RetrofitingResidentialFixtures

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A typical U.S. family of four uses approximately 280 gallons of
water per day.
In the LWSP, water systems range from as low as 30 to 150
gallons per person.
In the US, of the 280 gpd, 80% is indoor water use.
The average indoor water use in a home with water efficient
fixtures and appliances is approximately 35 percent less than
without these fixtures.
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At least 20% of single family and multi-family residences built
before 1995 is needed to apply this BMP.
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Reference the handout for pros and cons of each.
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Pass around sample retrofit kits.
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2.2 gallons per minute or less
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1.5 gpm or less
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2.5 gpm or less
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Toilet flappers flush at the volume designed for that toilet. Flappers
are not always included.
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• Greensboro used a general distribution method. They placed kits
with showerheads, aerators, and toilet flappers at recreation
centers, libraries, the farmers’ market, and water customer
service.
• From 1996 to 2003, they distributed 165,000 pieces of hardware.
• From 1995-1997, 1,665 customers received a $4 rebate for
purchasing toilet flappers.
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Water used by toilets is typically the greatest user of indoor water,
using 26.7% of indoor water.
• The goal is to replace toilets using 3.5 gpf or more with low flow
or ultra-lowflow toilets using 1.6 gpf or less in homes built before
1995 that have not been retrofitted previously. Replacement
toilets include the dual flush toilets that use 1.6 gpf and between
.8 and 1.0 gpf. The rate should be about 5% of eligible homes
per year until reaching the goal of 20% of eligible homes.
• Installed directly by the utility, a contractor for the utility, resident
or housing manager.
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• Rebates, water bill credit, or direct giveaways
• If the rebate or credit is set too low, only those planning to get a
new toilet already will benefit. If set too high, the utility will be
overpaying customers to retrofit. Most find $70-$100 a sufficient
incentive for customers to consider retrofitting.
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• In response to the 2007-2008 drought, the city created a water
conservation plan that included giving rebates for high efficiency
toilets.
• In addition, they realized that the city’s low-income residents
were generally living in rented, water inefficient housing. They
partnered with the Raleigh Housing Authority and the
AmericaCorp Vista program to retrofit these residents.
• Replaced 5,000 3.5 – 5 gpf toilets with high efficient toilets and
1000 showerheads with 1.6 gpm models.
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• A typical family of 4 washes a little more than one load of laundry
a day.
• The average washer in the U.S. uses 41 gallons per load, but
new high efficiency washers use 12-25 gallons per load.
• The Water Factor (WF) is the capacity of the washing machine in
cubic feet divided by the gallons of water used per full load
wash.
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The incentive works best if the rebate is given as a discount at the
register, because price is the largest decision factor between the
conventional and efficient machines.
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