Stop flushing money down toilet

Program helps subsidize replacement of older high-volume models with efficient low-flow ones.

Spending too much per flush? You may qualify for a bargain on replacing your old toilet.

For years, Fulton County has participated in a program to subsidize swapping out high-volume toilets for efficient low-flow models. County commissioners are scheduled to vote today on renewing its agreement with the Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District — and there’s $50,000 in toilet rebates up for grabs.

Half of that money will go toward replacing toilets in single-family homes built before 1993, up to two per household. The rest is available for replacing multiple toilets in apartments or condominiums.

For single-family homes, replacing an old toilet with one that uses no more than 1.1 gallons of water per flush can garner a $75 rebate. Those new toilets must have Watersense certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to qualify.

For multifamily properties, rebates can range up to $15,000, depending on the number of toilets.

Until July 1, 2021, installing a replacement toilet that used up to 1.28 gallons per flush was good enough to get a rebate. But since then only ultra-high-efficiency toilets, using no more than 1.1 gallons, are eligible.

“Before the 1950s, new toilets typically used 7 gpf,” says the water district’s December 2022 water management resources plan. “By the end of the 1960s, new toilets typically used 5.5 gpf; in the 1980s, new toilets typically used 3.5 gpf.”

A federal law in 1992 required new toilets to reduce that to 1.6 gallons by 1994. And they’ve kept getting more efficient.

More than 150,000 old toilets have been replaced with more efficient ones between 2008, when the toilet rebate program began, and January 2019, according to Paul Donsky, communications director for the Atlanta Regional Commission.

The Metropolitan North Georgia Water Planning District, created in 2001 and headquartered in Atlanta, covers 15 counties and 92 cities. The toilet rebate is available throughout that area, Donsky said.

The Toilet Retrofit Program is part of the water district’s effort to reduce per capita water use by 11% by 2030. Donsky said that goal has been reached, but with the Atlanta region expected to continue growing — by an estimated 1.8 million by 2050 — efficiency efforts have to continue in order to stay on track.

Fulton County has helped replace less-efficient toilets in single-family homes for 15 years, and for five years in multifamily housing. In that time, Fulton County has issued 7,581 rebates totaling $735,735 for single-family homes, saving an estimated 130,489 gallons of water per day, according to the legislation. But under the last year’s agreement only eight toilets were replaced, using $680 of the available rebate money, including a small administrative fee paid to the water district.

In the five years of subsidizing toilet replacement in multifamily housing, the county has issued 100 rebates, totaling $8,175 and saving about 2,939 gallons of water per day, according to the legislation.

But none of those replacements occurred in the last year, so the water district is “pursuing alternative ways to promote participation in the program.”