Seattle Leads the Nation with Water-Efficient Toilets
First U.S. Region to Promote WaterSense-Labeled Toilets

For immediate release: 12/12/07
For more information, Contact:
Seattle Public Utilities: (206) 684-3000

SEATTLE —Seattle is once again leading the nation in water conservation efforts by becoming the first major U.S. city to promote WaterSense-labeled toilets that meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) criteria for water efficiency and performance.

“EPA believes water efficiency is the wave of the future, and we hope other cities will follow the Seattle area’s lead,” said U.S. EPA Assistant Administrator for Water Benjamin H. Grumbles, who is in Seattle today to commend the city and its partners for together being a leader in water savings.

According to EPA, toilets are by far the main source of water use in the home, accounting for approximately 30 percent of residential indoor water use.

The WaterSense program, a partnership between local retailers, the Saving Water Partnership (a group of Seattle-area water utilities) and the EPA, encourages people to install toilets that have earned EPA’s WaterSense label. Under federal law, toilets must not exceed 1.6 gallons per flush.

WaterSense-labeled toilets go beyond the standard and use less than 1.3 gallons per flush. Toilets bearing the WaterSense label have been certified by independent laboratory testing to ensure they meet rigorous criteria for both performance and efficiency.

Arece Hampton, representing the Saving Water Partnership, said that WaterSense-labeled toilets can also deliver big savings to homeowners.

“Most households can easily save thousands of gallons of water and more than $90 a year on utility bills by installing a WaterSense-labeled toilet, without sacrificing performance,” said Hampton.

“We’re encouraging customers to head down to their participating retailer and check out these high performance toilets for themselves,” said Hampton. “The WaterSense label is a customer’s guarantee of performance, efficiency and quality.”

Participating retailers include Aurora Plumbing, The Home Depot, Junction True Value, McLendon Hardware, Morgan Electric & Plumbing and Pacific Supply. For more information, visit www.savingwater.org or www.epa.gov/watersense. For a list of Saving Water partners, visit. http://www.savingwater.org/about_partners.htm.

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Seattle Public Utilities