courtesty of the San Francisco Business Times
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed a bill that would require all new construction in California to use toilets and urinals that are more water-efficient. Assemblyman John Laird (D-Santa Cruz) said AB 715 is the first of its kind in the nation and will yield savings of more than 8 billion gallons of water by the 10th year of implementation. “With statewide snow levels 71 percent below normal this year, the effects of climate change are not a concept of the future, they’re a reality of today,” said Laird. “Water conservation is the quickest, cheapest way to manage our water supply and address the impact of population growth and global warming.” The bill 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 new homes, schools, office buildings and other construction would be required to utilize high-efficiency toilets. Beginning in 2010, the legislation will require 50 percent of all toilets sold in California to meet the new flush standards, moving up to 100 percent in 2014.
Our opinion?
theplumber.com believes strongly in water savings but we feel that politicians also need to consider all the added main line stoppages that they are creating due to not enough water in the flush to carry the waste. It’s easy to make new laws and it’s relatively easy to build a toilet that can flush with little water, but we need to also ask how much water does it take to carry the waste (aka: #2) down the main and sewer lines.