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Toilet Plan Goes With The Flow

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By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 28, 2008

NEW PORT RICHEY - Pasco County residents soon may turn in their older, water-consuming toilets for newer, more efficient models under a rebate program adopted recently.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District has awarded a $50,000 conservation grant that will allow Pasco County Utilities to offer credit to customers who exchange high-flow toilets for models that use less water per flush, environmental biologist Ann Marie Hammond told the county commission last week.

"This will also result in a long-term cost savings to the customer and extend the water supply," she said.

The program, slated to last at least three years, is intended to encourage customers to replace models made before 1995.

Older toilets, which typically consume three gallons of water per flush, must be crushed and recycled so they are not put back into plumbers' stock and don't end up in a county landfill, Bruce Kennedy, the assistant county administrator for utilities, has said. Newer toilets use about 1.6 gallons per flush.

Hillsborough County has a similar program, Kennedy said.

Other counties and cities have discontinued their toilet rebate program, in part because of complaints that low-flow toilets do not do a good enough job flushing the first time.

Customers who meet the program requirements will receive up to a $100 credit for the first toilet and up to $80 for a second toilet from the utility department, Hammond said.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib

.com.

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