When Houston builder Michael Strong sends his custom-home clients out to shop for plumbing fixtures, he hands them a list titled, “WaterSense plumbing fixtures selection.” For about a year, Strong has pushed buyers toward toilets that use 20% less water than the 1.6 gpf allowed by federal regulations and are certified by the EPA’s two-year-old WaterSense program.

“I talk big picture with them,” says Strong of his buyers. “I tell them … if everybody cut their water bill by 20%, the city would have more resources available to it.”

He’s not the only builder steering home buyers toward 1.28-gpf high-efficiency toilets (HETs). “[Our buyers] have a growing awareness of the need for conservation,” says Stephanie Ware, director of marketing for Anderson Homes and Vanguard Homes in Cary, N.C., the latter of which built the first home to qualify for the EPA’s new WaterSense label. “A lot of them are surprised to learn how much water they use. But they want performance too,” she says, referring to the bad reputation early low-flow toilets earned because of operating problems.

Improved Performance
High-profile water shortages in California, Florida, and Georgia, among other states, have fueled a growing desire among consumers to conserve water, increasing the potential market for new plumbing products. In fact, 22 toilet manufacturers produce more than 200 models that require no more than 1.28 gallons of water per use—the maximum level allowed to qualify for the WaterSense label.

Unlike the 1992 law that limited new toilets to 1.6 gpf, the voluntary WaterSense program requires toilets to pass a performance test as well as a water-use test. Qualified toilets must be able to dispose of 350 grams of solid waste in a single flush—and manufacturers must prove that the toilets can by submitting to third-party verification. The testers, such as Underwriters Laboratories and the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, conduct MaP (Maximum Performance) testing, so the toilets are tested to the point of failure.

The requirement appears to be working. Stephanie Thornton, who oversees partner outreach for the WaterSense program, reports the EPA has not received any complaints about the newer toilets.

In fact, notes John Koeller, a Chicago-based technical adviser to the Alliance for Water Efficiency and a third-party tester, the average HET outperforms WaterSense requirements by flushing 650 grams.

Improvements, such as better hydraulic designs, larger valve openings and trapways, and jet-fed bowls, mean far fewer clogs or double flushes. “Toilets are no longer designed by model makers who are looking for aesthetics,” says Koeller. “They’re designed by engineers who are paying attention to the hydraulics.”

And that makes HETs easier to sell than the troubled first versions of 1.6-gpf toilets that hit the market in 1994, say pros and manufacturers.

It also helps that consumers don’t necessarily have to pay more. Research shows that higher efficiency does not mean higher cost; like traditional models, there is a range from basic to premium. Installation is the same except for a few high-tech models with electrical components.

HETs also can be used to earn credits under the LEED for Homes standard and the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines.

Still, not every contractor is hurrying to install HETs. Melrose, Mass., plumbing and HVAC contractor Albert Cairns says pressure-assisted HETs, which use technology similar to that in airplane toilets, flush in a big, quick swoop and are noisy. “I wouldn’t install them in my own house,” he says.

Besides, notes Cairns, president of A.H.C. Mechanical Contractors, he hasn’t had a callback on a 1.6-gpf toilet in 10 years.

How Low Can They Go?
The choice may not be optional for long. California, for example, will require all new toilets to be HETs by 2014. The Golden State has repeatedly proven itself as a standard-setter for the rest of the nation when it comes to green building legislation, and this may not be any different.

Manufacturers can comply by reducing water use to 1.28 gpf or by introducing dual-flush toilets, which feature separate flushing options for disposing of liquid and solid waste. On most dual-flush models, the liquid flush uses just 0.8 gallon, while the solid removal uses 1.6 gallons. Because users dispose of liquids three times more often than solids, water use for a dual-flush toilet averages out at 1.28 gallons per flush, so they meet WaterSense and California standards.

A few toilet makers have whittled water use even lower. Kohler’s one-piece San Raphael Pressure Lite toilet, for example, consumes just 1 gallon for every flush and can save a four-person household up to 20,000 gallons of water a year over pre-low-flush models, the company says.

That might be as low as they can go. After waste leaves the toilet bowl, it has to push through a drain line for 60 feet or so until it reaches the sewer system. Ultra-low-water toilets might have trouble “kicking it to the curb,” says James Walsh, American Standard’s product director for Chinaware.

But there are other means of lowering water consumption in the new American bathroom beyond simply using new toilet technologies. Capturing increasing attention are urinals, which can use as little as an eighth of a gallon of water per use. These are familiar and convenient fixtures in public men’s rooms—and are slowly finding their way into homes as their designs become more pleasing to women, manufacturers say.

Either way, education is key to consumer acceptance of any of the latest low-flow models—toilets or otherwise. Many buyers will need to hear—and see, if possible—how the latest technologies have made wimpy flushers a thing of the not-so-distant past.

Sharon O’Malley is a freelance writer in College Park, Md.