Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, June 25, 1990 TAG: 9006250041
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Cox News Service
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
Under pressure from environmental groups and water-short states, reluctant toilet manufacturers are offering some models that use only 1.6 gallons per flush.
Bills pending in Congress would require that all new commodes meet the 1.6-gallon standard, while research engineers work on new designs in pursuit of a one-gallon flush.
A century ago, flushing a toilet was an activity that epitomized progress and sanitation. But the situation is changing, and according to environmentalists and others, flushing is becoming an unacceptable extravagance in its present form.
The average American flushes 27 gallons of fresh water down the trapway of a commode every day.
That's a national daily total of around 5 billion gallons, and although it represents only a fraction of the water consumed by industry and agriculture in America, many environmentalists are pushing for more efficient household water use.
Sen. Wyche Fowler, D-Ga., principal author of a Senate bill that would require federal toilet efficiency standards similar to energy standards that appliance manufacturers are now required to meet, noted that the U.S. Geological Survey has projected a 31 percent increase in the demand on water utilities between 1975 and the end of the century.
"We can build all the dams and aqueducts and treatment plants we want to or think we can afford, but what Will Rogers said about land is still true of water, as well: `They ain't making any more of it,' " Fowler said.
The Wildlife Federation estimates that if Fowler's bill were to become law, the country would save enough water the first year to supply the needs of a city of 100,000 people.
The style trend has been to lower tanks, which have less gravity pressure to achieve a clean flush and must compensate by using more water.
by CNB