Flushing Out the Best
Low-Flow Toilets
by Kathy Price-Robinson
The battle lines are drawn in the ongoing controversy
over low-flow toilets, which were
mandated by the 1992 Energy Policy and
Conservation Act. On one side are toilet manufacturers,
environmentalists, and water utilities.
Manufacturers, who want to preserve the tons of
money they have invested retooling plants to make
the new fixtures, prefer the federal standard over the
patchwork of state and local standards it replaced.
Environmentalists and water utilities also find the
government influence tolerable if it leads Americans
into conservation: At an average of five flushes per
person per day, a family of four will save more than
13,000 gallons of water a year when