Septic tanks offer an alternative to a wastewater treatment plant. Septic tanks are often used in rural areas to deal with the small amount of sewage created by a single household. The advantages of septic tanks include minimum maintenance and minimum skills required for operation.
Regular maintenance, along with the proper use of your septic system, will not only help assure that your septic system is functioning correctly but also helps protect our streams, rivers and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay watershed.
How can you extend the life of your septic system and reduce the demands on valuable water resources? One way is to install a high-efficiency toilet. Toilets use more water in the home than any other appliance or fixture – close to 30 percent of residential indoor water consumption is flushed away. Leaks, a common toilet problem, cause even more wasted water.
The U.S. government is assertively encouraging the use of high efficiency toilets. Federal law requires that new toilets not use more than 1.6 gallons per flush. High-efficiency toilets supersede this standard at 1.28 gallons per flush, a saving of 20 percent.
You can find high efficiency toilets by looking for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) “WaterSense” certificate. The WaterSense label can only be applied to high efficiency toilets that are certified by an independent testing laboratory to meet strict criteria for both performance and efficiency.
High efficiency toilets save you money by lowering your wastewater costs, reducing strain on your septic system, and lessening the burden on the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. A WaterSense high efficiency toilet can save up to 4,000 gallons per year. If a family of four replaces one standard toilet manufactured between 1980 and 1994 with a WaterSense toilet, they can save $2,000 over the lifetime of the toilet. The older the toilet you replace, the greater the savings. With savings like these, new high-efficiency toilets pay for themselves in only a few years.
Whether you are remodeling, building a new home, or simply want to replace a leaky, inefficient toilet, a WaterSense labeled high efficiency toilet is your best bet.