where a light push and release will cause the flapper to raise and stay raised due to the flow of water out of the tank.

[Toby]

Hi Kevin -

Although I didn't dig into the numbers deeply, it appears that the calculations above may overstate the water savings we can expect from the toilet rebate program. This is because a non-trivial portion of the rebate money will be paid to people who needed to replace their toilets anyway, and would have used a high efficiency toilet even if there were no rebate program.

[gary]

Another option to consider with toilets is to install a Controllable Flusher Low-flow Toilet Kit. I installed one in our downstairs bathroom as it is used more frequently. Lift up for a full flush and down for a controllable flush. This way of you are otherwise satisfied with your current toilet you add degree of control if all you want to do is flush out some liquids.

http://www.realgoods.com/product/home-outdoor/bathroom-bedroom/towels-accessories/controllable+flusher.do?search=basic&keyword=flusher&sortby=bestSellers&page=1

[Thom]

I agree with the amortization comment above that it needs to be more than one year because if they keep the toilet, the reduced demand does not stop for just one calendar year.

Here's the thing, too. The company to buy the toilets from are the same that manufacture them? Why don't remove the middle man on this? (Including the admin fee of $100K -- $33 per check if we max out the allotment, more to them if we do not.) Could we not have a copy of receipt, mailed in with our yearly tax check to the city, albeit $100 less than the bill? Sure it is a gamble against fraud but we could mitigate that issue further if we went deeper into the details.

[FLtoNC]

Durham's toilet rebate and other conservation programs are the most progressive in the mid atlantic states. As a Durham resident, I am thankful the City is doing more than just hammering its customers with restrictions for short term water savings. Changing out old water wasting toilets is a viable long term solution.

***CHEERS*** to King's Daughter's B&B for actually determining what toilet would best suit their needs. The Niagara Flapperless is an excellent performing toilet. The Niagara Flapperless toilets are available at Home Depot under the Pegasus Cottage and Glacier Bay names. They use a unique tipping bucket flush mechanism and never leak and are at a affordable price.
Home Depot SKU #331-725 Glacier Bay Elongated toilet (comes with seat and wax ring)
Home Depot SKU # 840-565 Cottage Elongated toilet (comes with seat and wax ring)
Home Depot SKU # 303-635 Glacier Bay Round Bowl (comes with seat and wax ring)

Happy flushing!

[FLtoNC]

Toby: true there will be some people who will need to change their toilet out anyway and will use the rebate from the City. That number of "free riders" is usually very, very small when you look into other toilet incentive programs. Most "free riders" would probably have chosen a 1.6 gpf toilet as they are the most prolific on the market now. By incentivising only EPA WaterSEnse labeled toilets (1.28 gpf) Durham actually will gain 20% more savings per toilet.