CleanLink.com recently posted a great article that helps identify the single biggest water-consuming fixture in a facility: the toilet. Although the article is published by Waterless Co., and therefore biased towards replacing traditional fixtures with waterless units, the information is helpful nonetheless, if for nothing else than potential cost savings. Data from the article:

• The average toilet is flushed five times per day.
• Toilets manufactured before 1980 generally used six gallons per flush (gpf), or about 11,000 gallons per year.
• Toilets manufactured between 1980 and 1994 generally used 3.5 gpf, or 6,388 gallons per year.
• Most toilets manufactured after 1994 are considered to be “low-flow” toilets, and generally use 1.6 gpf, or 2,920 gpf annually.
• High-efficiency toilets (HETs) use about 1.3 gpf, or 2,372 gallons annually.
• Replacing an old toilet with an HET can reduce water usage by 78 percent.
• About half the toilets in the U.S. are considered inefficient, meaning they consume more than 1.6 trillion gallons of water per year.
• About half the toilets in the U.S. are considered efficient, meaning they use 1.6 gpf, or only 460 billion gallons of water or less per year.

Keep an eye on water usage in your facility. Over time, the numbers add up. By replacing certain toilets in highly trafficked areas, or by finding alternative methods to redirect and redistribute, you could save your facility hundreds or thousands of dollars.