(04-05-2009 09:05 AM)Machiavelli Wrote: or.... there's a serious water problem and this will help to alleviate the problem.
This will probably do far more for Home Depot and Lowe's than it will to alleviate the problem.
The low flow toilet is another of those ideas, like inflating tires, that is good as far as it goes but doesn't go very far. It saves less than 2 gallons per flush. Assume you flush 6 times a day, that's about 10 gallons a day or 300 gallons per month. And that doesn't consider the nubmer of times that the low flow requires two flushes where the regular one gets it done in one. This approach is worse than inflating tires, because this one costs lots of money whereas air is quite cheap. It's one of those reasons why rich people are liberals--they can afford the cost easily, and it makes them think they are doing something good, without considering how hard the cost hits middle and lower class people.
If you're going to do something with toilets, I prefer what I've seen in Australia--the toilet is operated by pressing either of two buttons, one for low volume flushes, the other (or presing both simultaneously) for larger volume. One for #1, two for #2.
Low flow shower heads save up to 2-1/2 gallons per minute, which saves a lot more water for a lot less cost. That's worth doing.
If you really want to save water, you need to look elsewhere. The average home uses somewhere between 6,000 to 8,000 gallons/month for in-house purposes (I actually use a lot less, but that's because I know how to conserve water). Summertime usage runs 12,000 to 15,000 or more for those in the typical demographic of DeKalb Country. The difference is what gets put on yards. There's where water re-use has the potential to make a huge impact. Using treated effluent for outdoor watering (except food plants) has the potential to save major amounts of water. Even better, it saves most of that water in precisely those times when the pressure on water supplies is highest--hot summers, particularly during drought conditions. We need to be doing this on a national basis. Golf courses, parks, lawns--all should be watered with treated effluent.